The Framers Forum

Hi Folks ,

Very happy to have found this Forum .

I am hoping to set up a little framing workshop for myself in the garage . I hope to start out as a Hobby making frames for friends and family but may make a little business out of it too .

From what I have learned so far the main bits of Kit I need will be a Morso , an Underpinner and a Mat cutter.

I wanted to ask the people here what I could reasonably expect to pay for the above three if I were to try and source them second hand.

Would it be reasonable to expect to get all three for under £2000 ?

Andy advice or opinions are much appreciated .

James

Welcome jambon.

That seems to be a reasonable budget for the basic kit.

Apart from a few basic hand tools (which you probably have already) a point driver and glass cutter are handy.
Anything else you can get as the need arises.

Good Luck.

Agree with prospero, buy secondhand (keep a look out on here) and £2000 is fair budget.

I paid £500 for my morso, £500 for really good pneumatic underpinner, and £500 for speedmat wall mounted mount cutter. I have had all these for years, and they have all been totally reliable with no repairs needed.

If you go pneumatic with the underpinner, you will need a compressor. If you go for silent, that will be about £300. You can get a noisy one for about £150 as an alternative, but if working from home, it may annoy neighbours.

Other bits of necessary equipment are point drivers (fletcher are about £80). If you are not getting a board cutter like a keencut Excalibur (about £500 second hand), you will need a glass cutter (i used toyo tc20, £20) and a t square (£60)

I cut my glass by hand and find toyo best cutter. It is also what is used by proper glaziers shops.

You will need a good bench, at a good height for you. I made mine for about £40. If you search for framers workshop photos, you will find how guys set themselves up.

Anyway, hope that is useful, good luck with your venture.

Nick

Suggest you ask a couple of the distributors, as they may know of frame shops closing or a framer who has bought new and needs to sell his old machine.

Try Acorn Picture Framing Supplies in Dublin - https://www.acornframing.com/


Sean or Martin 01 827 0395

Go on a training course run by some suppliers, then before splashing out on equipment, you can have a try out some of the equipment and tools,then you will know what to look out for, you never know, you might not even like framing so you will not have to get rid of any equipment that you bought

And a spare bedroom for your perishable goods, in case it rains in Ireland.

If you fancy a trip over, I am thinking of sending a pneumatic underpinner down to the local tip. Probably done about 20 years work and then lain idle for another decade, bit dusty.
That goes for a vacuum hot press and an oval mount cutter. Probably hang on to the morso and Ortigueil hand mitre, not too sure about those yet. When I retired I started to teach framers to make cases, covers and display work, but persuading them that there was something worthwhile to learn was just too much like work. So the kit is on its way out.