# Better way to attach laminated backgrounds?



## xWingman48 (Apr 8, 2008)

Above is the aquarium I built inside an old Apple Monitor. I love the tank, but I have a problem with it.

The beach scene I created and attached to the sides and back is a laminated printout. I just taped it to the back and sides.

I didn't realize this at the time, but when I filled it with water, that made the back and sides reflective. I currently have a cacatuoides apisto in there, but he's constantly freaked out because he's seeing other males flared up all around him.

Is there a way to glue or silicone the backgrounds to the glass so they're not reflective? If I spill water in between the background and the glass, I get a section that looks great (until the water dries anyway). That makes me think that I could spread some glue / silicone / ??? on the glass and stick the background to it in a better way.

Does anyone have any thoughts?


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

I've heard of using Vaseline or mineral oil, but haven't tried them myself.


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## cabinetmkr39 (Dec 11, 2006)

Try some clear spray adhesive from HD or craft store, you will only need a very fine mist.


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## xWingman48 (Apr 8, 2008)

If you use a spray adhesive, won't that leave air bubbles and make it look bad? Do you just just have to smooth it with a putty knife to work those out?


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## spotmonster (Nov 23, 2006)

Spread vaseline or vegetable oil on the glass, apply the background and use a credit card to squegge out the excess. This works great! It will look like it did when you got the water behind it permanently. And it can be undone.

I've used both oil and vaseline and they work equally well.

The only thing that's better in my opinion is painting the glass. Again, looks great and can be undone. If the tank is close to the wall and space is limited, the oil idea will work better.


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## spotmonster (Nov 23, 2006)

Do you have plans and pics for your creation? It would make a great article in the diy section.


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## xWingman48 (Apr 8, 2008)

I'm liking that idea, since oil and / or vasoline is much cheaper and easier than trying to find glue to work with.

Once you squeege out the excess / bubbles with the credit card, and the background is attached, o you need to put any tape on to hold it in place, or should the background stay on its own?

Thanks for all of your quick help by the way. This is the most helpful bunch of folks I've ever seen in any forum.


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## xWingman48 (Apr 8, 2008)

Actually, I do have plans and lots of pics for the Maquarium, but they're on the dead web server I have at home, and I need to pull those off.

It was a pretty fun project, and I have the parts to make another one, so I'll post some pics when I have some spare time.


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## xWingman48 (Apr 8, 2008)

So with vasoline or oil, once it's on, do you need to use tape or something else to make it stay in place, or does it do that on it's own?


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

MHenrichs48 said:


> So with vasoline or oil, once it's on, do you need to use tape or something else to make it stay in place, or does it do that on it's own?


Should stick on it's own. You could tape the edges down, I suppose. No harm in that.


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## xWingman48 (Apr 8, 2008)

OK, so after quite a few rounds of fighting with it, I ended up finding a solution that works. Here's the end result (sorry, i just noticed this morning that the glass wasn't too clean when i took the picture)










You can't tell perfectly from the picture, but the sides look DRASTICALLY better than before. They're no longer mirrored when you're looking in, and the background looks really pristine and bright.

So as a recap, if you're going to try to attach a laminated background, you shouldn't use the stiffer laminate from Kinkos. When using any kind of oil to attach it, I could never get the air bubbles out. It would look perfect, but as soon as I let go, an air bubble would shoot down the side.

Vaseline was a mess, although afterwards, I was thinking that warming it up might have helped. I ended up getting a food grade mineral gel from my dad (they use it to seal gaskets on milk lines in a dairy). That and a little patience worked out really really well.

When it was all finished, I sealed the edges with caulk so I wouldn't ever have to mess with it again.

What do you all think?


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## JWerner2 (Jul 7, 2008)

Nice! I was just telling someone about that glare that gets produced but that looks really nice! If it weren't for the print I would agree with just painting it on but now that looks nice!

I saw Mac cube Nano's before on Google. Now I have been trying to find a unused case to a Mac cube cheap :lol:


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