Displaying Medals...

For years, I've not displayed my medals. I've got quite a few, but have never settled on a satisfactory way to display them. I have a "Medal Hangar" style display rack, but I've never been a fan of having the ribbons just hanging there. They take up a lot of real estate that could be displaying more medals...

A friend found a project online that had the maker wrapping the ribbons around a rectangular canvas, for his wife, who stored her medals tossed into a bucket. Great Idea, but they didn't hang very well (in my humble opinion). I can't find a reference anymore for that project, but it looked similar to this:

Off and on over the years I had different ideas for hiding the ribbons. Draping them behind wood and mounting that to the wall.

Other ideas were lotted wooden backers and tucking the ribbons behind the wood slots, and variations of that. Nothing ever manifested from those ideas though. A few years later I entered a series of races called "The Auburn Resolution Run". For 6 consecutive years you ran on New Years Day, and received a medal each year, to spell out "A-U-B-U-R-N". What was interesting was the medal holder they offered:

It was constructed in such a way that the ribbons folded into a space between the backing of the ribbons and the back of the display. It was an extremely clever and good looking design, created out of several layers of laser-cut wood. I didn't have a laser cutter, but I thought about creating something similar by hand. It never manifested. But...

I did find myself with a 3D Printer. While researching designs, I came across this 2-part Hexagonal Design, made out of wood:

At the time, there weren't any other companies offering these (the image and link are not the original one I found; That one is lost in time). Now they are available all over the internet, at all levels of price (and probably quality). I even tested some designs of my own, and prototyped some out of cardboard from PonokoPonoko, but I could get it quite right.  One day, while browsing Etsy, I came across this design, for 3D printing:

It's a good design, hides the ribbon like I want, and since I did have a 3D printer, I bought the file and printed it out. I managed to print out enough di display my Disney Dopey Challenge Medals:

Even though the seller provided different sized holders, they take up quite a bit of real estate because of the Hex shape. I loaded the file into Tinkercad, made some modifications, and remixed it into a rectangular holder, and printed it out:

I liked it. It was aesthetically pleasing, took up less space, and I could produce them myself for a few cents of 3d filament each. But soon after, my 3d printer stopped printing well, and the project went on the back burner again...

In 2023, on Black Friday, I scored a great deal on an Ortur Laser Master 3 diode laser engraver/cutter. And after a few test cuts & engraves, I promptly put it away... there's seems to be a pattern here lol. But a few weeks ago I was again browsing Etsy, and came across this listing for a laser-cut hexagonal medal holder that comes in 2 halves held together by magnets, keeping the ribbon in a central chamber: 

I bought the file, made some test cuts, and while it works well, but again it's a hexagon, and takes up more space than I want. I couldn't find a rectangular one for sale. I set about creating some prototypes in Lightburn, and settled on:

I liked it; I felt I was on to something. I made a few more:

They are comprised of 6 layers of 3mm birch ply. Not including laser wear & tear, I can crank these out for around $1.33US each (.91 on sale) unfinished. So for now, 5 down, several hundred more to go :-)



If I can get a good deal on 3mm black acrylic, I may even pursue a plan to use more Hexagons for displaying my Star Wars Disney Race medals... :-) This is merely a sampling; there are a few more that I have:

One of these days....