Equipment Suggestions

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Ecramer

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R&R Custom Color Lab
We've been having our frame supplier cut and join all of our frames for us as we have a small staff but are considering bringing that work in-house to reduce costs.
We offer wood frames, metal frames and canvas stretcher bars.
I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions for equipment we should look at first/start with?
Thank you!
 
You would need some sort of cutter, and some sort of joiner.
What do you have room for?
A Tablesaw with a Mitre Jig, or a well calibrated Mitre Saw don't take up much room.
If you have room for something larger, like a Double Mitre Saw, or 2 Mitre Saws, with a measurement system, I'd go that route.
A V-Nailer, or a Hoffman Thumbnailer also don't take up much room.
A dust collector is also important, and you may also need an air compressor to run some of the equipment.
If you can only get one item, I'd go with the joiner (either type), and order chops. Chops usually cost less, and ship cheaper than joined frames. Also, a cutter withut a joiner will be of no use.

Do you have room to store frame moulding?
Being able to buy by the box is the big cost saver.
There is a bit of math to consider when buying a stick of moulding vs. a chop.
A chop generally costs about 60% of what length costs.
With length you are purchasing an entire stick. Generally 9.5 ft.
It is better to get a chop on anything up to 6 ft, and between 9.5 and 12 ft.
You also have to deal with moulding coming in unexpected lengths, allowances (defects that you don't pay for), knots and damages that you aren't credited for, wood being a different colors on 2 sticks needed for a larger frame.
Then, what do you do with the leftover frame moulding?

Buying by the box gives you greater saving, and allows you to have material on hand for any potential Rush situations.
You'll also have uses for left over stock on the next frame you make.

If you need to rent more space in order to save money, are you really saving money?

I am fully invested in cutting my own frames.
About 40% of our shop is dedicated to storing, cutting, and joining frames.
A 40% rent reduction would be nice, but I find that the ability to Rush a project sets us apart from all of our local competition.
 
Thank you for the quick response and all the great information. It will definitely help us to weigh all of our options as we move forward. Thank you!
 
Every shop has different needs and considerations.

All the points listed by alacrity8 (and some more) are what led me to do the opposite of you.

I quit doing my own cutting and now order exclusively joined frames from my supplier.
This is only one part of changes made over the past few years, in which I have increased profits each year.

For me, factors like; waste material costs, accumulation and storage of "left overs", length moulding storage requirements, reduction in time spent on other tasks, hassle of poor quality length material etc. turned me away from cutting from length.

I have recently found that having only one supplier means you can't leverage "shopping around" for purchasing more affordably priced materials or services.

I opened an account with a new supplier whose rates are much better than the only supplier I had been using for over a decade.
This simple adjustment cost nothing other than filling an application form and ordering from a different set of frame samples.
This will easily increase my profits with little effort, simply by making smarter buying choices.

Rather than taking on extra costs (buying equipment, losing time on a new task, taking more space) to "save money", find out if you can get what you are currently doing (joins) at a better rate.
 
As mentioned above, your equipment needs vary with what your niche is. You definitely need the capacity to join frames. You may or may not need the ability to cut them. Our niche was we were fast because we had both cutting and joining equipment and a pot load of length moulding. We got a lot of commercial orders as a result because time was of the essence for many of our customers. We could pull that off because we could get a large space for a very reasonable rent. If you do mainly work for the home, you can get by with less investment in space and stock.
 
I agree with Nikodeumus. In my job I have been so lucky to have visited framers in over 100 countries. The minute you walk into a frame shop you can tell in an instant if its running the owner, or if the owner is running the biz. There are so many tell tale signs.
Let me share with you what Ive seen in Holland. I had a distributor there who told me that 90% of his mouldings went out a chop service. What does that tell you? Many Dutch framers got rid of most of their machines, Kept the mat cutter and devoted the additional space to retail sales. Holland has a strong framing trade, so they seem to have worked out how to make money.
Hope this helps the OP. Probably NOT :faintthud:as he is asking what machinery to buy
 
The equipment and moulding storage you need depends on the volume and complexity of your framing. That is, 50 frames a week is a lot different than 50 frames a day.

Before you make major investments and changes to your operations to accommodate moulding storage, cutting & dust control equipment, and considerably higher in-house labor costs, I suggest going half-way first.

