Laser Cut Running Medal Display

I wanted a display to inspire my love of running. I thought of a display for my medals would be just the trick. I've just starting out running and I love it already, I wanted to bring my engineering background to my new hobby. Thus I created a holder for those achievements I've earned over the last few months. In every race they give you participating medal and honestly it feels great to just do it so I created a way to show off that hard work.

This would be a perfect gift to someone you love or yourself!

For this project I used one part pine wood, two parts aluminum and one part stainless steel (totally to preference)

Epoxy that binds wood to metal and metal to metal

Heavy duty hanger to mount on the wall

Sandpaper from 60 to 600

Stain as dark as you like

(2) Screw cup hooks

(1) Aluminum 3/8" rod cut to length desired

(1) 3/4" x 3/4" aluminum angle cut to length desired

I wanted a design that inspires me to run. I picked three layers of metal framed on wood. A city background is what I chose because I run deep Los Angeles city. The word I chose is "RUN," CNC'd onto the foreground.

I used a vector based program to draw out what I wanted. The first two layers of aluminum are a city scape (closest to the wood). The foreground layer is made out of stainless steel to give it a different look. Text is on the outer layer.

There are many programs to use but I used AutoCad (pay - work pays for it). You can also use Inkscape (free) or Adobe Illustrator (pay-but worth it).

The back two layers are just a bunch of imaginary buildings using straight lines but honestly you can make any design you want. You can choose an image to trace too! I designed all the flat pieces in AutoCad individually. Then combined them all to see what it looked like together in Solidworks (pay - work pays for it). You can also use TinkerCad which is free to design everything if you wish.

The best part of this project is sending it out to be laser cut (CNC).

There are a mix of cutting methods, flame cut, plasma cut or laser cut. Out of all those laser is the most precise.

I was VERY happy with with OshCut (https://www.oshcut.com). They have a very intuitive website that you can pick between many different kinds of materials such as aluminum, stainless steel, regular steel, brass, copper nickel etc. and a variety of gauges (thickness) to use along with an instant quote. I will definitely use this service again on my next laser cut project.

For the wood you choose I used pine but you can use oak or even birch. Browse Home Depot or Lowes or your local Ace Hardware. The piece I chose was a 24" x 24" x 1" thickness piece of pine.

The sandpaper I used was a mix of (60 grit) then made my way to fine (600 grit).

Staining (or painting). I used stain. Give the background a darker color than the foreground for a dramatic look. I chose a medium stain color. You can put as many layers as you like to get the desired darkness. I used three coats.

After the wood is stained (or painted) and dried...

Epoxy (glue) the wood to the metal pieces. When I designed the pieces of metal I used the exact size of wood I bought at Home Depot which was 24" height x 24" width. The metal that had a size of 24" width with room to spare on the height (for background). After Oshcut had cut my CNC pieces (which were perfectly size by the way) I started to adhere the components.

On the wood I put down a good amount of epoxy which has a bonding time of five minutes Loctite epoxy. Then lay another layer of epoxy the first piece of aluminum. After five minutes and the next piece of aluminum goes down. Wait five minutes then epoxy and finally the third piece of stainless steel after that.

Make sure to properly clamp the pieces after each set to make sure they stay even. I had to use an angle to "clean" up the bottom alignment because I didn't use a clamp.

Screw in those open cup 3/8" hooks (https://www.homedepot.com/p/3-8-in-x-5-in-Zinc-Plated-Lag-Thread-Screw-Hook-806996/204273858) just below your CNC'd cutouts. I spaced my hooks about 3" from the both sides.

Once you screw in the 3/8" diameter hooks your slide in the 3/8" aluminum rod which will hold all the awards you master.

Placement of the hanger.

The hanger I chose holds up to 200 pounds into drywall. First place the piece onto the wall then the wood display. My display probably weighs about 35 pounds but I wanted a good hold since it's placed over my bed. Simply screw in the hanger on both ends and then BAM you have a display that you made and you can pass down to generation to generation. Build it big and build it proud!

Show off your laser cut Computer Numerical Control'ed (CNC) bad ass display!