what weight, no wire?

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The Wavy Framer

The Wavy Framer

SGF, Supreme Grumble Framer
Joined
Feb 4, 2009
Posts
2,263
Loc
New England / Northern California
A customer just called and asked why a sales person at Crate and Barrel told him not to put wire on the framed art he just purchased.

He said the frame was 38x58, did not have glass and had 2 D-rings for hanging. All the sales person could tell him was it was too large for wire. She said nothing about the weight of the piece.

My customer said the weight was around 18 lbs. I told him wire would be just fine and to use 2 hooks for hanging.

My question to all of you is.... what is the cut off weight for not using wire and using wall buddies, Z-bar etc.? 25lbs?
 
The reason for no wire is that it is a cheapass plastic frame. The screws pull out and they come crashing down. They have labels pasted on the back right where the wire would cross over stating "DON'T ATTACH WIRE TO THIS CHEAPASS PIECE OF CARP FRAME". The customer then takes it to a professional with all of the particles of junk plastic in a baggie and ask us to rejoin and reassemble the plastic dust. "JUST SAY NO". They say I don't understand why this piece of junk fell off the wall. It was hanging on wire and nobody knocked it off. I refuse to rejoin this junk any longer and if the customer pushes the issue I tell them it will cost 3 times the cost of a genuine frame made of genuine wood.
 
A couple years ago, a woman brought a 'frame' to us
that she had bought at a store an hour away. It looked
like a frame, had a matted piece of art in it, and she wanted
to change it out for her posted. I told her that there were
no guarantees, as hers was a plastic frame with some
slight corner gaps, but that we should be able to switch out
the piece okay.

A few days later, my co-worker went to take it apart.
She laid the frame upside down on the fitting table, and
began to remove this wide brown tape on the back. Then
she was going to remove whatever staples were holding
the piece in. She had most of the tape off when the frame
fell into four pieces. It was about 22 x 28, and that tape had
been what was holding it together. It was the craziest thing.
It was made out of that black foamy stuff, and it did have
v-nails in it. But there was no adhesive of any kind, and when
the tape came off, the v-nails acted like knives to cut
through the foam. It was bizarre. There were chunks of the
black foam that had fallen out when it came apart, and
all we could do was to call the young woman.

She was furious that we had 'ruined' her frame, and
wanted us to replace it free of charge with something
from stock. The owner of the shop refused to do so,
and the girl got quite upset. I told her that she might
call the store it came from and ask for a replacement,
and tell them that it fell to pieces. She did, and they told
her it wasn't a real picture frame. They said it was only
for decorative purposes, and they weren't going to
do anything for her. It was a very tense situation, and
we learned that even when it looks like a frame, acts
like a frame, and walks like a frame, it might not be
a frame as we know it.
 
Jeff Rodier said:
The one from Crate and Barrel sells for $2 per pound. All extremely heavy items should not have wire but weight was not an issue with this one.
Click to expand...

I decided to re-start my post when you posted...

Yep, you're right Jeff...when I re-read I realized it weighed a mere 18 pounds...
 
Christmas help had me wound a bit tight but that is all gone. I still take a stance on no more plastic junk repairs.

Like in Mommy Dearest:

"NO MORE PLASTIC FRAMES, NO MORE PLASTIC FRAMES, NO MORE PLASTIC FRAMES".:fire:
 
The trouble with wire is that depending on how tight it is, the lateral forces on the frame can easily be 5X the weight of the frame or more. If the frame material isn't very stiff, it could warp or break under the strain.

Using D rings to directly support the frame does not add any additional forces to the frame.
 
The Wavy Framer said:
My question to all of you is.... what is the cut off weight for not using wire and using wall buddies, Z-bar etc.? 25lbs?
Click to expand...

I'd go by size and strength of the material used. Not so much weight. As Jeff gently alluded to this may have been plastic and not wood :) . And to me the problem would be more of a bowing issue than a pulling out issue. Too many of the light weight (materialize) frames feel flimsy and i would fear the mirror, or artwork would fall out due to the frame being inadequate.

I get customers that bring me mirrors to put a wire on. I can do it, but would suggest a wall buddy for plastic moulding and a z-bar for wood. For artwork use your discretion, if it has that cheap plastic film on it instead of glass a wire may work. But would you feel comfortable having it hang in your own house, above your child's bed? If not, don't do it.
 
Jim3535 said:
The trouble with wire is that depending on how tight it is, the lateral forces on the frame can easily be 5X the weight of the frame or more. If the frame material isn't very stiff, it could warp or break under the strain.

Using D rings to directly support the frame does not add any additional forces to the frame.
Click to expand...

I'd add if your gonna go with d-rings then switch up to the pp-mfg product ;) Easier for the customer to use and sturdy.
 
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