Marcos

80 A m e r i c a n Wo o d w o r k e r OCTOBER 2002

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Everyone I know has a drawer stuffedwith photos that are waiting to beframed. What often keeps us fromgetting those treasures up on the wall is thehigh cost of professional framing.

If youve ever tried making pictureframes, Ill bet you got frustrated cut-ting the miters and clamping the cor-ners. Weve got the perfect solution.

Weve designed a great looking two-part frame thats downright cheap andeasy to make. The pieces are small, soyou can use up some of that scrap woodyouve been unable to part with. Plus,with our surefire mitering and clampingjigs, you can make frames by the dozen.

The frame and jigs shown here are setup for 8 x 10 or smaller photos. By using

different mats, you can use one frame sizefor different-size photos. You can alsomake the frame and jigs larger or smallerto custom-fit almost any size picture.

Tools and MaterialsTo make the frames you will need a table-saw, a router and router table, plus adado blade and router bits. To build thejigs you will also need a hand drill, jigsaw,hacksaw and a few spring clamps.

After you get your frames built and fin-ished, check out our article on Tips forBetter Picture Frames, AW #88, August2001, page 48. Youll find helpful infor-mation on cutting mats, mounting pho-tos and artwork and installing glass.

Photo

by theDozenTwo jigs let you crank them out flawlessly!

Two small photos mounted with atwin mat in a walnut frame.

Our frame design isperfect for holiday

gift makingbecause it fits awide variety of

photos.

4 x 6 photo mounted with a doublemat in a mahogany and walnutframe.

5 x 7 photo mounted with avertical mat in a maple and walnutframe.

8 x 10 photo mounted without amat in a cherry and walnut frame.

Frames

By Randy Johnson

A m e r i c a n Wo o d w o r k e r MONTH 2000 81

Photo Frames by the Dozen

Our frame design has two parts, which can be made ofdifferent woods or even used as two separate frames!

Fig. BInner-Frame Profile

3/4"

1/4"

3/4"

1/2"

7/8"

1-1/8"

1/4"

1-3/8"1/4"

1/4"

3/4"1/8"

3/8"

1-1/8"

BEVEL


Fig. A Outer-Frame Profile

3/4"

1/4"

3/4"

1/2"

7/8"

1-1/8"

1/4"

1-3/8"1/4"

1/4"

3/4"1/8"

3/8"

1-1/8"

BEVEL

10-3/8"

12-3/8"

13-7/16"

11-7/16"

OUTER FRAME

INNERFRAME

Outer-Frame

Inner-Frame

A m e r i c a n Wo o d w o r k e r OCTOBER 2002 83

Use a bullnoserouter bit to cutthe round profileon the outer frame.

Use a chamferrouter bit to cut thebevel on the innerframe.

Rout the frame profiles on your router table. Keep thingssafe by using featherboards and push sticks.

Cut the rabbet in the inner-frame materialwith a dado blade. Use a zero-clearance insert to fullysupport the frame material and featherboards to keepthe material against the fence while making the rabbet.

Caution: Blade guard must be removed for this cut.

Cut the rabbet in the outer-frame material.Adjustthe outfeed featherboard so it rides inside the rabbet.

Caution: Blade guard must be removed for this cut.

1

2

3

FRAMEMATERIAL

FEATHERBOARD

INNER-FRAMEMATERIAL

FEATHERBOARD

ZERO-CLEARANCEINSERT

OUTER-FRAMEMATERIAL

NOTE: FEATHERBOARDMOVED TOWARDFENCE

FEATHERBOARD INRABBET

PUSHSTICK

Machining the Frame Material


This tablesaw sled makes perfect miters everytime. Youll be able to quickly cut accuratemultiple frame parts. Start by cutting all theparts for the sled (Fig. C, Detail 1, page 85).Youll have to size the guide rails to fit yourtablesaw because slot sizes vary between sawbrands. Make the guide rails so they slide freely,yet have minimal side-to-side movement. Makethem about 1/16-in. thinner than the depth ofthe slots in your tablesaw. Also make a pair of1/8-in.-thick spacer strips to use when gluingthe guide rails to the sled board (Photo 4).

