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Canvas Gallery Wrap Stretching Machine and Stretcher Bars

Grizzly

Grizzly

It’s all about your print!
We've been printing our own canvas in house for years and have been outsourcing the stretching part of it.
Looking to bring the stretching part of it in-house and looking for recommendations for a stretcher as well where to source the frames from.
The two I have research are:
Tensedor II.
www.powercrafters.com

Tensador II T-155-G Canvas Stretcher IN STOCK | Power Crafters

The flagship canvas stretching machine most-used for enterprise canvas stretching! The Tensador II fleet was selected as a "PMA Hot Picks" in 2010 for its affordability & versatility: Vertical orientation & small footprint saves enormous amounts of floor space over the competitors, safe...
www.powercrafters.com www.powercrafters.com

Gallery Stretcher GS-60

GS-60 – Canvas Stretching Machine

gallerystretcher.com gallerystretcher.com

Can anyone chime in with advice on either of these or a different one as well as some tips to get started.
Do you buy pre-made stretcher bars based on orders that come in or do you have stock sizes and only offer those sizes?
 
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daniel@signaramacolorado.

New Member
We use the GOframe Stretcher Frame System.


Only tools you need are an xacto and a hammer. Super easy to use and they have instructional videos on how to use their product. Anyone can assemble quality canvas prints with this. Their system uses double sided tape to hold down the canvas and you "fold" in the frame pieces to create tension and add the provided staples into the corners to lock everything together.
 
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Grizzly

Grizzly

It’s all about your print!
Grizzly

Grizzly

It’s all about your print!
daniel@signaramacolorado. said:
We use the GOframe Stretcher Frame System.


Only tools you need are an xacto and a hammer. Super easy to use and they have instructional videos on how to use their product. Anyone can assemble quality canvas prints with this. Their system uses double sided tape to hold down the canvas and you "fold" in the frame pieces to create tension and add the provided staples into the corners to lock everything together.
Click to expand...
Thank you! I've seen these in the past and thought they stopped making them. I'll probably get a few and try them and see if they'll work.
I am looking for a more traditional, higher end method though.
 
DL Signs

DL Signs

Never go against the family
+1 for this place geezer posted for bars. Good bulk pricing, for smaller wraps the 1.5" bars are pennies each in 50 packs. Every new size we needed we'd buy a bundle of 50, doesn't take long to get a good inventory of different sizes on hand of those. We did the stretching by hand with the pliers like geezer too, you get pretty quick at it after a while, but a stretcher is the ticket if you do enough of them.
 
dypinc

dypinc

New Member
Probably been 15 years now I came up with my own version of stretcher bars (2 different thicknesses) similar to that GOframe system. I have the local lumber yard cut and mold them to the size I want from poplar instead of pine in random lengths mostly 8' to 14' and then I cut them to length and notch as I need them. Banner hemming tape and staples plus the wedge is the only thing I need. Before that I had a stretching machine and I would never go back to that slow, limited sizes, unsightly corners mode of stretching canvas ever again.
 
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victor bogdanov

Active Member
I do a decent amount of canvas. Buy blank canvas at hobby lobby or Michaels. Stretch by hand. The premade canvas offers support to the stuff I stretch over it.

In the beginning I would buy bars and build the frame but realized I was wasting time compared to just buying a premade canvas at hobby lobby. Why stock bars and waste time assembling when you can get a 16" x 20" ready to go (premium quality), perfectly square canvas for $8.

Only tools needed to stretch a print are stable gun and hammer. Takes 5 min

They also have economy packs and it'll be like 5 16" x 20" for $20,
 
N

netsol

Premium Subscriber
victor bogdanov said:
I do a decent amount of canvas. Buy blank canvas at hobby lobby or Michaels. Stretch by hand. The premade canvas offers support to the stuff I stretch over it.

In the beginning I would buy bars and build the frame but realized I was wasting time compared to just buying a premade canvas at hobby lobby. Why stock bars and waste time assembling when you can get a 16" x 20" ready to go (premium quality), perfectly square canvas for $8.

