I recently started keeping a small collection of playing cards that were either designs I liked or had memories from trips I’ve taken. They had been just sitting on the shelf, so I decided I would design a system to display them on the wall.
The requirements were pretty simple. Safely display the decks on the wall in an expandable fashion which allowed for easy retrieval. I am apparently not like a regular playing card collector in that I have actually opened and use the decks in my collection. My first design was an open face box to hold the deck that clips into a mounting plate on the wall. It looked like this:
I was pretty proud of myself. I even published the model to Printables.com for others to use. I also posted this image online to a r/playingcards to get some feedback. I thought it was good, but I knew it could be better. The most significant piece of feedback I received was about the use of discrete individual modules that required their own fasteners. So I now had twenty little holes in my wall, and there would be two more for every additional deck I mounted. Ouch.
They cited some other modular display systems that are 3D printed which interlock with each other and therefore minimize the need for fasteners to go into the wall. One user linked me over to a really old post on the playingcards subreddit which had a beautiful display that held the decks at an angle so you could see the edge of the tuck box as well as the front.
I loved it and immediately felt mine was inferior to this really beautiful system.
Being the person who I am I looked to see if the original designer had posted their model anywhere for free or paid, but I did not find it anywhere. So I did what any good 3D printing enthusiast would do. I went into CAD and started modelling one for myself.
The (new) requirements were simple. Make a slanted display box that a deck can be slid into from the side which can be tiled without interference and interlock together so only a few fasteners are needed.
Over the course of a few days I worked on the model in CAD until I was confident in the results. My son was insistent that I print them in black, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. All the other 3D printed functional items in my office are all white. Sunlu PLA-Meta White. These would have to match. (My opinion is that the white blends the display system into the wall, which is also currently painted white, so it draws your eyes to the decks not the boxes)
Now this is the one I’m really proud of. It looks so great and adds a dynamic quality to the display being able to see the tuck boxes from two sides. I like this one so much better.
It is for sale if you want to start putting up your own collection of playing card decks. Visit Etsy for more details.