Replacing Picture Frame Glass with Acrylic

This Instructable shows how I replaced a broken picture frame glass with a sheet of transparent acrylic. This was prompted when the glass of a picture frame I valued much was broken when we were moving house last spring.

What we call acrylic is actually the synthetic polymer of methyl methacrylate. It is an excellent replacement for glass in a lot of situations, like the picture frame being repaired here. It has an impact strength exceeding that of glass (meaning it is less likely to shatter), and has only half the weight. Its only disadvantage here is, it is much more easily scratched than glass. See the Wikipedia article on Acrylic glass if you want more details.

WARNINGS

• Cutting small pieces of acrylic is not particularly dangerous, but be careful using the cutter knife.
• Cut acrylic may have sharp edges

Step 1: Tools and materials

You will need tools to take apart the frame, and tools to cut the acrylic to size (unless you can get it exactly the size you want).

My frame didn't need any tools to take apart, so I'm only going to list what is needed to cut the acrylic.

• Pen - any ball-point or thin marker pen should do
• Ruler or straight edge - better if it is steel, but wood or plastic is OK
• Acrylic cutter or craft cutter - use one strong enough for the job
• Cutting mat - to place the acrylic on when cutting
• Sandpaper - to smooth the cut edges.

Comments

[lcwmoore]

This is really helpful! I am hoping to cut down some big poster frames to fit some cheap art that I have. Thanks!

[indivara]

Glad to know you found it useful. Thanks for the comment!

[gmarrs2]

gmarrs, Thanks for the information. I plan on cutting some for the old frames I found.

[sdartnut]

I like the idea of clamping the sheet in a door frame. Thanks.