Really big scissors that I need to mount...

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FramerKat

FramerKat

CGF II, Certified Grumble Framer Level 2
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Jun 26, 2007
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Sunny South Florida
Hey all,

I have been enlisted to do a job for someone I do business with. I need to mount one of those huge pairs of scissors from a ribbon cutting ceremony. They're about 24" long and have a substantial amount of weight to them. I was thinking either the bent rod method or mylar strips...any thoughts or insight is appreciated!

Here's what they look like, FYI:

giant-scissors.jpg
 
DVieau2 said:
On a few occasions I have used stainless steel zip ties. They work just like nylon zip ties.
I've purchased them in small packages at home improvement stores.

View attachment 24571
Click to expand...

Hmm...those are cool...but the wrong color for these scissors...but gives me an idea! The scissor blades are a brassy gold color, and the handles are black. I wonder if black zip ties would work for the handles...but I don't know what they're made of for longevity...

I was thinking I might be able to mount the handles with something black...and maybe the blade end with mylar strips...
 
Kat,

I believe that the mylar would work as long as the scissors aren't sharp enough to cut through.

In the for-what-it's-worth department, the picture shows the scissors being held upside down... definitely worth examining when they get mounted. :D

John

P.S. Wasn't aware of the stainless steal zip ties.... just learned something New!
 
Aiden said:
You can take out the screw that holds the two pieces together and replace it with a longer screw. Back it with a washer and a nut through the mat. I use dental wire with heavy metal pieces. It is the material used with braces. Good luck.
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Excellent idea. Tighten the screw enough so they can't close and use the screw as the main mounting and mylar finish holding it.
 
John Ranes II CPF GCF said:
Kat,

In the for-what-it's-worth department, the picture shows the scissors being held upside down... definitely worth examining when they get mounted. :D

John
Click to expand...

Ha! It's just a photo I grabbed from the interwebs of a similar pair of scissors...the ones I'm mounting are engraved, so I certainly hope I don't mount them upside down :D.
 
I have mounted a couple of guitars this way, by removing the screws that hold the neck to the main body of the guitar, replacing with slightly longer ones, it works a treat.
 
Okay, having issue with the screw thing. The one in the scissors I have is not a regular screw and has flat faces on only two sides. It is also in the same brass/gold color as the scissor blades. I don't think I can substitute it. I tried to remove it and was concerned about scratching the scissors or messing up the screw head. So, I will go back to finding something strong enough to hold at the handles. At least that way, I can make about four attachment points, so most of the weight will be held there. Then the blade end will just be held for stability. Oh, and the blades are WICKED sharp...so I'll have to be careful about what I put around them. :eek:
 
FramerKat said:
Oh, and the blades are WICKED sharp...so I'll have to be careful about what I put around them. :eek:
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You could always dull them. I bet a piece of 150 grit would destroy them in a heartbeat and none the different looking...

Sorta related - not sure where they are right now, but we have a pair of scissors I rescued when my father - who is a German apprenticed Tailor (he started his apprenticeship in '46) downsized his retirement. They are the real deal, made for production cutting. You know, before there were CNC cloth cutting machines, people did nothing but cut thousands of sets of pattern pieces a day (not that he ever did that - they were a conversation piece he picked up somewhere). They are mighty heavy duty - not as physically large as what you have (IIRC about 14"), but I bet they weight at least as much!
 
FramerKat said:
Okay, having issue with the screw thing. The one in the scissors I have is not a regular screw and has flat faces on only two sides. It is also in the same brass/gold color as the scissor blades. I don't think I can substitute it. I tried to remove it and was concerned about scratching the scissors or messing up the screw head.
Click to expand...

Oh Fudge! it sounded like a good idea though - maybe check your local hardware store - they may have a metal screw you can somehow tarnish to look like the original - or overly heating the screw may leave the coppery color from the heating - just a couple thoughts
 
Stainless doesn't paint very well, and in an application where it will be flexed (even just the one time, zipping the tie) will be even more challenging.
 