Buy chops and get an underpinner or Hoffmann dovetail router. Proceed with your work that way for a while, and then decide whether to buy length moulding and cut it yourself.

Whatever way you decide to go, your budget will be a big factor, too. For example, if you build fewer than 20 frames a week, you might be satisfied with a manual underpinner, such as the Fletcher/AMP U200. Or, if you build around 10 frames a day, you might be satisfied with the entry-level pneumatic underpinner, the Fletcher/AMP U200P. Beyond that, the U300 or U400 may be suitable. And if you have big production requirements, you may want to get a U500 or U600 programmable machine.

Or, if you go for a dovetail routing machine, the Hoffmann MU3 or MU3-P may be good choices.
 

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Another benefit of cutting your own frames is making the corners of decorative frames look better.
It can be a pain in the butt to make fancy frames line up in the corner.
The people making the chops are unlikely to care about that.
If you care, and are willing to put in the extra work, you can make that work yourself.

In general, I would trust the quality of a chop service of simple profiles, but not something with a pattern.
 
Maybe a look at your P & L and Balance Sheet is in order along with a projection of what it may look like after you apply the equipment purchase expenses, increased labor/payroll costs, increased insurance costs, increased inventory costs, additional interest costs if financing the purchases, increased advertising costs to justify the expenses, against some added depreciation and a possible reduction in C of S. Also examine what impact the adjustment might have on future sales and whether you would need to increase sales to justify the expenses.

One additional thought - dust control.
 
Lots of variables in the equation.

How many corner samples do you show, and from that, how many are regular sellers?
What volume are you talking about?
What space do you have to change from its current function to material storage, and machinery workshop? Also, what is the cost per square foot for that space? Will you be able to isolate the workshop area from the "clean" spaces?
Do you have employees that can operate the machinery, or ?
Have you factored in the material management (time spent with dealing with length mouldings, and the waste generated)?
Then there is the ease factor with local distribution. Will you be buying only from sources that offer delivery? Otherwise, how will shipping impact your costs?


I would guess that there are about as many business models as there are frame shops (corporate shops excepted). Everyone finds the balance that works for them, or they are out of business. And, that balance is dynamic, so don't stop tweaking.

I may have used joining services once in my 44 years in the business.
I currently use a combination of chops, short lengths, and box programs. Each order is looked at for the best way to control costs.
You don't need a Hoffmann (I have one) or a V-nailer (I have 2) to put frames together, but it helps.
The advice I got from my mentors in the woodworking field was to find the best quality tools you can afford, and buy the next model up.

Read Rick Hennen's (and probably everyone else's) comments a couple times. Lot's of good information here.
 
alacrity8 said:
The opposite option is to buy used equipment until you can afford to upgrade to what you want.
Click to expand...
Certainly. It depends on how well you can grow the demand for your services.
There's also a MacGyver factor. Buying used means maintenance, and some unknowns. Buying new gets support and warranties.
Lots of variables to keep in mind.
I've done both. Upgrading seems to be universal regardless.
 
alacrity8 said:
Another benefit of cutting your own frames is making the corners of decorative frames look better.
It can be a pain in the butt to make fancy frames line up in the corner.
The people making the chops are unlikely to care about that.
If you care, and are willing to put in the extra work, you can make that work yourself.

In general, I would trust the quality of a chop service of simple profiles, but not something with a pattern.
Click to expand...
Another way to pattern-match the corners would be to order chops a certain percentage larger than your nominal size, and trim them yourself with a chopper or saw. Anyone doing this should definitely charge a premium over their regular prices because of the extra materials and TIME & EFFORT required.
:coffeedrinker2: Rick
 
If you decide to move forward and purchase equipment be sure to build an equipment repair factor into your overhead. At some point in time, all equipment breaks down, this is especially important if purchasing used machines. If you have to bring an outside repair person in, it can get quite costly. Especially if they are from out of town and you need to put them up overnight. If a repair costs you $1,000.00 and you are operating at a 25% profit margin, you will need to do $4,000.00 more worth of business (excluding the tax effect) to replace that expense. It's important to recognize that potential cost and beging building a reserve fund to cover it when it happens.
 
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