Museum & Exhibition Mounts
Mount-making is bespoke by definition: one object, one cradle, no second use for the pattern. That is the shape of work a printer suits better than almost anything else. What a printer cannot do is tell you the plastic is safe against the object.
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Get a museum & exhibition mounts estimate
Upload your file or describe the part. We review printability before confirming anything.
Common uses
- Book cradles made to a specified opening angle
- Support blocks and formers for irregular ceramics, tools and textiles
- Deck fittings, risers and plinth furniture for case builds
- Label holders, hand-list rails and graphic panel clips in gallery quantities
- Removable mount components for touring and loan exhibitions
- Handling replicas for education, printed from a model you supply
We cannot claim inertness or archival safety
This is the first thing to say and we are not burying it at the bottom. Printed plastic outgasses. Filament is a commodity polymer carrying additives, colourants and processing aids that no supplier publishes in useful detail, and it has not been Oddy tested — not by us, and generally not by whoever made it. Nobody can tell you what it emits into a sealed vitrine over five years, and we will not pretend that we can. So: nothing we make is offered as archival, inert or conservation-grade, and we will not use those words about it. Anything in contact with an artefact needs a conservator's sign-off — theirs, in writing, on their judgement, not ours. The barrier between the mount and the object is their call too: polyester film, an inert foam, a lining, or nothing, is a decision specified by conservation, and we do not choose it, supply it, or advise on it. The safe way to use us is this: let a printed part be the form — the shape that holds the object at the right angle, in the right place, removable without touching it — and let conservation decide what goes between that form and the artefact. Sealed cases with silver, lead, or anything sensitive to organic acids deserve particular caution, and if your material scientist says no to a printed component in that case, they are right and we will say so too. We would rather lose the job than be the reason something in your care is harmed.
What this process is genuinely good for
Mounts are one-offs, and one-offs are what kills a mount-making budget: every object needs its own form, and the traditional answer is a mount maker bending brass rod by eye and by hand. A printed part changes the maths on the complex ones — a cradle carrying an open book at a specified angle so the binding is not stressed, a former that follows the profile of an irregular ceramic, a block that supports a tool at the angle the curator wants it read at. It changes the maths on the repetitive ones too: label holders and graphic clips for a whole gallery are the same part forty times, and exhibitions run to an install date, so a batch that arrives in days rather than a joinery slot in weeks is worth something. We do not scan. If you need a mount that follows an object's surface exactly, the model has to come from a scanning bureau or a photogrammetry supplier — send us the file and we will print it, but the capture is not something we offer. Same for handling replicas: supply the model, and we will print the object visitors can pick up while the real one stays in the case.
Working to a case, a designer and an install date
Send the case drawing, the deck depth and the sightlines, and tell us the constraint that actually matters — usually that the mount must be placeable and removable without the object being touched, and that nothing about it is adhesive to the artefact. Reversibility is the design brief, not a feature request. On appearance: matte black, grey and off-white disappear best under case lighting, and we will not claim a reliable colour match to a case fabric or a paint reference — printed colour is filament colour, and we would rather you saw a sample than trusted a swatch. Two practical notes. Filament is not a fire-rated material, so if the case build carries a fire rating a printed part should not be counted in that calculation — ask the case builder. And printed plastic under a steady load creeps over months, so a mount holding weight for a two-year display is a different design from one holding weight for a fortnight's fair. Tell us the run length and we will design to it rather than assume.
How it works
Send your file or describe the part
Upload an STL, OBJ, 3MF or STEP file, or tell us what you need with photos and a few measurements.
Get a guide price
When we can read the geometry we estimate from it straight away — material, print time, supports and quantity all priced openly.
We check printability, then confirm
A person reviews orientation, wall thickness and supports, flags anything that will not print well, and confirms your final quote before any work starts.