I'd slide a mylar strap each side of the screw and I'd make them as wide as possible, even if they were partly visible; then probably two more per handle as wide as needs be. You'd see them because they are shiny but so what? If that's a problem there's always earth magnets and if it's all still a problem and the customer's choice is an informed one (like, you actually give more of a shit than the customer, which is normally the case here) then there are many capable adhesives (which can fail in 3 ways, yada yada yada)
 
Any kind of heavy wire that you can bend and keeps it shape. To be found in the plumbers department at any hardware store (12 gauge is I think what I have). Finish it with crimp sleeve (electrical dept) paint the sleeve after shrinking with acrylic paint.

Cliff just showed us how he does this with coroplast, so the end of the rod slips into the hollowed channel, then fill with hotglue. I have done rods before, but never with coroplast so will do that from now on.
 
Yep, those a formed rod mounts, alright. But for the non-removable mounts on the example shown, I would probably skip the formed rods and just use two or three of those Mylar-D straps.

Anyway, for the formed rod mounts on a tool such as that, I would use much smaller .032" diameter wire, and I would extend the shrink tubing past the ends of the mounts enough to crimp them closed while the material is hot from shrinking.

Also, when embedding the mounts in the air spaces of the fluted polypropylene, I recommend making a few lateral bends to prevent the mounts from turning within the encapsulation of hard-setting glue.
Something like this:
upload_2016-6-13_19-39-9.png
 
I first saw this in a Jim Miller Class. (As I said in the seminar I gave)
The pliers and wire cutters were done as a pass around example, which is why there are combination of mounts and the shrink tubing isn't colored.
I suppose the bending gives a small increase in strength for no added work.
I've done a bunch without the bending and they have been extremely stable so far, but it's a minor change to what I've been doing and certainly can't hurt.
 
Cliff Wilson said:
I first saw this in a Jim Miller Class. (As I said in the seminar I gave)
The pliers and wire cutters were done as a pass around example, which is why there are combination of mounts and the shrink tubing isn't colored..
Click to expand...
OK, that explains the photo of your sample. Thanks for your endorsement of formed rod mounting, Cliff.
 
Jim Miller said:
Yep, those a formed rod mounts, alright. But for the non-removable mounts on the example shown, I would probably skip the formed rods and just use two or three of those Mylar-D straps.

Anyway, for the formed rod mounts on a tool such as that, I would use much smaller .032" diameter wire, and I would extend the shrink tubing past the ends of the mounts enough to crimp them closed while the material is hot from shrinking.

Also, when embedding the mounts in the air spaces of the fluted polypropylene, I recommend making a few lateral bends to prevent the mounts from turning within the encapsulation of hard-setting glue.
Something like this:
View attachment 24606
Click to expand...

This comment is more for curiosity...

Using the bent rod method, would it make more sense structurally to have the portion of rod in the fluted polypropylene to be vertically bent downward to prevent pulling forces (gravity) from weakening the glue and pulling the rod downward and out of the board? In this example the rod is bent upwards in the back
 
cchew81 said:
This comment is more for curiosity...

Using the bent rod method, would it make more sense structurally to have the portion of rod in the fluted polypropylene to be vertically bent downward to prevent pulling forces (gravity) from weakening the glue and pulling the rod downward and out of the board? In this example the rod is bent upwards in the back
Click to expand...
You're familiar with pegboard hooks, right? The configuration of formed rod mounts is based on the same principle of transferring the stress to the back of the substrate.

In other words, bending the embedded segment of the rod upward sends the force of the loaded mount forward, toward the back of the mounting substrate. Bending the rod downward would send the force backward, away from the substrate. In that case, all of the stress would be on the hard-setting adhesive used to embed it, which would be less durable than the substrate itself.
 
I also like "stitching certain objects with thin gauge wire. When twisted properly behind the substrate and the extra folded over and taped in place, it holds quite securely but unobtrusively. This works great for mounting medals.
:cool: Rick
 
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