An "Extremely Secure" Wall Mounted...

MerpsMom

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
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and very removable frame. This is my dilemma. (I feel terrible bringing up new stuff when I haven't read any of the old because of the vision difficulty I'm cheating on: but it's improving and I'm sprung on next Wednesday for true reading.)

I'm doing a restaurant. I want to utilize a fairly large presentation where I mount velcro fabric in a flat frame to facilitate the changing of photos periodically. When we mount all the frames in this store, we drill and screw them to the wall. This one needs to be removeable. I'll screw the flat frame with the velcro fabric to the wall, but the prettier overframe...if you will...must be able to be popped off easily but still be extremely secure so that customers don't knock if off the wall, a wall that is definitely in a high-traffic area.

Has anyone ever used the 3M product which purports to be strong than Velcro? It is advertised as something with the word "lock" in it. I figure I can just secure it to a thin metal strip screwed to the wall, and the back of the frame. (No glue would give me a comfortable feeling.) I guess I could use security hangers, but is there anything else that would make this easily done? I have to change the dry-mounted/backbeveled photos about once a month...for as long as I can stand it.
 
I must secure this thing both top AND bottom. If I have my image correct, Z-bar would be top only. Picture a very busy hall where people walk all the time. If someone bumped it "upwards", it'd flip off the wall? I'm interested both in customer safety and my convenience.
 
Would it be feasible to mount 2 zbars (one at top and one at bottom)? If you mounted the bottom one upside down it might work even better. I'm trying to picture it, but it's been a looong week.

There's also a T style security hanger (United sells them) that may be easier to use than standard security hangers.

Good Luck!

Maybe a combination of both?
 
I would go with Wall Buddies and a security tab at the bottom. Darrel at Wall Buddies has them, or check your local supplier. United has several different types of security locks for the bottom rail. The first one you hang can be a little tricky, but after a couple you get the hang of it. No pun intended.
 
We do alot of installations where I work, and Z-bar's the ticket! Just use a security "T" screw to lock/secure/flush the bottom.
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I'm with Jerry. Wall Buddy security hangers are great if they will work for this project. We got advice from Grumblers once and these hangers worked like a charm.

Just some minor points about measuring and drilling and putting in mollies or whatever, but my boss's husband took care of that part!
 
You could build what I call a "slip-over" frame. That is, two frames carefully fitted so that one slides over the outer perimeter of the other. You can do it with frames of at least 1" depth; deeper is better. The base-frame is secured to the wall, and the outer frame simply lifts off by pulling it straight out from the wall.

My favorite combination is a Nielsen #15 series base-frame which holds the mount board, and a 1-1/2" to 2" deep wood outer frame, with shadowbox sides fitted down to the top of the metal frame.

There's no hardware involved, and the finished, assembled result looks like an integral unit on the wall. Nobody would accidentally realize it comes apart without tools.

This design is a new part of the "Complete Guide to Shadowboxes & Object Framing" class. I can send you a drawing if you like.
 
Jim, I would like to see that drawing. Is it something you can post?
Thanks, Cliff
 
My idea was similar to Jim's in that you would build a wooden inner frame to hold the velcro cloth and then build an outer deeper frame to slip over the attached-to-the-wall frame.

(BTW, I just cringe when I walk into a restaurant and see framing screwed to the wall!!)

To help hold the whole package together, you could imbed a few rare earth magnets in the "inner" frame and some flat head screws or some of the washers that are sold to mate up to the rate earth magnets in the outer frame. If you go with a larger size magnet such as a 3/8" they have a holding power of 5 lbs. per magnet. 2 of these on each side should give you enough holding power for most commercial applications.

Now, about fastening the inner frame to the wall, I would highly recommend the security WallBuddies for this purpose. They are secure and don't show any of those ugly screws through the face of the frames.
(Put a frown on that little green guy and a "Blahh!!" next to him.)

If you use a slipover shadowbox frame, you can imbed your magnets in the sides of the inner frame rather than the top and position your screw or round attractor plate to the inside of the shadowbox frame so that they match up.

I will guarantee that, if you line everything up properly, that frame will suck right out of your hands when you slip it over the inner frame!!
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Good luck, Cathie, and hope to "see" you seeing soon.

Framerguy
 
Let's see if I get what you are doing....
You are going to be screwing a velcro covered board on the wall and then the frame with glass will be going on over the board? And you want to be able to open or remove the frame to change the display on the velcro? I think the thickness of the outer frame would make a difference in how this would be done.
A couple of ideas:
The velcro covered board could be beveled at the top like a french cleat and a matching bevel could be glued to the inside of the outer frame so they hook together at the top and the bottom could be screwed to the wall or up from the bottom into the velcroed board or just velcroed like you said to the wall. The top could be hinged to the board or the wall depending on the width of the frame and again fastened on the bottom. Instead of a french cleat type fastening at the top you could use a couple of dowels sticking out of the top of the velcro panel and holes drilled in the rabbet of the outer frame could latch onto them.
If the outer edge of the velcro board and outer edge of the fancy frame are flush to each other I would just use a piano hinge on one side and use screws or velcro or magnets or some other catch on the other side. Alignment pins on the catch side would be a good idea to keep the frame from sagging out of square.

Any of these ideas catch your eye?
 
Originally posted by MerpsMom:
Has anyone ever used the 3M product which purports to be strong than Velcro? It is advertised as something with the word "lock" in it.

It's 3M Dual-Lock. We use no.3540-black (heavy version) once in a while in security hanging. Use wallbuddies (or AMS-security-upper-thingies) and 3-6cm strips of Dual-Lock in the lower corners instead one secure T-screw in the middle. The frame is easy to uninstall if you know the technique but it's still secure - we have no reported thefts, so far
. Dual-Lock is very strong, do not use too long strips since it will be hard to open.

Hannu
 
Oh, brother, do I miss reading! I can do short stretches so can only check in once in awhile.

All good suggestions here for my project. I spoke with the ID Manager yesterday. She has concerns about theft as well as security. And while I hate the screws in frames as well, Tom
, there's naught for it but to follow their instructions. This restaurant has installed that way for years and years.

Looks like I'll be framing a velcro-fabric f/c board in a 1" flat frame screwed to the wall which will show up as a liner under the decorative frame. The decorative frame will fit closely over and end up flush with the wall because the rabbet's deep enough to cover the underframe.

My last question is this: if I follow the "rules" and use screws at top and bottom of the overframe, can I successfully use plastic screw anchors in the sheetrock and screw/unscrew them repeatedly over time? Without anchors, the sheetrock would crumble, but can you employ the anchors as a shield against that? Pleeeeezzzz say I can: the IDM is very worried about my installation and may nix the deal. On the other hand, I don't want to be sued.

If I can't use shields, I'll go with one of the above methods: I'm looking for easy and speedy. (Seems I want it all, huh? This job is wearing me out.
)
 
What about using mollies to hold the frame to
the dry wall? They can be tightened and loosened
many times, but whatever is attached to them would
have to have one side open, so it could be slid
off to the side, since you couldn't take the
bolt all the way out.

Hugh
 
Yippee. I think we've got it. Hugh, the mollies were a thought, but it seems there are metal anchors which allow you to completely remove and reinstall the screw as many times as you want, so I can remove the whole frame from the wall, exposing the under-dealie completely.

And I don't even need a frame around the velcro fabric because I'll glue it to Masonite and screw that package into the wall, then cover the screws with removeable pictures.


Thanx for all your help: I feel so much better now.
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