Question V-nail Poly Frame?

Rick Granick

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A customer wants me to repair a frame I thought was wood, but it turned out to be poly. It was poorly assembled before, with one plastic insert in each corner. Can poly frames be v-nailed? Also, what kind of glues will work with it?
Thanks.
:cool: Rick
 
This issue came up a lot when I was in the biz. Yes, you can v-nail it. No, we never found a glue that worked very well. Each type of plastic has its own solvent glue and, if you don't exactly which type of plastic the moulding is made of, you're just guessing. I've heard of people dissolving some of the plastic in acetone and using that as glue, but you don't have extra material to do that with. We had a little success with epoxy made for plastics, but even that didn't create a strong bond.
 
As long as there is enough space for it, you can V-Nail plastic frames.
Super Glue works okay, but is not necessarily the best for any plastic.
Whatever glue you use, make sure to not get any on the outside of the frame, as it will not clean off well.
 
I’ve v-nailed hundreds of them, using that Oatey yellow pipe glue. And repaired dozens. Use a hardwood v-nail. Funny thing is today I had my first failure: I was joining an old British molding, one of the earliest, and full of air. I’m running out of 15mm nails, and tried to stack two tens. Two opposite corners slacked, because there just wasn’t enough material to grip the nails.

I’ll rejoin them, and use those L brackets to keep them together.
 
Yeah, the Emafyl poly mouldings were a PITA.
Keep the number of V-mails to a minimum. Just enough to hold the joint until the glue sets. If there is failure in the frame, it is unlikely to happen at the miters as the process literally welds the joint together.
I use Plasti-Bond which is much like a gel super glue.
 
Just applied construction adhesive to the weak joints, and it worked. Can’t believe I’m joining frames with construction adhesive.
 
Thanks for the tips. I used JB Weld Plastic Bonder (a 2-part expoxy-like mixture) and the Hardwood V-Nails. Worked great.
The stuff can be messy, though. I generally never work with poly, but this was a pretty straightforward re-assembly, and I like the customer.
:popc: Rick
 
I used to use a thickened cyanoacrylate or methyl methacrylate gel which is a bit easier to handle than ordinary superglue. They smell quite sharp and if you want to get high a few close sniffs will do it so keep your head up.

The trick is to use a strip of matboard to paint the glue onto the moulding, keeping it clear of the top and side edges to avoid any squishing out onto the visible surface. Also do not let the stuff get onto your fingers or you will leave fingerprints on the finish and you cannot clean them off.

Once joined and cured the moulding will break before the glue will give way.
 
I’ve v-nailed hundreds of them, using that Oatey yellow pipe glue. And repaired dozens. Use a hardwood v-nail. Funny thing is today I had my first failure: I was joining an old British molding, one of the earliest, and full of air. I’m running out of 15mm nails, and tried to stack two tens. Two opposite corners slacked, because there just wasn’t enough material to grip the nails.

I’ll rejoin them, and use those L brackets to keep them together.
Hi tedh...THIS is a picture of the Oatey Yellow Pipe Glue in case someone needs this info. Correct? Tks.
 

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Never thought of that. Perhaps it could degrade the plastic of the container?
 
Never thought of that. Perhaps it could degrade the plastic of the container?
When I pick some up, I will put a couple of ounces in a squeeze bottle and see what happens. If you try before I get it, let me know. Tks.
 
This came in this morning.
A 6" wide 3-frame stack, cut to fit 24x36.

20241106_110300.webp
20241106_110313.webp
20241106_104857.webp
20241106_104859.webp
20241106_105023.webp


The customer had no idea it was poly/plastic.
She asked if I could repair it.
"Not possible. The damage is too extensive."
I tried to close the miters by hand, but they would not close neatly because of how badly the poly breaks apart.
The smaller inside frame was broken like a brittle bone in a few places. Chunks falling out every time the thing was moved around.

The artwork is just a simple dry mounted poster of no real value.

Staples were driven through the foamboard that the print was dry-mounted on.
I was able to remove the mounted poster without damaging the surface of the print, but the edges are torn up in places from staples.
While not the end of the world, I don't like that.

This entire frame will now go in the trash. Which is too bad. What a waste.
 
We had plenty of situations just like that one. In one case, the woman was much more than a little surprised to find out her frame was plastic. When I showed her she asked "Do you know how much I paid for that?" I, of course, had no idea. "Four hundred dollars!" She was steaming by this point and said she was going to return it. I wanted to see what happened next in the worst way, but I had other work to do.
 
With those broken corners, the only possible fix is to cut down the mat by an inch or so, cut down the corners to fresh miters, then re-glue them.
 
With those broken corners, the only possible fix is to cut down the mat by an inch or so, cut down the corners to fresh miters, then re-glue them.
I have some something like that with a broken wood frame, only once.
Have no equipment (nor interest) in doing so with poly.
Too much of a PITA.
 
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