The Framers Forum

Hi

Have a customer who wants two 2.5cm Diameter coins framed - in a double sides scenario- so that both sides can be seen. Have done this before by making a sandwich mount but problem with these is that the edge detail on on the the face and obverse of the coin is of prime importance and I cant cover the edge with mount. Any ideas on how i could do this?

Many thanks.

Matt

If you have a drill bit big enough you could make holes in acrylic and then sandwich that between two pieces of glass, or acrylic, but the edge might not be that clear from the drill, might need polishing. Might be better to get an acrylic fabricator to do it.

No harm in trying if you do have the tool and a few offcuts to practice on though.

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We have done exactly what John / Roboframer has suggested. We farmed out the acrylic work to an acrylic specialist. The acrylic can then be floated between mounts, liners, frames...whatever works to achieve depth and viewing.

As John pointed out, even with polishing, the edges still may not be perfectly clear for viewing.

John

I've done a single sided coin display using mountboard with reverse bevel holes cut 1mm too small. The coins were pushed into the mount with the reverse bevel bending slightly and providing a snug fit, I cant see why you couldn't do this double sided affair. Unless the sides, rather than the edges, need to be seen, this is also assuming these are milled not hammered coins.

There are a number of different companies who supply UV bonding cyanoacrylate optically transparent adhesives and also the cyanoacrylate de-bonder to reverse the adhesive if you ever need to do so. Some suppliers produce a better product than others so best to check out the better known suppliers and their specification and demo videos on the web before making you choice.

This is not a proceedure for the faint hearted, you really need to do this under clean and dust free conditions. Also the glass and the coins need to be completely free of grease and any fingerprints as there is something in your finger prints which will activate the adhesive, without the UV and you will then see you fingerprints fixed in place.

I have never needed to do this, but I have seen various demo videos of this being done and if you search for appropriate videos you will be able to see this for yourselves. Personally, I would aim to apply a minimum amount of adhesive on the back of the coin only. This sort of stuff has been used in opto-electronic assemblies for many years without any problems, but you do need to be careful.

Check out this video and others like it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aNCJjyS92g

BTW, you will need a suitable UV light source and don't use enough adhesive to extend beyond the edges of the coins!

Re Roboframers solution. Agree, specialist acrylic fabricators are always best for a "flamed" edge, whereby they melt the edge of acrylic so that it is as transparent as the face. However it is relatively easy to do it yourself. After drilling leave the protective plastic on both sides of the hole or add some masking tape and carefully cut it with a scalpel to the hole size. Start with 240 wet and dry sandpaper and a bit of water. Then 0000 wire wool, then cardboard with some Cif (as used in the kitchen) dabbed on its surface, then cardboard with toothpaste dabbed on it. Rub hard. With a bit of ingenuity you can fix all these to a bit of dowel in an electric drill and do the job in no time. You'll get a good result.

If you are going to use the perspex solution, i would not try and do it your self. Specialist perspex fabricators have the equipment, experience and they do this stuff every day. Also they won't be as expensive as you probably are expecting and they will get it right first time.

All you need do is drill a neat hole, which is not difficult.

My first reply was based on seeing the sides but it is the edges that need to be seen, all that is required is something that does not overlap the edges whatsoever; you could use mount board sandwiched between glass just like you would if the edges WERE overlapped, but acrylic would keep the 3 dimensional look, you'd still see the sides just not very clearly unless the inside of the hole is polished ... but there is no need in this case to see the sides clearly.

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I would most likely go down the acrylic route, but laser cut a holder like this one, this is only a tester, took less that half an hour from designing to cutting, would sandwich the acrylic between two mounts back to back so only the 3 holder would be showing and space the glass off, so it's floating. As I said this was only a tester to see if it would work, so the finished one would be a lot better designed

Just popped a mount on this tester

Why not just sit it in an acrylic hole? then you wont see the edges of the struts holding it. Against a black back you not going to really see the acrylic.

Perhaps you should read the first post again, both sides and the edges are are to be seen , my photo only has the black there so you wouldn't see the carpet on my bench, the way I have done it is double sided and the edges are in clear view

Steve N that is a great idea. Well done

Hi all

Thank you all very much for your replies. Sorry I have been so tardy in looking at them!

I probably didn't explain very well but as Robo concluded - we do not need to see the sides - just the whole of the front and back of the coin. It would seem that the best way remains sandwiching mount board between two sheets of glass - it didn't occur to me that i could cut holes exactly to size as opposed to slightly under sized so that mount would retain the coins.

The acrylic concept is clearly the best but given that this is likely to be a small one off Job, simple is best!

Thanks again

Best regards

MAtt