Modular Wall-Mounted Display for Folding Knives

Why Use This Model?

This modular wall-mounted display allows you to show off your folding knife collection in a safe and aesthetically-pleasing fashion. 

Background

I have a collection of folding knives, and I wanted a better option for storing and displaying them than the Pelican cases I was using. To me, an ideal storage solution would offer the following features:

• Be minimal as to not cover up or draw attention from the knives.
• Be adjustable for a wide variety of knives of different shapes and sizes.
• Be scalable to add more storage when needed.
• Be safe from accidental contact, earthquakes, or other reasonably-foreseeable hazards.
• Be easy to install and remove.

After some rounds of iteration and testing, I'm fairly pleased with this system and how it meets all of my design requirements. More updates and improvements might follow, but the system works great in its current form.

How It Works

Mounting plates get installed directly onto your wall. Pairs of arms are installed into each row of slots on the mounting plates to hold up your knives. 

To increase safety, the arms get firmly secured into place with locks, helping prevent your knives from falling in the event that the display gets bumped or shaken. These locks are interference-fit and are removable and reusable.

Bumpers can be added onto the end of each arm as needed to prevent knives from sliding side-to-side or from being knocked off.

The mounting plates allow for a small degree of movement of the screws to aid with leveling, so you don't need to be exact with your wall anchor positioning. Add as many mounting plates as needed to showcase your entire collection, or remove plates if your collection shrinks.

Recommended Print Settings

Nothing fancy here. There isn't much in the way of bridging, complex features, or specific properties required.

Filament: Print in whatever you are comfortable with. I have tested it with PETG & PETG-CF, though PLA and other common filaments would work as well. Just remember that tougher filaments might buy you durability and peace of mind.

Nozzle: 0.4mm

Layers: 0.2mm

Perimeters: 2 for arm, lock, and bumper. 3 for mounting plate.

Infill: 15% gyroid

Orientation: Mounting plates should be printed face-down, and small supports are recommended for the overhang region by the screw holes.

Installation

1. Print at least one mounting plate for every four knives you intend to display, as well as two arms, locks, and bumpers per knife. 
2. Mark the locations of the holes in the mounting plates on your wall, then drill and install drywall anchors in those locations. Fasten the mounting plates down with two #8 screws per plate.
3. Install a bumper on each arm. I recommend using a dab of superglue to permanently bond them together. 
4. Install the arms in your desired locations and secure them with locks. 
5. Place your knives on the display. It will look very cool, so you'll want to take a bunch of pictures of it.

Files

v1 Release: Arm, Bumper, Lock, Mounting Plate

Other Notes

• Use common sense when mounting sharp objects to your wall. This system is ONLY designed to showcase knives that are closed; I am obviously not assuming liability for anyone putting open knives on it and hurting themselves or others. 
• I have included .3mf files for direct slicing, and .f3d files for you to modify in Fusion 360 as desired. Easy areas of modification could include modifying dimensions of the arms, expanding the mounting plate, or reducing complexity of the model to save on printing time.
• I have tried making the arms and bumpers out of transparent filament, but even with all the recommended “glass printing” settings I haven't achieved anything better looking than just using black PETG-CF filament. Let me know if you figure out something better looking.
• I am considering adding additional components to the model, including different arm sizes, different bumpers, or possibly different sizes of mounting plates. 
• One likely area of improvement down the road would be refinements to the tolerances of parts. The fitment is pretty good with my printer, but the bumpers often benefit from the use of superglue to bond them to the arms. Maybe this can be improved in the future to lessen the need for glue.

Modular Wall-Mounted Display for Folding Knives © 2024 by marrenmiller is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0