About us

COVID 19 VIRUS

We are homeworking to protect our staff and online ordering is not available at the moment. To order goods just email us with your requirements. We can also take a card payment over the phone on 01462 673831 or offer a bacs payment.

Snap-frames.com is owned and operated by Graphic Pavement Signs, a UK company selling snap frames on the internet since 2000 and selling display equipment since 1989. We offer a very comprehensive range of quality aluminium snap frames from stock - at real value for money prices.

So why buy from us?  The quality is unquestionable, the price is right and we understand the products we sell. After all our parent company was the first to sell snap frames on the internet so you can be sure that our product and service match our experience. We do not export these goods outside the UK.

Aluminium front opening snap frames are also called clip frames, grip frames, click frames and poster frames.

Snap-frames.com from Graphic Pavement Signs. email sales@snap-frames.com  Tel 01462 673831  

About the product

Snap frames or poster frames have been around for nearly 50 years so they are not new products - but they are becoming more and more popular in todays advertising, marketing and promotional world. You will see all the leading brands of various national and international companies using them to display their product information. They are used in retail, banking, leisure, transport, education. They are used by pubs, churches, schools/universities, clubs, hospitals, nursing homes, care homes, ships - in fact the list just goes on.

It was a clever invention which provided a simple and quick method to change a poster without taking the frame off the wall. What could be easier than just snapping open the front section of the frame, popping in a poster behind the protective cover sheet and snapping it closed again. With lapsed patents they are now manufactured in many countries  and are available in the standard anodised silver aluminium finish or powder coated in a range or colours. Other finishes are available - wood effect, chrome, brass, stainless etc. Plastic snap frames have not proved to be nearly as popular as the aluminium variety. You can frame your tiny A6 size sheet or a big 60" x 40" poster and many sizes in between.

One thing worth mentioning is the terminology. We have customers who have been buying these products for years but they continue to call them clip frames. It is a little confusing as a clip frame is really a totally different frame. One where a poster is sandwiched between a sheet of hardboard and a sheet of glass or clear plastic. Four tiny metal clips hold it all in place so it looks fairly frameless. 

Traditionally the plastic cover sheet has an anti glare finish on one side. This avoids the glare associated with glossy cover sheets although does cut down the visibility of the framed poster to a small extent. Extra replacement cover sheets again with UV protection are always available. Remember that your poster fits into the frame and when the sides are closed around 10mm of your poster will be hidden from view behind the frame. The back panels are strong 1.5mm white rigid Styrene.

When you look at the frame you would not realise how easy it is to open. Unfortunately unauthorised entry and theft of the poster and/or cover sheet is possible. Different kinds of frame are on the market which cut down on the tampering issue - lockable frames with security screws or secure tamper/vandal resistant frames with very strong spring clips and no finger lip will help. It is easy to fix snap frames onto a wall as the rear section is drilled in four places and screws/wall plugs are usually supplied. Once they are screwed to the wall poster changing is effected without any risk of the frame coming away. Although some customers will use self adhesive tape to fix it, this can never be as effective as screwing the snap frame to the wall.

The snap frame method of poster framing gives a professional solution to instant framing and there are several other varieties on the market. Illuminated frames with LED lights can really bring your poster to life.  One question we are often asked is are these OK for outdoor use. Well the aluminium frame will not rot or rust and has a long life but like most things, if they are looked after they will last longer and look better. The problem is keeping the poster dry. They are considered weatherproof rather than waterproof. It is possible for rain to enter the mitred corners especially if they are not closed properly. The poster needs to fit exactly into the space provided and if the poster is poking out of the frame it will act as a wick and will soon become wet. Moisture in the form of condensation can be another issue. Often if a poster does look a little wet it will soon dry out but a little TLC will help. Printing posters with waterproof ink onto treated paper surfaces will of course help. Laminating the poster will help. Waterproof frames are also available and we sell them but to be honest they are not guaranteed to be waterproof. In fact we have renamed them Weather resistant. There is a foam or rubber strip inside the frame and the cover sheet is oversized for extra poster protecton. The very nature of the snap frame is that the posters are for limited use and the frames are kept alive with the insertion of new posters now and again as the promotion changes.

Another popular question is can I put a sheet of Foamex in the frame. Snap frames are manufactured to take a paper poster and the plastic cover sheet. They then mitre nicely at the corners. A laminated poster is fine but anything with a total thickness of more than a millimeter will cause problems with the mitring of the corners and could lead to ingress of water. 

Another question regards fire rating. Most snap frames are not considered fire resistant. There are four areas to consider. The Aluminium frame does not burn past its very high melting point. The anti-glare plastic cover sheet is a petg plastic which is class 1 fire rated. Then there is your graphic insert - usually paper which will of course burn. Finally the plastic rear sheet is Styrene which has poor fire ratings. There are some fire resistnt frames on the market with metal backs.

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