In this article, I’d like to show you how to install a keyhole hanger. It’s one of my favorite fasteners for hanging paintings and other medium-weight items. If the thing you want to put up needs to be completely stuck to the wall, then this is the hanger you’re looking for.
This is the aspect and measurements of this kind of keyhole hanger. In the second picture, with an arrow, you can see they’re slightly tilted in the back. This ensures that, no matter what you’re hanging, it will be pressed tightly against the wall as you push it down.
I like this hanger in particular because it’s not very wide, barely 12 mm. Thanks to this I can use it with boards that aren’t too thick, 16 mm and so on.
This hanger can be used both to hang items with or without a back part. In this case, the first step is to screw on the back part of this light box. I’ll try to place the screws while taking into consideration the parts I’ll need to mill for the hanger fastener.
Now you have to mill it with a handeld router and one of its bases, which you can fit with a fence. You have to use a bit with the exact same diameter as the hanger.
It also has to be long and deep enough. When it comes to depth, it’s important that it goes a few tenths of a millimeter below the back piece.
The next step is to drill some holes so that we can place scews to fasten the hangers. In the third and fourth picture, you can see how this hanger works.
Now all that’s left is to take measurements to drill holes on the wall. You can measure the distance between one end of the hanger to the other and mark it on the wall. In this case, it’s 665 mm.
You can also use the masking tape method. Stick it on top of both hangers and with a marker pen, mark the holes on the tape itself.
After this, you only have to stick the masking tape on the wall, leveled and in the desired position, to drill the holes.
Finally, I only have to put up the sign. If what you hanged isn’t level, you only have to tighten the wall screw a little on the side you need to raise.
This type of hanger can also be used on a flat board of sufficient thickness as in this case. It is a painting of a projection of the Earth, where I used 18mm thick board and thick 12x6mm screws to attach the hangers to the board.
