Poster Hanger

I was recently asked to help out with a project that sounded like a bit of fun. Since it has been a long while since I've posted, I figured it would be an easy way to pass on the build information.

The project, a wood poster/picture hanger meeting the following requirements:

1. The picture is 42.5 inches wide.
2. Provide for a 1/2" margin all the way around.
3. The wood must be light(white) in color with no red.
4. 90 degree corners all the way around.
5. Use of magnets to hold the picture in position.
6. Use of gold color eyelets to secure the hanger wire to a picture rail molding.
7. Some other stuff that I can't remember.

Beech and Maple

I made a prototype to try and understand the task, while it is pretty straight forward...you never know.

Prototype Poster Hanger

I used three sets of magnet in the upper and lower bar sets. I found the hot glue was not strong enough to hold the magnets in place and I switched to epoxy. It is important to align the magnet sets, otherwise the hanger bars will not align properly. I marked the magnet position on one bar half, place a drop of glue on the mark and brought the bar halves together, transferring the magnet position to the second bar half. Then I drilled the recesses for the magnets.

I had on hand some Maple (for some reason I thought it was Cherry) the was a mix of white and gray.

I ran it through the thickness planer and found the there was enough white to create the face sections of the hanger and the grayish portions would work well for the back sections that are not visible.

After Planing

The board had a bit of a crook at one end so I evened one side out before approaching the table saw.

After squaring up the board I found the there was 5 1/2" inches of useful stock. I decided to make the frame width 1 1/4" (4 x 1.25" = 5" + 3 x 3/32" saw kerf) which would look good for this wide picture, provide enough stiffness, and leave no waste.

5 1/2 on the money!

 I crossed my fingers and started cutting. All said and done, there was about a 1/8" thick piece of board left over. I can live with that.

The hard part is done!

 The color difference is really apparent in this image. I left the part a little long for now, easier to cut them to size than to stretch them out :)

Now, figure out the magnet and eyelet positions, a bit of scraping and we'll be ready for prime time.

June 27, 2019

I was able to drill recesses for the magnets. I staggered the magnet positions so that the hanger halves would sit as flat against each other as possible. After placing dots on the mating sides of the magnets, I spread adhesive in all the recesses and inserted the magnets.

Installing magnets

Placing wax paper between the hanger halves, I clamped them together to allow the magnets to float toward each other and create a flat mating surface...no high or low spots. 24 hours to dry.

Clamp-up

Questions remaining...Instead of eyelets, an idea...drilling and inserting brass tubing. This would provide a hole for the hanging wire to pass. It would be virtually non-visible.

To be continued....