Plaque holder. Updated.

[Darren Null]

Embarassingly enough, it was evening when I quoted, and evening when I fitted it. I used glue. What I didn't know was that the plaque copped direct sun all morning, so the glue melted and the plaque fell off.

So. No glue (or at least no structural glue). I wanted it to look tidy; no screws showing BUT with the plaque fitted to the holder, how would I be able to gain access to the screws?

This is what I came up with. Hope it's useful for somebody.

[Roy Nicholson]

Thanks Darren

I'll give it a try,

You couldn't post a photo of the finished product with and without a plaque.

Regards

Roy N.

[Darren Null]

I've updated the design a bit- the plaque-holding arms were too fragile, so I strengthened them a bit.
If you need more strength than that, adding a second bottom plate and deepening the plaque-holding arms to 6mm would add quite a lot. Getting one of the water-cutter guys to cut this out of steel and holding the wedging bit in place with a rare earth magnet would be seriously robust. You could also add extra plaque-holding arms for larger/heavier pieces. The design scales up quite nicely.

What I forgot to mention when I posted the first time is that there's a 3mm gap between the back of the plaque and the top plate- this is because I could only get screws in the size I wanted with proud heads (2.6mm-worth) and that gap is to allow for that. The wedging bit is 8mm so it won't fall out because the back of the mirror would prevent it. If you use proper countersunk screws, you could dispense with the gap and make the wedging bit 6mm and everything would be a lot tidier.

The design is using 3mm materials, to hold a 3mm x 165mm round mirror plaque; and taking screwheads into account. Your chances of being able to use it off-the-peg are minimal, as your material, plaque and screws may all be different. Probably will be, seeing as I'm in Europe and have to use centipedes and millipedes. The whole point of the design is -if you can't use glue- how do you get the last supporting bit in?

I've uploaded the mark II cdr with the more robust plaque-holding arms, and photos of the (unvarnished as yet) plaque holder assembled. I've used plywood because I have some and it should be able to cope better with the heat than acrylic. I would have used clear acrylic if it was an internal application...it'd be almost invisible.
I'm still waiting for the plaque to be cut to size so no photo of that...I dropped the last one and the one before that cracked in the machine and of course my machine threw a capacitor. One of those jobs.

The only thing that could use improvement is a better locking mechanism for the wedging bit. Friction will work fine for what I want it for for this particular job using plywood, but it feels untidy somehow. If I think of anything I'll post a Mk III

[Roy Nicholson]

Thanks darren

Keep us posted on your developments.


Regards

Roy N.