SLEDBASE3/4" x 24" X 24"

TRIANGLE MITERFRAME

#8 x 1-1/4" F.H.SCREW

#8 x 1-1/4" R.H.SCREW

1-1/2" x 2" x 16"REAR FENCE

16" T-TRACK

1/2" SETBACK

1/4" x 6"x 24"PLEXIGLASSAFETY SHIELD

1-1/2" x 2" x 16"FRONT FENCE

#8 x 2" F.H. SCREWGUIDE RAIL

16"

DUST BEVEL

Fig. CMiter Saw Sled

Make a miter sled for cutting the frame pieces. Begin bygluing the guide rails to the sled board.The 1/8-in. spacerstrips hold the guide rails slightly above the top of the table.Use a piece of tape to mark the center of the saw blade andalign the center of the sled board with this mark. Flush theedge of the sled board with the table edge.Add some weightto the top and allow the glue to dry.


Making and Using the Miter Sled

4

WEIGHTS

FLUSH WITHSAW TABLE

GUIDERAIL

SPACERSTRIP

SAW-BLADECENTER

SLED CENTER


After attaching the guide rails, add the front and rearfences. Put the sled on your tablesaw with the bladeraised about 1 in. Now slide the saw sled into theblade until the plywood is cut to about half of itswidth.

Next, make the plywood triangle. Start with a 16-in.-square piece of plywood and cut it diagonallywith a jigsaw. Dont forget to rout the dust bevel on the bot-tom side of the triangle. This bevel helps prevent sawdustfrom building up against the triangle and causing miter-fit-ting problems (see Oops!, page 87).

Center the triangle on the saw kerf and attach it to the sledbase with screws (Photo 5). Complete the saw sled withthe addition of the T-track, adjustable stop block and thesafety shield (Photo 6).

Cutting frame parts with this miter sled is a simple two-step process (Photos 7 and 8).

2"

3-1/4"

1-1/2"

1-1/4"

1-3/4"

3/4"

5/16" DIA.

STARKNOB

5/16" x 1-1/2"T-BOLT

WASHER7/8"

Detail 1 Adjustable Stop Block

Center the tip of the plywood triangle with themiddle of the saw kerf and against the rear sled fence.The dustbevel on the bottom edge prevents dust buildup.

Screw the T-track and the safety shield in place.Add the stop block and the sled is ready to use.

FIRST CUTCut the first miter with the frame material on the rightside of the miter sled.We marked our miter sled to remind usof the cutting order.

SECOND CUTCut the second miter with the frame material on the leftside of the miter sled. Set the adjustable stop block for therequired lengths.

5

6

7

8

DUSTBEVEL

TRIANGLE

SAW KERF

BACK FENCE

PLEXIGLAS SAFETY SHIELD

T-TRACK

ADJUSTABLESTOP BLOCK

ADJUSTABLESTOP BLOCK


1-1/2"

5/16"THREADEDINSERT

3/4" x 1"x 13"

3/4" x 1"x 16-1/2"

3/4" x 14-1/2"x 16-1/2"

T-KNOBWASHER

HEXNUT

5/16"x 3-1/2"CARRIAGE BOLT

2-1/2"1-1/2"

2-1/2"

DRILLCENTER

1"2-1/4"

1"

2-1/4"

GLUEDRIPSLOT

3/4"

This clamping jig takes the pain out of gluing and clampingmiters. Unlike the old one-corner-at-a-time clamps, ourstakes care of all four corners at once!

The clamping jig shown here is made specifically to fit ourframe sizes. You can clamp other size frames by making theclamping jig larger or smaller.