Only tools needed to stretch a print are stable gun and hammer. Takes 5 min

They also have economy packs and it'll be like 5 16" x 20" for $20,
Click to expand...
we have all the stupid fletcher tools (donald had a framing shop for decades)
i agree with you a trip to hobby lobby makes a lot of sense
 
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Andrew Heiner

New Member
How many Canvases are you doing? I have both of these machines and actually have a tensidor 2 for sale if your in the utah area. I can ship if you want to pay for it. We do around 100 to 300 per week. The tensidor is OK but for speed a dedicated size stretcher is the beans. We have a gallery stretcher that we use for odd sizes.
 
Grizzly

Grizzly

It’s all about your print!
dypinc said:
Probably been 15 years now I came up with my own version of stretcher bars (2 different thicknesses) similar to that GOframe system. I have the local lumber yard cut and mold them to the size I want from poplar instead of pine in random lengths mostly 8' to 14' and then I cut them to length and notch as I need them. Banner hemming tape and staples plus the wedge is the only thing I need. Before that I had a stretching machine and I would never go back to that slow, limited sizes, unsightly corners mode of stretching canvas ever again.
Click to expand...
What do your corners look like? I'm not really a fan of the GOFrame corners. I'm guessing you don't like fold over? I like the traditional corners.
 
Grizzly

Grizzly

It’s all about your print!
victor bogdanov said:
I do a decent amount of canvas. Buy blank canvas at hobby lobby or Michaels. Stretch by hand. The premade canvas offers support to the stuff I stretch over it.

In the beginning I would buy bars and build the frame but realized I was wasting time compared to just buying a premade canvas at hobby lobby. Why stock bars and waste time assembling when you can get a 16" x 20" ready to go (premium quality), perfectly square canvas for $8.

Only tools needed to stretch a print are stable gun and hammer. Takes 5 min

They also have economy packs and it'll be like 5 16" x 20" for $20,
Click to expand...
So you have two layers of canvas? One is the blank premade version and the one you install is your print?
 
dypinc

dypinc

New Member
Grizzly said:
What do your corners look like? I'm not really a fan of the GOFrame corners. I'm guessing you don't like fold over? I like the traditional corners.
Click to expand...
I am no fan of fold over corners. I don't like the look, and besides that back then it was hard on my hands and too time consuming. I would have a hard time doing that now.
 
Grizzly

Grizzly

It’s all about your print!
Andrew Heiner said:
How many Canvases are you doing? I have both of these machines and actually have a tensidor 2 for sale if your in the utah area. I can ship if you want to pay for it. We do around 100 to 300 per week. The tensidor is OK but for speed a dedicated size stretcher is the beans. We have a gallery stretcher that we use for odd sizes.
Click to expand...
Very interested! I'm in Utah as well. I sent you a PM.
 
V

victor bogdanov

Active Member
Grizzly said:
So you have two layers of canvas? One is the blank premade version and the one you install is your print?
Click to expand...
yes, apply the print right over the premade blank. The premade canvas supports the print so you don't really have to stretch the print with much pressure
 
bob

bob

It's better to have two hands than one glove.
You people seem to be fond of ridiculous solutions. Like those that require proprietary stretcher bars along with much hammering which at best yields clumsy and rather ugly corners. Not to mention that the most of these methods and systems are hideously expensive compared to just learning how to do a gallery wrap.

For myself, I pick up a laminated 5/4x12" 4' untreated stair tread at either Lowes or Home Depot [around $12] and rip it into 1 1/2" +- strips. This should yield seven or eight 4' potential stretcher bars. Rip a rabbet maybe 3/16" +- deep and leaving 1/4"-3/8" +- shoulder on one side of each strip. Cut as many as you need to length with a miter saw. Glue them, I generally use contact cement, and join them together with V nails. You do have a V nailer, right? If not, staples on both sides of of the joints will work but not as cool as V nails. With an expenditure of just a few minutes, you have a sturdy stretcher frame.

I wouldn't attempt to describe how to do a proper corner with the canvas but the internet is rife with videos demonstrating the process. It can take a few tries to get it right but persevere, it's well worth knowing. I made a corner out of a couple 10" +- scraps and used it to practice on until I got it right and repeatable. Your mileage may vary.
 
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Andrew Heiner

New Member
Find a wholesale frame distributor in your area. They can make you bars or sell you the proper material to make a bar. Our standard stretcher bar is as low as .85 cents a foot.
 
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