Compositions from the Shaped panels workflow are assembled from frames and panels, joined to each other and hung on keyholes. Follow the assembly map in the ZIP for positions.
Fix the panels in their frames
Each panel rests on the inner shelf of its frame. How you fix it depends on the panel fixing chosen in the app:
- Glue — put a few dots of glue on the shelf (medium CA for PLA, epoxy for PETG), drop the panel in, and press it down evenly. Keep glue away from the front edge so it doesn’t squeeze out.
- Screw from the front — drop the panel in and drive small self-tapping screws (3 × 8–10 mm by default) through the countersunk holes into the frame hubs.
- Screw from the back — drop the panel in from the front, then hold it in place, turn the frame over and drive the screws through the hubs into the blind holes in the back of the panel. Nothing shows on the front.
If a panel doesn’t drop in, check for a brim remnant or elephant foot on its edge first; otherwise raise the frame clearance by 0.1 mm for the next print.
Join the frames
With the default dowel connectors, neighbouring frames have matching holes in their shared walls.
- Cut short pieces of 1.75 mm filament, a little shorter than the two holes together.
- Put a small drop of CA into one hole, push a dowel in, then add a drop to the matching hole of the neighbour.
- Press the frames together on a flat surface, fronts down, and hold them until the glue grabs.
Without dowels, glue the shared walls directly and clamp them while the glue cures. Dowels mostly help alignment; the glue gives the strength.
Hang on keyholes
Keyholes are slots in the back of the frame: a round entry that the screw head passes through, and a narrow neck above it. When you slide the frame down, the shank rides up the neck and the head locks behind the lip.
Tiles in the same row share one keyhole height, so the screws of a row are level and can be drilled along one line. The assembly map in the ZIP (or SVG · assembly map) has a drilling guide for them: each row as a level line with its height from the bottom and top of the composition, and each screw’s distance from the left edge. These are the positions where the heads end up, at the top of the necks.
- Assemble the whole composition first (panels fixed, frames joined).
- Mark the wall from the drilling guide. Draw a level reference line for the bottom (or top) of the composition, measure each row’s height from it and draw the row with a spirit level or laser, then mark each screw’s distance from the left edge. No map at hand? Lay a sheet of paper over the back and rub a pencil over the keyholes — the screw ends up at the top of the neck, not in the centre of the entry.
- Drill and plug. Ø 6 mm holes and 6 mm plugs in masonry, or screws straight into wood.
- Drive the screws — 4 mm pan-head or countersunk screws — leaving each head a few millimetres proud of the wall.
- Hang and adjust. Put the heads through the entries and slide the composition down. If it rattles, turn the screws in a quarter turn; if it doesn’t slide down, back them out a quarter turn.
Install an LED strip
With the LED rail enabled, outward-facing frame edges have a channel for a self-adhesive LED strip, and a cable exit hole to the back. The light washes the wall around the composition.
- Choose the strip. Its width and thickness must not exceed the strip settings used in the app (10 × 3 mm by default). The app deepens the frame and widens its outer wall when the strip needs it (16.8 mm deep and 5.4 mm wide for the defaults). COB strips give a continuous line of light without visible dots.
- Test it on your power supply before sticking anything.
- Clean the channel with isopropyl alcohol and let it dry.
- Start at the cable exit. Feed the cable through to the back, then peel the backing little by little and press the strip into the channel.
- Go round corners gently. The strip lies flat against the side of the frame, so it bends easily around rounded outer corners. At sharp corners, cut at the marked cut points and bridge with a corner connector or a short soldered wire.
- Cut the end at the nearest cut mark and seal it if the strip is coated.