Museum & Exhibition Mounts — example prices
Worked examples on real models from our print library, priced by the same calculator that estimates your own part. Sizes span small to large so you can see how cost moves with the part.
| Example part | Size | PLA | PETG | ABS / ASA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Display Plinth (small) | 35 × 35 × 8 mm | £2.44 – £3.11 | £2.56 – £3.27 | £2.83 – £3.62 |
| Phone Stand (phone) | 80 × 70 × 90 mm | £14.03 – £17.92 | £14.84 – £18.97 | £16.70 – £21.34 |
| Monitor Riser Block (small) | 100 × 80 × 40 mm | £27.94 – £35.70 | £29.57 – £37.78 | £33.28 – £42.53 |
| Laptop Riser Leg | 80 × 90 × 40 mm | £50.69 – £64.77 | £53.02 – £67.75 | £57.91 – £74 |
Guide prices for a single unit, calculated from the measured geometry of each example model — not fixed quotes. Small parts land at or near the £0 minimum order, and per-unit prices fall with quantity. Your price depends on your own part, its material and its printability. How pricing works.
Example models for museum & exhibition mounts
Open-source designs from our print library that show the kind of part this service suits. View any of them for a full material and quantity price breakdown.
Furniture Foot (large)
Display Plinth (medium)
15mm Pipe Clip
Furniture Foot (medium)
These are open-source example designs (CC0) we publish to show what the process suits and what it costs — not a record of past jobs. Prices shown are examples in PLA.
Museum & Exhibition Mounts — FAQ
Is your plastic safe to touch an artefact?+
We cannot claim that, and we will not. It is untested filament with additives nobody publishes, and it outgasses. Any artefact contact needs your conservator's sign-off, and any barrier between mount and object is specified by them. Use the print as the form and let conservation decide the interface.
Can you Oddy test a filament for us?+
No — that is a laboratory capability and we do not have it. If your institution has access to Oddy testing and wants to test a specific filament, we will tell you exactly what we would print with so you can test the right thing. What we will not do is tell you the result in advance.
Can you scan an object to make a mount for it?+
No, we do not scan. We print from a model you supply — from your own modelling, a scanning bureau or a photogrammetry supplier. If the mount can be made from measurements and a profile template rather than a scan, that is often simpler and we are happy to work that way.
Can you make label holders for a whole gallery?+
Yes, and it is one of the better uses of this. The design lands once and the copies are cheap, so forty holders cost far less than the first one implies, and a reprint later for a redisplay is materials and machine time. Send the deck detail and the label sizes.
How much does museum & exhibition mounts cost?+
There is no fixed per-item rate — price comes from how much plastic the part uses, how long it takes to print, how much support and finishing it needs, and how many you want. The example table above shows what real parts of this kind work out at. Upload your file for a guide price on your own part.
How long does it take?+
It depends on the size of the part, the queue and the material. Tell us your deadline when you enquire and we will tell you honestly whether it is achievable before you commit.
Can I order one of the models from your library?+
Yes. Every model in our print library is a design you can have printed — pick one, choose a material and quantity, and the example price on its page is your starting point. You can also download the file and take it elsewhere; they are all CC0.
Are my files kept private?+
Yes. Uploaded files go to private storage, are never made public, and are only used to quote and produce your job.
Worth reading first
Practical guides that help you get a better part and a more accurate quote.
Prototyping a Product: A Step-by-Step Guide
The route from a sketch to a batch you can sell — what each stage is for, what to test, and when to stop printing in PLA and start printing in something real.
How Many Prototype Iterations Should You Expect?
Three or four rounds for a simple part, more for anything with a mechanism. How to iterate cheaply — one change at a time, several variants per print — and how to know when to stop.
From Prototype to Production
What happens after the design is frozen — bridge batches, the point where tooling beats printing, the design changes that make moulding cheaper, and what a moulder actually needs from you.
Other services
Get a 3D print estimate
Upload your file or describe the part. We review printability before confirming anything.