Vinyl Record Album Frames*

*The category says “projects that you have made or want to make”.

I want to make some of these…

Any tips on how to convert this for glowforging? I know I could cut mitered ends, but I think traditional wood tools would be just as quick. Any good ways to handle the miter? Maybe cut the corners as one piece and join the sides in some creative manner?

12 Likes

There should be little to no conversation necessary. The files provided are PDF and dfx, both of which should be supported directly.
I’d import the dfx and then proceed to make it my own. Some art? Some puzzle joints?

1 Like

The one drawback I can think of is that album covers are 12.5 by 12.25, which is going to be a bit more than the bed size I think. If you have the pro it will be doable, but it still might be a pain to cut them at a complete size. You could cut the 4 rails as separate pieces and do some interesting joinery.

I do a similar type of frame with standard woodworking. It’s just a top and bottom rail with groves and a stretcher in between.

2 Likes

That’s nice. I could get twice as many frames for the same amount of wood.

Would something like this work? It seems like you would have to remove quite a bit of material, kinda like an inlay.

6 Likes

If you’re going to do not-in-one-piece you have a bunch of potentially interesting laser options. Easy to do diptych/triptych/etc frames. I agree with the notion that joints need not be at corners. For strength, the joints probably should not be at the same position on different layers, and you could do some kind of cool curve or zigzag or whatever at the joint, possibly with contrasting wood/grain. (For a certain kind of album cover you could do acrylic in interesting colors. And of course engrave any extra info on the frame margin.)

1 Like

Each frame edge would fit the area diagonally , then just assemble.

1 Like

One other thing I forgot to add is that record sleeve sizes vary a bit. Always leave yourself some wiggle room. I found with the top and bottom rail design, I had to make a deeper top groove to allow for the variance in size. That way the records that were smaller didn’t fall out and the larger ones still fit if that makes sense…

3 Likes

I think I’d like to use an acrylic, or some other transparent material, sheet for the front piece and hang them sideways or possibly add a catch and hang them “upside-down”. Just to protect the album cover and stop dust

2 Likes

This gives me an idea. I have a lot of old comic books I always wanted to frame. Maybe I will just make my own frames to put them in. Thank you for the inspiration.

8 Likes

One comment I have is there is no reason to have a full sheet of plywood on the back. It would work just as well being open in the back.

Here’s a quick Paint drawing of what I mean.

8 Likes

@bwente I like the look of the corner, but what is it’s purpose?

I was thinking you could use it the join the corners.

If you made the corners separately, and then made the rails and stiles on the spot, you could potentially have a semi-custom picture frame that could be produced for any size (within a certain range) in a few minutes.

1 Like

@bwente I figured that!!! :slight_smile:

What I meant was, why that shape? What does it do that simple overlapping joint wouldn’t?

It is for aesthetics. If I can’t total hide the seam then make it obvious.

But I welcome any ideas. I was wondering if anyone had suggestion on making a frame like that. Maybe we could “group source” design here.

4 Likes

ok, that makes sense

Yes, if it can’t be hidden, accentuate it - make it a feature.

5 Likes

@dan I saw that you posted a glimpse of a picture frame once. Can you provide more details?

What about it? It’s one of my favorite prints - runs in 4 min 50 sec from a single piece of plywood, looks awesome, holds a 4x6" photo. I have them on my desk with pictures, and when family comes by, it’s my favorite ‘look what I do for a living’ example.

4 Likes