Exhibition Project – Display bracket 4th June 2014

The majority of the group has been looking at getting prints done for the exhibition.  I will displaying a video, so need some sort of TV or projector.  I discussed this with my lecturers last Wednesday.  Here are the options that we discussed:

Projector:

The college could lend me a projector, but I felt this would be awkward.  If I forward projected I would need to have the projector on a stand or suspended from the ceiling.  Suspending from the ceiling definitely wasn’t an option and I just felt that a stand would get in the way of people at the exhibition.  Along with the health and safety problems of cables running on the floor.  I could possibly back project onto something, but this would need a substantial ‘booth’ putting together to keep all of the equipment safe.

Hire a TV:

I could hire a TV with a USB socket for two weeks, but this would be expensive, plus insurance may be an option with it being in a public gallery.

Borrow an iMac from college:

I liked this option, it would give me great control over the video playback and operating times.  i.e. getting the iMac to shut down and startup at specific times.  I would need to make it safe though.

I work for a company called Impact Air Systems where I am a draughtsman for sheet metal fabrication.   I used my lunch break to design a bracket, which I could then get fabricated by our sister company Impact Ducting Sales.

I needed something that I could screw to the wall of the gallery, would be substantial enough to carry a 21.5″ iMac, had a hole to loop the security cable through, didn’t have any sharp edges and be able to carry business cards.

I went for a two part design, the back section could be marked, drilled and fixed on it’s own.  The iMac then sat in.  The front cover could then be bolted on.  As well as the security cable, this would secure the iMac onto the bracket and provide a pocked for business cards.

I used the 3D CAD software, Solidworks,  that I use every day for my job to model an iMac, a wall and my 2 piece bracket.  Here is a screen shot:

 

Here are the fabrication drawings that I did (PDF): IMAC BRACKET top IMAC BRACKET

Here is a photo of the bracket, with iMac, sat on a table, all fits nicely, the galvanised steel finish goes well with the iMac colour scheme: