Backing film with Oracal

I’ve had several people ask me about backing film holograms with Oracal, so here’s a short tutorial.

Start off with a clean environment and if you’re using a hot laminator, turn it on and set it for a warm setting.

If you’ve got one of the inexpensive laminators found at many hobby stores that don’t have a temperature control, open it up and disconnect one of the heating elements (leave the screws off the cover so you can easily connect and disconnect it depending on your needs).

You want the film to come out of the laminator warm but not hot. Cut a sheet just slightly larger than the film you’re going to back. 1/8” on three sides is enough with 1/4” overlap on one end.

At one end of the Oracal, fold back 1/4” of the backing material so that part of the sticky side is exposed.

Place the film, emulsion down, so that one end lines up with the edge of the Oracal. Use the folded-down backing sheet to support the film and help you align the edge.

Using your finger, press down along the edge to stick the film to the Oracal. After the laminator has warmed up take that sandwich and carefully feed the combined edge, film-side down, into the laminator while holding onto the backing paper. As the film is fed in, you should counter that action by pulling on the paper.

Once the film is out of the laminator carefully trim the excess Oracal off the edges and run the film through again.

You’re done.

Published by

Michael Harrison

Husband, Programmer, Irish dancer, tinkerer, astronomer, layabout (as much as possible)

One thought on “Backing film with Oracal”

  1. Any of you that are using Kapco or a similar material for laminating film to glass have undoubtedly had a failure and needed to remove the film from the glass. You’ve also probably found that the longer the film is on the glass, the harder it is to re

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