300 mirrors

neilframer

PFG, Picture Framing God
Forum Donor
Joined
Jan 27, 2010
Posts
8,663
Location
Phoenix, AZ
Business
Rectangles
OK, almost finished with the 300 mirrors.
All with zbar and security locks.
We are 9 short on the moulding, Roma ran out of the length boxes but they are going to chop the last 9 frames out of their stock on hand.;)
Otherwise we would have to wait for the next boat from overseas.
About half are Roma and the other half are Studio.

Here they are spread all over the back shop building where we also do laminating and dibond and plexi mounting.
They're everywhere...:eek:
Thank goodness we don't have to install them.

P1010682.JPG
P1010683.JPG
P1010684.JPG
P1010685.JPG
P1010686.JPG
P1010687 2.JPG
P1010688 2.JPG
 
Last edited:
All lined up, new and shinny.

Nice contract. Don'cha love volume work? Mind-numbing, boring, repetitive, but profitable. Yay profits!

Did I tell you about the 450 frame jobs I did two years ago? Larson supplied 200 joined, and I did the rest. Two-person shop, and we met the deadline, just like you. There wasn't one defect we had to cut around. How about you? How good were the lengths?
 
All lined up, new and shinny.

Nice contract. Don'cha love volume work? Mind-numbing, boring, repetitive, but profitable. Yay profits!

Did I tell you about the 450 frame jobs I did two years ago? Larson supplied 200 joined, and I did the rest. Two-person shop, and we met the deadline, just like you. There wasn't one defect we had to cut around. How about you? How good were the lengths?
The Studio lengths were almost perfect. (I mentioned Larson but I meant Studio...:confused:)
The Roma lengths had some bowing but almost 100% free of defects.
The Studio was a flat profile and vnailed with no problem
I had to make a simple jig for vnailing the Roma which is a bevelled profile to not crush the pointed top or push apart the corner when vnailing.
 
Tells me you had no frustrations. Good for you! I delivered the last 150 mats today on another job, and the Peterboro Onyx mats were perfect. Whew!
 
Tells me you had no frustrations. Good for you! I delivered the last 150 mats today on another job, and the Peterboro Onyx mats were perfect. Whew!
Well, so about 3600 vnails in joining the 300 frames.
I cut and joined all of them and I didn't put ONE vnail in the wrong place or thru the front of any of the frames.
We are on a very tight budget to get this job and we competed with another shop for it.
Any mistake could cost us but the only mistake I made in 3600 vnails was that I pinched my thumbnail once when joining because I leaned into the two stage pedal while I was feeling the corner with my thumb for alignment.
My thumb got pinched but no big deal.:p
Screen Shot 2019-02-13 at 9.09.45 PM.png



We have two Cassese vnailers.
They are almost identical and have the same model number.
The one in our front shop has a one stage foot pedal that just clamps the corner and you can step on it all the way.
The hand lever at the top that you adjust for position has the pin for firing the vnail with the top pressure foot.

The Cassese in the back shop has a 2 stage foot pedal.
Halfway down on the pedal clamps the corner and the hand lever at the top moves the position for the vnails and then you step all the way down on the foot pedal to engage the pressure foot and shoot the vnail.
I have to remember to tread lightly on the 2 stage pedal.:oops:;)

I often use both vnailers during the day and they look identical so we have to remember which is which...o_O:oops::eek::cool:
 
Last edited:
Mine was a government job, I got it because we did work for a similar agency ten years ago. Didn't have to compete on price, but they did get a good deal.

I learned a couple of things from these volume jobs:

- bring in consumables ahead of time. Air clamps, blades, v-nails, whatever;

- Larson will go the distance to support you. On this and other jobs, they expedited materials from Chicago to Toronto to Montreal to Ottawa to help us meet tight deadlines;

- Morso, Wizards, and VNs are built to last and won't let you down.
 
Mine was a government job, I got it because we did work for a similar agency ten years ago. Didn't have to compete on price, but they did get a good deal.

I learned a couple of things from these volume jobs:

- bring in consumables ahead of time. Air clamps, blades, v-nails, whatever;

- Larson will go the distance to support you. On this and other jobs, they expedited materials from Chicago to Toronto to Montreal to Ottawa to help us meet tight deadlines;

- Morso, Wizards, and VNs are built to last and won't let you down.
Yes.
This job was for a Casino Hotel and we have been involved with a few other Casino Hotels in Arizona and Nevada.
We were able to get volume discounts on the mouldings because of box pricing.
We didn't have to paper back the mirrors and we got volume discounts on the zbar and the bulk security hanging hardware.
We used corrugated cardboard for the backing instead of Fome Cor. (they're just mirrors..)
We also didn't have to paint the rabbets black on these mirrors as we usually do on residential and high end mirrors.
Every little bit helps the profit margin.;)

I've mentioned this before but...
We do a lot of installations and I'm just glad we didn't have to do the security install on this job....:D

We are very busy with the retail framing as well and I don't like to delay the retail jobs because of some of the commercial stuff.
 
