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Artifact display, curated

Design Project 3 weeks Medium build

Mount one object on the wall the way a museum would. A 3D-printed mount designed around the object, a cut-vinyl label beside it, and a composition that makes people stop and read.

A vintage camera held on a white wall by a small 3D-printed bracket, with a museum-style vinyl label beside it giving the title, date and material.

Overview

Museums do two things with an object: hold it so it cannot fall and you cannot see the holding, and tell you just enough to make you look closer. You are doing both for one object.

The object can be anything you can justify: a tool your grandparent used, a rock from a trip, a broken part that taught you something, a replica of a historical artifact printed from a scan, a piece from an earlier project. It must fit in a 300 mm cube and weigh under 2 kg.

The mount is a 3D-printed bracket designed around that object. Not a shelf. Not a box. Three or more points of contact that hold it in the orientation you choose, with as little material visible as possible. The label is cut vinyl in the class house style, so the whole wall reads as one exhibition.

Skills needed

  • Measuring an object for a fitted mountresource comingCalipers, profile gauges, tracing, and deciding which three points of contact will hold it.
  • Modelling a mount in FusionReference geometry from your measurements, then a bracket that holds without clamping.
  • Designing parts for printingOrientation, overhangs, wall thickness, and where the screw goes.
  • Writing a museum labelresource comingTitle, maker, date, place, material, and 40 to 60 words that give a reason to look.
  • Cutting and applying vinyl textSmall text on a drag knife, weeding, transfer tape, and the hinge method.

Assessment

  • Mount. Holds the object securely in the intended orientation; can be removed without tools; visible material is minimal; printed cleanly with no unsupported failures.
  • Fit. The mount was designed from measurements of this object. It does not fit anything else.
  • Label. Follows the house style exactly. Text is accurate, specific, and gives a reason to look. No typos, straight, bubble-free.
  • Composition. Object and label sit at a sensible height, with breathing room from the neighbours. The wall reads as a set.
  • Statement. Says why this object and why it is held this way, in plain language.

Deliverables

  • The object, mounted on the display wall, level and secure
  • The Fusion file and STL of the mount, plus the printed mount itself
  • The label, cut in vinyl and applied beside the object in a consistent house style
  • A curator's statement, one paragraph, on why this object and why this mount

Materials

  • [object Object]
  • PLA or PETG filament, roughly 30 to 80 g per mount
  • Wall anchors and screws, or 3M Command strips for light objects
  • Sign vinyl in the house colour, transfer tape
  • Calipers, profile gauge, masking tape, level

Steps

Week 1: Object and measurements

  1. Choose your object and write the label draft first. If you cannot write 40 honest words about it, choose another object.
  2. Measure. Calipers for every dimension the mount will touch. Trace its outline on paper. Use a profile gauge on curves. Photograph it on grid paper.
  3. Decide the orientation and the three contact points. Sketch three different mount ideas: a cradle, a pin, a clip, a hook, a saddle.

Week 2: Model and print

  1. In Fusion, sketch the contact geometry from your measurements. Build the mount around it, keeping walls at 2 mm or more and adding a screw hole or a keyhole slot for the wall.
  2. Check printability: no overhang steeper than 50° without a reason, flat face down on the bed.
  3. Print a test of just the contact area first. Fit it to the object. Adjust. Then print the whole mount.
  4. Set your label in the house style and cut it. Small text: test-cut a word first and check it weeds.

Week 3: Install

  1. Plan the wall as a class. Centre line at 1500 mm from the floor. Mark each position with tape.
  2. Fix the mount. Anchors for anything over 500 g; Command strips otherwise. Check it with a level.
  3. Apply the label with the hinge method. Squeegee, peel slowly.
  4. Place the object. Step back. Adjust.
  5. Write the curator’s statement and pin a printed copy in the class binder.

Stretch options

  • A lit display: a small LED strip in a printed channel behind the object.
  • A replica: scan the original with a phone, clean the mesh, print it, and mount the replica.
  • QR code in the label that links to a page about the object.