To make the jig, cut the parts according to Fig. D. Drill

3/4-in. holes, then cut out the glue drip slots with a jigsaw. Next,drill for the threaded inserts (see Sources, page 102) and screwthem in place. Now glue the sides to the base. To ensure per-fectly square frames, the jig sides that dont have threaded insertsmust be perfectly square to each other (Photo 9).

To complete your clamping jig, make the filler boards (Fig.E). These boards keep the frame centered in the jig, help dis-

Making and Using the Clamping Jig

Fig. DClamping Jig

Make a clamping jig to help assemble the frames. Glueand clamp the sides to the jig base. Make sure the inside of thesides without threaded inserts are perfectly square to eachother.

Rub glue on the end grain of your frame parts. Let it dryabout 10 or 15 seconds. If it seems to soak in a lot, add a littlemore glue, rub again and let the parts rest for another 5 or 10seconds.When the glue seems a bit tacky (no longer runny) youcan put the parts in the clamping jig. Note that the filler boardsare already in place.

You can clamp all four corners atthe sametime withthis simple-to-build jig.


9

10

THREADEDINSERT

JIGBASE

JIG SIDESQUARE

FRAMEPARTS

FILLERBOARDS

tribute the clamping pressure evenly and protect the framefrom the ends of the clamping bolts.

Follow the steps in Photos 11 and 12 to clamp up yourframes. If clamping one frame at a time seems too slow foryou, make several clamping jigs and youll really be in the production business.

Sawdust buildup can keep your frame materialfrom laying tightly against the triangle fence.Thiscauses miter-alignment problems later on.Welearned this the hard way when we built ourprototype miter sled (photo, above).Thats whyits important to bevel the bottom of thetriangle fence to give the sawdust a place to go.

Assemble the frame in the clamping jig one part at atime. Start with the long side, part 1, and add parts 2, 3 and 4in order. Line up the miters and youre ready to apply clampingpressure.

Apply clamping pressure a little bit at a time. Turneach clamp lightly at first. Double-check that the miters arestill lined up and then apply more pressure.When the risk ofslippage seems to be gone, apply firm pressure to the clampingbolts. Dont overtighten.These are small joints and dontrequire a ton of clamping pressure to bring them together. Itmay take you a couple of frames to get the hang of clampingall four corners at the same time, but once you do youll beamazed at how fast you can make perfect frames.After theglue dries, sand the frames.The inner and outer frames can beglued together before finishing or brad-nailed together afterfinishing.

Fig. E Clamping Jig Filler BoardsMake two of each size.


3/4" x 3/4" x 13"

3/4" x 3/4" x 11"

3/4" x 1-1/4" x 11-7/8"

3/4" x 1-1/4" x 9-7/8"

3/4" x 3/4" x 13"

3/4" x 3/4" x 11"

3/4" x 1-1/4" x 11-7/8"

3/4" x 1-1/4" x 9-7/8"

11

12

#1

#2

#3

#4CLAMPINGBOLT

SAWDUST BUILDUP

NO BEVEL

Filler boards forouter frame.

Filler boards forinner frame.

FILLERBOARD

FILLERBOARD

GLUEDRIPSLOT

Finish your frames. A spray-on finish is the easiest.We bevel-cuta 2x6 in half and screwed on a piece of plywood at both ends tomake a simple finishing rack.The open design allows the oversprayto blow through rather than bounce back onto the frames. Replacethe masking tape when it gets covered with finish.

13

PLYWOOD

BEVEL-CUT 2x6

MASKINGTAPE

SPECKLED-BLUE-SLATESTONE PAINT

GILDED-BLACKCRACKLE PAINT

ANTIQUE-GOLDPAINT

Have some fun!Try using differentwoods and different finishes.

DARK-PATINAPAINT

CLEARWOODFINISH

Photo Frames by the Dozen88 A m e r i c a n Wo o d w o r k e r OCTOBER 2002

Have you developed your own frame-making technique? Wed loveto hear about it.Write to us at [email protected]

Finish the Frames

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