The Framers Forum

I have a requirement for an aperture mount 72 x 48".

This is bigger than I can cut, has anybody got any recommendations of a company to use for this please?

Is that the aperture size?

What border width?

Mounts on that scale are a big PITA. Best avoided if you can think of an alternative method.

If you did farm it out have you thought of the transport logistics?

You'd be better off finding another way of doing this. Can you even get mount-board that size? You could splice together two sheets maybe or use a painted wood slip. Rose & Hollis do a nice one A231 and Arqadia have something similar both unfinished and in plain white. You can sometimes get an odd effect if paint and glass come into contact with each other but this can be avoided if you if you separate them with thin strips of 500mic board no wider than the frame rebate.

The size given is the overall size with 6" borders.

Yes, transportation would be an absolute nightmare, certainly get your point there!

The biggest I have been able to find is 1500 x 1000mm (59" x 39.25" approx).

So the client has had a price for that and we'll see what happens!

Wessex do a few Crescent museum boards at big enough size:

https://www.wessexpictures.com/Crescent_Jumbo_Rag.html

Only available in a couple of colours though.

I've cut mounts around this size with a Keencut straight edge (72") and hand cutter, don't know of any mountcutter that is big enough, except maybe a huge production CMC?

Finding someone with a standard CMC and splicing two jumbo boards together is probably easiest solution if you have to have a mount, Wessex may even do this for you, don't they have a framing department for the trade? Could then just be put between cardboard and delivered on their van.

I would be inclined toward using a 6'x4' sheet of 2.5mm MDF and cutting the aperture in that. (square cut). Wouldn't be easy,
but probably easier than trying to cut a convention mount. To dress up the edge where the bevel should be you could use a
plain fillet, which would also facilitate isolating the MDF from the artwork. Pack it with foamcore.
This means painting the 'mount' and a bit of blending and sanding. Also lifting the glass off the painted surface as David says.
More than a little work, but it's a giant job and I would much sooner do all that than try to use a card mount.

Thanks for the help and suggestions everyone, greatly appreciated.

I can see I'm going to have to come at this from an entirely different angle!!

Six inch borders may not stop a mount from sagging in the frame over a 72" aperature, you may need to do something to restrain the mount from sagging due to the weight of the mountboard. Also the mouldings from Rose & Hollis are nowhere near 6" wide.

Does the mount have to have a bevelled edge? Perhaps there is a suitable 6" wide moulding that would be acceptable.

Whatever approach you follow, you will need to consider how to keep the moulding nice and straight over such long moulding lengths. A well braced sub-frame would be an option to consider, Prosperro does this sort of thing quite a bit and has the experience to suggest the best materials for something this sort of size. There will be others also who have plenty of experience, who can advise as well.

I have a "Kimberly" mountcutter and used it for a life time of picture framing. It's a superb piece of kit extremely well engineered and calibrated. The Kimberly range was designed by a first class framer and manufactured by his brother who is a design engineer.

Although I have never cut a mount aperture the size of your OP it would be possible with the Kimberly as it will accurately cut any size aperture only limited by the size of mountboard

I am not too far from you so if all else fails please get in touch and I will be pleased to help

Peter

I once did a job like this with two mounts joined together, I bevel cut the join so it was barely visible on the end product. Customer was happy.