Last edited:
We have two Cassese vnailers.
They are almost identical and have the same model number.
The one in our front shop has a one stage foot pedal that just clamps the corner and you can step on it all the way.
The hand lever at the top that you adjust for position has the pin for firing the vnail with the top pressure foot.

The Cassese in the back shop has a 2 stage foot pedal.
Halfway down on the pedal clamps the corner and the hand lever at the top moves the position for the vnails and then you step all the way down on the foot pedal to engage the pressure foot and shoot the vnail.
I have to remember to tread lightly on the 2 stage pedal.:oops:;)

I often use both vnailers during the day and they look identical so we have to remember which is which...o_O:oops::eek::cool:
This is spooky. Right now I'm doing contract work in a shop with what seems like exactly the same set up. Both machines are Cassesse CS299's, one from 2005 and the other from 2009, and it's confusing to move from one to the other.

When I started this project, neither of the machines worked properly. the older, push-button-firing machine was loose and needed a few parts, but it was easy enough to fix. I think the 2-stage machine was set up wrong from the day it was installed. It had very little use because it was difficult to operate, and just needed some re-routing of the hoses. Since fixing it, it's the favorite in the shop, but like you, I've smashed my thumb a couple of times.

So Neil, did you remove the 'tongue' in the 2-stage foot pedal? I did, and all of us in the shop like it much better that way.
 
This is spooky. Right now I'm doing contract work in a shop with what seems like exactly the same set up. Both machines are Cassesse CS299's, one from 2005 and the other from 2009, and it's confusing to move from one to the other.

When I started this project, neither of the machines worked properly. the older, push-button-firing machine was loose and needed a few parts, but it was easy enough to fix. I think the 2-stage machine was set up wrong from the day it was installed. It had very little use because it was difficult to operate, and just needed some re-routing of the hoses. Since fixing it, it's the favorite in the shop, but like you, I've smashed my thumb a couple of times.

So Neil, did you remove the 'tongue' in the 2-stage foot pedal? I did, and all of us in the shop like it much better that way.
Both machines work very well as long as you remember which is which.
We originally had the "push button single stage foot pedal" Cassese and we got the "two stage foot pedal" machine about a year ago from a shop that closed and we took over their equipment and framing stock.

We have one younger guy in the shop who absolutely will not use the 2 stage pedal Cassese.o_O
What I like about the 2 stage one is that the top finger button trigger is a positive lock on the v nail position so if you're stacking, it's locked in place.

I haven't looked at the "tongue" yet but I will check it out.;)
I'm a complete mechanical nerd and as a former drag racer and mechanic (in the 60's and 70's while I was also framing), I do almost all of my own mechanical work on my car and my home and I fix and maintain all of the equipment in the shop that I can.:cool:
(I also do electrical work and plumbing, but please don't call me, my plate is FULL...:eek:)
 
Last edited:
Makes me tired just to look at the amount of frames you put together. Most I have done was 110 and we had raw material in a trailer in the parking lot, inventory and sawdust scattered everywhere. How are your hands holding up? Mine get sore by the end of the day.
 
Makes me tired just to look at the amount of frames you put together. Most I have done was 110 and we had raw material in a trailer in the parking lot, inventory and sawdust scattered everywhere. How are your hands holding up? Mine get sore by the end of the day.
My hands are OK.
After 50 years of framing and stretching canvases, I have some osteo arthritis at the base of both thumbs, but it doesn't really bother me.
We just got in about 10 huge canvases to stretch and I did some of the stretching.
For some reason, all of the big stuff comes in at the same time.o_O
 
"For some reason, all of the big stuff comes in at the same time."

Yup.

There's another Principle of Framing.
 
"For some reason, all of the big stuff comes in at the same time."

Yup.

There's another Principle of Framing.
Yes!
It's just like whenever I take my lunch, customers will come in and both phone lines will start ringing...:eek:
There are 6 of us in the shop, but still, we can all get busy at the same time..:D

I actually take lunch at about 3:00.
It doesn't matter, as soon as I take that first bite....here they come..:p
It's all good though, it pays the bills.
I'm not the owner but believe me, I get it.:cool:
 
Murphy was a framer.
 
Back
Top