How to frame a puzzle without glue

Reasons not to glue: you might want to solve it again, you do not want the gloss, you have seen one warp, or the puzzle is borrowed or destined to be re-gifted. All valid, and none of them mean giving up on display. Three methods hold an unglued puzzle indefinitely.

Method 1: pressure framing

The physics: a puzzle compressed between a stiff backing and a glazing sheet cannot move. Any frame whose internal size matches the finished puzzle within a few millimeters does this.

1. Pick the frame against your puzzle's measured size (chart in our size guide).
2. Slide the backing board under the puzzle on a table. Two people make this trivial; one person and patience also works.
3. Lay the glazing on top, close the frame, done.

Weak point: cheap frames with weak tabs lose pressure over time, and a vertical puzzle that loses pressure sheds pieces inside the frame. Spring clips beat bendable tabs.

Method 2: fitted tray kits

Puzzle frame kits include a recessed tray the puzzle sits inside, so the walls of the tray, not just pressure, stop sideways drift. This is the most forgiving glue-free option for a wall hang, and the included slide-under backing boards make the transfer step easy. The constraint is exact size matching, same as always.

Method 3: the acrylic slide-in case

Skip the frame entirely. A five-sided acrylic case, open on one short edge, sized just over the puzzle: slide the puzzle in on its backing sheet and stand it up.

This is the method Puzzably designed for. Our puzzles all finish at 530 x 390 mm and the case's internal dimensions are 532 x 392 mm, a deliberate 2 mm tolerance. Tight enough that nothing shifts, loose enough that the puzzle slides in and out freely. The whole operation takes about a minute, and undoing it takes the same.

• The case stands on a shelf, leans on a mantel, or hangs.
• Edges of the puzzle stay visible through polished acrylic; finished puzzles are objects with thickness, and the case shows it.
• Re-solving means sliding it out, no scraping, no regret.

Details and dimensions in the acrylic case guide.

Moving a finished puzzle (the part everyone fears)

Whatever the method, the transfer is the risky step. The technique that never fails:

1. Work on the surface where the puzzle was built. Do not carry it anywhere first.
2. Slide a thin stiff sheet (foam core, mat board, the frame backing itself) under one edge, low angle, slowly.
3. Keep advancing until the puzzle is fully on the sheet. Support the middle.
4. Move the sheet, not the puzzle.

If pieces pop along an edge, press them back before the next slide; never lift the puzzle to fix the middle.