Pop Tab Picture Hanger
Have you seen this hack on the internet before? I have read a few times about someone claiming to be able to hang a piece of artwork using only the tab from a pop can. I was skeptical.
Are you a Doubting Thomas too? Well, doubt no more! The folks at Apartment Therapy tested the process for you and published the results.
Pop Tab Picture Hangers from Apartment Therapy
that…is not a test. sigh.
don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it works. But I’m a mechanical engineer, and I know perfectly well that of course there is stress on the tab. Even if the screw and tab and wood “become one” (which they don’t) the tab is *still* holding all that weight off the ground! So the stress would be spread out across the tab, concentrating some on the top and the inside bottom curve, though the curves are designed to spread out the stress so the concentration wouldn’t be all that noticeable. This is all perfectly normal.
So they tried it once, with one piece of art. And of course it worked – pop tabs are reasonably sturdy. What I would have liked to see (if they’re going to test it at all) is them testing it with increasingly heavy items until it breaks or deforms, so we know what the limit is.