The Framers Forum

Hi,

I have been asked to make some very large mirrors at 1600cm x 790cm. The moulding they chose is fairly wide and solid at 73cm wide. Does anyone have any words of wisdom before i get started? I was thinking of using 4mm mirrored glass and will get it cut to size for ease. Do i need additional braces on this or will it be enought to just have the glass and backing board? Any words of wisdom gratefully recieved!

I hope you mean millimeters and not centimeters.

a wider than normal rebate and an engineered structure behind the frame for additional support will not be a wasteful procedure.

Clearly i was thinking about this too late for my brain! Yes i do mean mm. Good spot!

When you get to that sort of size (and weight) it's best to take the actual 'frame' out of the equation as far as
structural integrity goes. Build a sub-frame out of flat timber planks (4" x 3/4" ?) and face it with your backing board.
Lay the mirror on that and place to frame over it. You need to attach the subframe to the outer frame somehow. Just
how depends on the rebate depth of the outer frame. All the hangings are then fixed to the subframe. The outer frame
has no stress on it other than holding the package together.

I did my bathroom mirror (40 x24") like this using a skinny 1/2" beech moulding and it's solid as a rock.

I would steer clear of cord/wire/chain as a hanging method. It's a accident waiting to happen.

Search of the Forum (or goooogle) for 'French Cleat'.

Here's one I made earlier.....







About 5' 6" square. It's massively strong as I didn't mitre the corners but uses a half-lap joint.
It's actually two layers of 8mm pine cladding. No complicated woodwork.

Thanks so much, that is really helpful, especially the picture! Did you attach the mirror to the wooden sub frame? How did you do this?
Thanks again!

That particular one was not for a mirror.

If the outer frame is a tad skinny you can get special mirror glue to fix it to the sub-frame.
Never had to do this so far....

Just wanted to say thanks for the advice. Just finished both the mirrors using the methods you suggested. Nice and strong and were straightforward to make! I will be doing that again!

Thanks!