Artwork RFID Tag Holder

If you use RFID tags in your Home Assistant jukebox (or anything else where you want to combine an RFID tag with artwork), these little chunky artwork holders will do the job.

• It works with any circular RFID tag with a 25 mm diameter (these 213s are the most common).
• Supports a 40 x 40 mm artwork insert.
• Pause at the appropriate layer to stick the tag to the model, then resume. 

I use these for music playlist selection, where each colour is a different genre or playlist type. For the two-tone tags in the photos, I print the first half in transparent PLA (nice for explaining to people how they work since you can see the RFID tag through the base), with the upper rim in the colour of the playlist type. 

Printing tips

It's a super simple print, so it's hard to go wrong with the settings. I'd choose whichever infill pattern you like the look of (if you're doing a transparent base). I go for:

• Infill type: Honeycomb
• Infill percentage: 15%

While there is a gap in the middle of the tag to make room for the RFID sticker, it's just one layer high – and the next layer does make light contact with the surface. Some 213 tags have a shinier surface that others, and depending on the filament, sometimes there can be adhesion issues with this upper layer. 

My solution for this has been to spray the top surface of the sticker tags with a light blast of hairspray before sticking them down to the model, so far I've had no failures with this method no matter the filament. 

Pausing to insert the RFID sticker

You'll need to set a pause in your slicer to allow you to stick the tag down at the appropriate layer.  For a 0.2 mm layer height, this will be at layer 7.  Simply add a pause at this layer (or whichever is appropriate for your layer height), and begin the print. Once the printer pauses, stick the tag down in the inset area, then resume. (Make sure you spray the top of the sticker with hairspray before you do this, unless you're feeling confident about filament-to-sticker adhesion!) 

Art inserts 

The art insert area is a 40 x 40 mm square. Unless whatever I'm putting in there is a tight fit, I usually put down a couple of strips of double-sided tape, making it easy to swap the artwork later. 

Personally I like to use HueForge for the artwork (as seen in the pictures) with a 0.2 mm nozzle, but it's a huge pain to switch filaments out ~5 times each for 20 album/playlist covers. A high quality print onto glossy card stock should look great.