New project – Display board for art postcard collection

I’m starting a new woodworking–plus–3D printing project add some more art to my home office: a display board for my art postcard collection! For this project, I’m trying out a new way of writing about my progress through the project. I’ll write smaller updates as I iterate on the designs and work through building the display board.

In my old apartment, I used to have a my collection of US National Parks poster reproduction postcards hanging on the wall. I recently acquired a new art postcard for the collection and decided I want the collection to be out on display. I’ve also been thinking through French cleat systems and I really like the way a well-executed cleat system looks, so I mocked up a design for a 400mm x 400mm plywood-and-PLA board.

I was able to print a couple of samples to get a feel for how the rails and some clips might work together. The rails feel really nice, but I need to to some work on the clips that will hold the postcards. I got to a point where I was satisfied with the rail design, so I printed off all 3.2 linear meters of rails to produce eight 400mm rows.

One of the important bits of a good French cleat system is precise rail positioning, so I decided I needed to print a pair of small tools to help make laying the rails out on the plywood board easier.

I have the piece of plywood picked out, but I’m going to wait until the weather clears up a bit before I start working in the garage.