Introduction: Simple Sandwich Acrylic Photo Frame

About: I am a student mainly interested in Electronics and Physics. Recently I have recently become involved in using PICAXE microcontrollers.

Problem- Christmas is just around the corner, needed present for Mum.
Solution- Simple but cool photo frame (in my opinion, though I am bias)

I needed to make my Mum a present for Christmas, however time was running short and I only had an hour in the school workshop to design and make. I'm not the best at using my hands never mind working to a deadline. However I decided to make a simple quick to make photo frame. I only had a small amount of clear acrylic from past projects. So I came up with this and set out o make it.

As I was rushing I did not have time to take photos and had not planned on making an instructable, though I have disassembled the frame to show the stages of construction.

Step 1: Design

The frame consists of 2 pieses of acrylic with a photograph or picture sandwiched between them and held togather by 4 bolts. There are 2 shoet bolts and 2 long bolts. The long bolts make up the stand for the frame. The bolts can be place in any hole so this enables the frame to be used for landscape and portrait pictures depending which you need.

Since I only had a small amount of acrylic I was use a less than ideal size for the frame. Mine was 180x 130 mm and with the holes being 10mm from the outer edge of the acrylic this gave a tight fit for the photo, so on mine the corners of the photograph can get caught by the bolts in the holes so I would suggest you make yours 183x133 mm as this would seem to provide enough room for the photo without getting damaged.
As I mentioned above the the holes for the bolts are placed 10mm from the outer edges.

Step 2: Tools and Materials

Materials:

2 pieses of Acrylic at least 180x130 mm each
2 short bolts (I used 6mm)
2long bolts(I used 6mm)
4 nuts 

Tools:

Pillar Drill (or hand drill)
Band Saw 
The above tools can be omitted and replaced with a laser cutter or other CAM machine if you have access to one (this would make it easier, quicker and more accurate).

Step 3: Mark Out Hole Placement

First make an indentation on 10mm from each side in all four corners of the acrylic. Then check and check again. Don't want to be wasting materials, unless you can.

Place a drill bit of suitable size for the bolts you have chosen in pillar drill or hand drill I used a 6mm drill bit.
Place the acrylic under the drill and position correctly then clamp it down so it will not move.
You could dill both pieces at the same time and this will make sure the holes are aligned right (this is what I did as it also saves time)
If you do the pieces separately then repeat process for other piece.

Step 4: Fit Together and Done

Push bolts through holes and screw on nuts at the back.
Place picture or photo in between the pieces of acrylic and then tighten nuts on back.
You may want to add washers in between the nut and the acrylic to prevent the nut from scratching the surface of the acrylic when it is being tightened.

Step 5: Finishing Touches

You may want to clean and polish the acrylic before you give it to someone, and maybe buffer the edges.
Here it is shown in landscape with the long bolts placed on the longer side of the frame, but if a portrait photo was put in then you would just swap a long bolt with a shorter one then making that the bottom, one of the pictures above explains this better.
By the way, my mum loved it.

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