Wallbuddies on long frames

[Sherry Lee]

I just put large wallbuddies on a 40"(w)x25"(h). When I look at it, I SENSE that it ought to have more support in the middle (between the two existing wallbuddies). It probably weighs about 10 lbs. The moulding is
1 1/2" wide (fyi).

Would those experienced with this size, or any "physics experts" please give me your input.

 

[seido]

Physics is not my thing but...I've used the large WallBuddies on bigger/heavier pieces than the one you describe for a Bank project and no additional support was needed, they haven't moved a millimeter in 2 years...love those WallBuddies!!!

Joel

 

[FraminGal]

I love WallBuddies as well. My next choice for a wider, heavier frame would be z-bars which I have used successfully.

Judy

 

[MerpsMom]

I'm thinking that you can go wider and heavier than yours is and still use WBs. If I have my engineering right, the WB reinforces the corner mitre by the way you use the four screws, and most of the weight of the piece is near the mitres and thus on the vertical rails.

I still wish the bite on the hook was deeper, but I don't worry about the width or the weight at all and I've gone much wider with them.

 

[Jim Miller]

The small size WallBuddies for wood frames will support up to 30 lbs., and large WallBuddies will support up to 60 lbs. In other words, the wall support will probably be the limiting factor, not the frame, or the hardware's attachment to the frame.

The middle of the top rail does not need anything. WallBuddies support the frame from the two top corners, which creates no stress on the middle of the rail.

The only other rail under some stress is the bottom one, whose miters support the part of the weight of the frame's contents.

That is not so with a wire, which stresses all four rails all the time.

 

[Sherry Lee]

Thank you all for your comments. I wondered if, over a long period of time, the top rail would slowly develop into a "smile" since the WallBuddies were at either end.

I do realize that, as someone suggested, you can't place a third WallBuddie in the middle - there's no such animal.

 

[Cliff Wilson]

I posted a reply to this on HH, but I'll do a short reply here as well. 40" wide with a 1 1/2" frame concerns me in two ways ... the bottom rail support, and the very real possibility that the customer will carry it by the center of the top rail and "pop the glass" out. (The WBs don't concern me at all as Jim stated.)

To avoid the two problems, a simple support strap should work fine. I use 3/4" "pipe tape" which can be found for about $10 per 100 feet in most hardware stores. It comes in a coil with holes every 1/2". Cut it to size and put one screw at each end of the tape in the center of the top and bottom rail. This is the steel strapping that plumbers use to hang pipes from the ceiling of your basement.

Works great, quickly, and inexpensively as a center support for wide horizontal frames.