If you’ve ever tried pulling wire through a hollow metal door frame, especially after the walls are up, you know the pain. In the latest episode of Let’s Talk Cabling, host Chuck Bowser sits down with Ron Hicks and Gary Johnson, the minds behind Frame Frog, to unpack why access control wiring can be so frustrating and how their purpose-built solution can make it easier for everyone involved.
Read on for key takeaways and behind-the-scenes insights from the conversation.
The Missing Link Between Design and Installation
One of the first themes to emerge in the episode is that wiring for access control often falls through the cracks. Not because people aren’t doing their jobs, but because no one knows whose job it actually is.
Gary, a former carpenter and longtime superintendent, shares that on his first major access control job (600 doors across a 300,000-square-foot school) he thought that getting all the right people in the trailer and giving them clear instructions would do the trick. “And it wasn’t,” he admits. “It was terrible, actually.”
Ron, a licensed architect with decades of field coordination experience, builds on that point: “Construction divisions don’t like to cross. Technology people don’t deal with hollow metal frames, and frame suppliers don’t think about network cabling. Someone has to bridge that gap.” For them, that “someone” became the architect, because if the opening doesn’t work, the client’s coming back to them.
Frames: The Harshest Place for Cable
Chuck admits he’s great at fishing walls but not door frames. And there’s good reason for that. Hollow metal frames are jagged, tight, and constantly vibrating due to the impacts from opening and closing doors. Yet, they’re often the only path for wiring strikes, sensors, and locks.
“None of the best practices we use above ceilings—like bend radius or cable protection—apply inside the frame,” Gary explains. “You’re cramming unprotected wires through metal studs and into metal frames with sharp edges that move and twist. And six months later, something stops working.”
Ron puts it more bluntly: “You’d never accept this kind of cable treatment in your data room. So why is it okay in a door frame?”
The answer, they argue, is up front planning for a protective pathway. And that’s where Frame Frog comes in.
A Smarter, Cleaner Pathway
Frame Frog was born out of frustration. Over the course of 20 years working on school projects, Gary and Ron kept refining how they handled electrified openings until eventually, they decided to design a system themselves. That effort resulted in a modular, in-frame pathway solution with smooth, guided routes for wires, UL fire ratings, and a “fish tape-friendly” design that Chuck calls “pretty slick.”
The magic lies in the details: internal divider walls, funnel-shaped ports, and molded caps that are popped off only when needed. Gary demonstrates on the video how a fish tape can be leaned left or right to hit a funneled port that eases into a conduit perfectly. No guesswork, no damaged wires. “You can literally steer the fish tape,” he says. “And you always know which port you’re landing in.”
Chuck watches the demo and laughs: “That’s amazing. A second grader could fish this thing.”
Future-Proofing Without Guesswork
One of the most compelling points in the conversation is how Frame Frog enables future-ready planning, especially for schools and public buildings designed to last 50–75 years.
“Owners always come back later asking for card readers on doors that weren’t originally wired,” Gary says. “It happens every single time.”
That’s why they started building in extra capacity, installing three Frame Frog boxes in exterior frames even if only one device was planned. As Ron explains, “Even if the budget only covers a few access control devices now, the infrastructure should support what’s coming five or ten years from now.”
The mindset of planning for what’s next instead of just what’s now is a major shift for many teams. But as Chuck points out, it’s a lot cheaper than tearing into CMU walls later.
Everyone Plays a Role So Bring Them Together Early
Throughout the episode, it’s clear that solving the access control wiring challenge is a team effort. Architects, hardware consultants, construction managers, integrators, and owners all need to be part of the discussion early on. Otherwise, the solution ends up being duct tape and finger-pointing.
Ron is candid about it: “Nobody’s done until everybody’s done. And too often, people say, ‘It’s not my job.’ That’s when problems start.” Gary adds, “We’ve had jobs where low-voltage crews spent hours fishing wires that were never going to reach. Then we show them this system, and they say, ‘Why aren’t we doing this every time?’”
Simply put, Frame Frog is a way to rethink how we plan, specify, and coordinate access control from day one.