Thread: frame advice

Hi Oliver,

It's a little hard to understand quite what you're after without a few more details. Is the door hinged or sliding? How deep does the tray need to be? Does it involve glass?

If the tray has some depth, you'll want to construct a basic box. There's a thousand ways, depending on what tools/skills you have. Youtube is awesome for that.

I'm going to guess that you don't need a lot of depth in the box to display insects. In that case, I would probably build two frames of the same size, using whatever joinery you prefer (mortice and tenon, pocket screws, biscuits, half-lap joints, mitres). One frame gets a backer board rebated into a slot (this is the tray), and the other gets a plate of glass glued into a rebate (this is the lid). Put a few sturdy hinges on one side, and some locking hardware on the other side, and call it done.

As far as stock thickness, really, you could use any size you like the look of. 1.5m isn't that big, and a wall-hung piece isn't going to take a lot of stress. However, if you chose mitres for the frame joinery, I'd probably reinforce them with splines or biscuits, because they're not particularly strong joints, and if you're swinging that door a lot, it could become loose over time.

Hope that helps.

eg. Are the displays like a picture frame, to be viewed from the front, or more like a suspended countertop viewed from above?

Either way, when using large(ish) pieces of perspex or glass in display doors, I much prefer to use piano hinges. Mainly for strength when the display is opened.

There are a multitude of ways available to lock things up, from mounting tabs to the lids & frames for small padlocks to go through to more discrete but expensive keyed locking mechanisms.

If the displays are contiguous (ie. side to side with no gaps) you could even simply make a wooden or metal bar that runs across the front edge of ALL of them, retained at one end and a lock at t'other. If designed sympathetically, this could be made almost invisible to a casual glance.

A great part of the decision making will be what you hope to achieve in terms of both looks and security, as balanced against your budget.

Hi,
thank you for your reply.
I usually make frame 60mm deep. I think this one will be about 100mm.
Yes, it will be 3 or 4 mm thick glass.
The box I make have a tray and a lid and this is the way it closes. But this time, the frame will be on the wall and display to the public
so they need to close properly and they need to open for maintenance such as add or remove insects to/from the frame without taking
the frame off the wall.
Yes, reinforcement I think is necessary.
Originally the guy who wants the frame wanted a sliding system but that might be a bit complicated especially as the box must be perfectly
sealed to avoid parasites. I would prefer opening by removing the lid, may be using some cage nuts or that type of thing. It could also be Hinges
at the top. I had another reply who suggested piano hinges which could work. Then to maintain the box open I could use a type of arm,
I don't know the name, like the type of arm to maintain a bonnet open.
Thank you for your comment.

Hi,
Thank you for your reply.
The display will be viewed from the front.
Piano hinge could work, I just have to find some strong enough. Then I could use a kind of arm, I don't know the name, to keep the frame
open when doing maintenance. You know, that kind of arm used to keep a bonnet open.
I like the idea of having a bar running across to close the frame. I will check with the customer.
Thank you very much.