(Topic ID: 151150)

Framing a backglass?

By NickBuffaloPinball

8 years ago


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Topic Stats

  • 23 posts
  • 17 Pinsiders participating
  • Latest reply 5 years ago by SeaLawyer
  • Topic is favorited by 18 Pinsiders

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    #1 8 years ago

    I've got a pretty decent Williams Kings backglass from the 1950s that I'd like to frame and preserve. Ideally, I'd hang that badboy someplace in my home and it will look good for years to come.

    I have no idea how to go about properly framing it, what to get, etc... Suggestions would be appreciated.

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    #2 8 years ago

    I'm interested too. Following.

    #3 8 years ago

    I just built a test frame for my CPR Space Shuttle glass. If it turns out nice, I'm going to make one for Bally Fathom.

    The outer frame is 2.5" oak baseboard and the inner board is just a 1" wide x .5" thick strip of pine. I glued the pieces together in 1 long 8ft strip and used a miter saw for the 45s. Then I used band clamps to glue it in black and L brackets to secure it in the back corners. Once the backglass is fit into place, the backing will be black foam core.

    I am obsessing over the finish. I wanted it dark black but keeping the natural oak look without paint filling in the wood grain. I had no idea how hard this is to do with red oak. It have stripped it 3x trying to get this finish right! I will try to take some pictures when I have it complete.

    #4 8 years ago

    Just make sure to leave a lip wide enough to hold the backglass in so it cant be pushed out the front. Here is a quick CAD view from the back, arrows point to the inside edge of the pine strip. In reality, that strip is much wider.

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    #5 8 years ago

    Could you just take it to an A/C Moore craft place? I know they make custom frames for all sorts of things.

    #6 8 years ago
    Quoted from mbaumle:

    Could you just take it to an A/C Moore craft place? I know they make custom frames for all sorts of things.

    I'm wondering about this well. Figured I'd see if anyone has gone down this route.

    #7 8 years ago

    You guys are cheating. lol.

    #8 8 years ago
    Quoted from catboxer:

    You guys are cheating. lol.

    If I had a CAD program and woodworking skills, I'd totally do it myself! Haha, but for the sake of getting it done right, I'd probably just take it to A/C Moore. They'd probably look at me like I had 10 heads, but whatever.

    #9 8 years ago

    The trick is getting it backlit. Also adding printed numbers to the score area. Any decent frame shop can cut a frame, pick a plain frame that matches the colour of the backbox, and it should look great.

    #10 8 years ago

    Reach out to Blimpey. He makes backlit shadow boxes for translites and backglasses. I sent him the length/width measurements and he did the rest.

    #12 8 years ago

    So a few years ago I purchased some nice backglasses to use for wall art........It was not until my dumbass was done with my "custom light boxes", that I realized I just made 3 backboxes......Doh!

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    #13 8 years ago

    Hobby Lobby is a terrible company but they do some damn cheap framing. I imagine some white LED strips around the frame would look pretty good.

    #14 8 years ago

    When I did my backlgasses, I just bought some extruded aluminum framing stock from Nielsen/Bainbridge. I want the emphasis to be on the backglasses and not the framing material.

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    #15 8 years ago

    ^^^^^
    Cool train display

    #16 8 years ago

    I chose to go with an aluminum matte black as well:

    http://www.americanframe.com/frames/matte-black-metal-picture-frame-rc21.aspx

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    #17 8 years ago

    I did a Gorgar project a few years ago for a buddy and made a spare backglass. So last year I wondered what to do with it....decided to slot some 1x2 to hold the glass around the edge, painted it white, backed the shadow box with some silver foam insulation board from home depot and glued LED christmas lights in the right spots then screwed the whole thing together. Came out awesome.

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    #18 8 years ago

    ^^^^^Awesome^^^^

    1 week later
    #19 8 years ago

    It's done. Total pita to get the black india ink sealed in red oak.

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    2 years later
    #20 5 years ago
    Quoted from bbriese:

    I did a Gorgar project a few years ago for a buddy and made a spare backglass. So last year I wondered what to do with it....decided to slot some 1x2 to hold the glass around the edge, painted it white, backed the shadow box with some silver foam insulation board from home depot and glued LED christmas lights in the right spots then screwed the whole thing together. Came out awesome.

    a big up to this thread as i have a similar project.
    just wanted to know how measures the gap between light and back glass? what kind of LED do you advertise me?
    thanks

    #21 5 years ago

    I made a frame for a Xenon backglass recently. It was a little more complicated due to the 2 back glasses and I also used addressable LEDs to allow dynamic lighting both behind the backglass and around the edge. Ended up doing different and fancier effects than were in the original game.

    4 months later
    #22 5 years ago
    Quoted from twenty84:

    I made a frame for a Xenon backglass recently. It was a little more complicated due to the 2 back glasses and I also used addressable LEDs to allow dynamic lighting both behind the backglass and around the edge. Ended up doing different and fancier effects than were in the original game.

    This is awesome! I don't have a Xenon, but would love to do something less complicated for a Fathom BG. Do you have any tips?

    #23 5 years ago
    Quoted from pinballdork:

    This is awesome! I don't have a Xenon, but would love to do something less complicated for a Fathom BG. Do you have any tips?

    I'm in the same boat. Got a Fathom BG that I want to frame. I was thinking of printing some LED-style lettering (in yellow-white) on dark film, and back-lighting it to fill in the score display areas. Not sure if that's possible, but seems more feasible (and cheaper) than getting custom-programmable displays...

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