Xinxin Li
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05 / Museum Collections / Material Research

3D Printed Research & Education Collection

Designing and assembling a 3D-printed research collection through CAD modelling, fabrication coordination and protective packaging for museum material studies.

  • Material Research
  • Digital Fabrication
  • Museum Research
  • Industrial Design
Year
2023–2024
Context
Image Permanence Institute · Rochester Institute of Technology · IMLS-funded research
Role
3D Design Assistant
Duration
July 2023–July 2024
Team
  • Xinxin Li3D Design Assistant
  • Meredith NoyesSupervisor · Research Scientist
  • Jennifer Jae GutierrezIPI Executive Director
  • Emma RichardsonDirector of Research
  • RIT Fab Lab collaboratorsFabrication collaboration
Xinxin Li leans toward a desktop filament printer to observe a white object being printed on its build plate.
Observing a print in progress. Image: RIT / Image Permanence Institute, published August 10, 2023.

Designing objects for preservation research

At the Image Permanence Institute, I contributed to an IMLS-funded project investigating the preservation of 3D-printed museum objects. Working under Research Scientist Meredith Noyes, I helped design and produce a collection representing different printing materials and processes for material studies and education.

The project connected industrial design with museum practice: how an object is modelled, printed, handled and transported becomes part of how it can be studied and cared for.

My contribution

  • Designed CAD models, adapting geometry for printability and sectioning models into test specimens for material studies.
  • Coordinated printing across departments and assembled a research collection spanning different materials and printing processes.
  • Designed protective packaging around model dimensions to help prevent damage during transport.

From an ornate frame to a research object

One documented collection object was an ornate picture-frame corner. With help from RIT’s Fab Lab, I scanned the corner, cleaned the resulting file through 3D modelling and added colour digitally.

The frame-corner model was produced using five printing processes, bringing different fabrication approaches into the research and education collection.

Five printing processes

  • Stereolithography (SLA)
  • Selective Laser Sintering (SLS)
  • Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)
  • Digital Light Process (DLP)
  • Multi Jet Fusion (MJF)

01 / Scanning & digital modelling

A handheld scanner is aimed at an ornate frame beside a laptop displaying blue scanned geometry.
01 — Scanning the reference frame beside a laptop displaying the captured geometry. Image supplied by Xinxin Li.
A laptop screen shows a grey digital model of an ornate frame corner with leaf and scroll relief.
02 — Working with the scanned frame geometry. Image supplied by Xinxin Li.
A digital frame-corner model has gold edges, green leaves and red decorative details.
03 — Digital colour applied to the frame-corner model. Image supplied by Xinxin Li.

02 / Printing & collection specimens

A yellow printer head sits above a dark L-shaped frame-corner print on a build plate.
04 — A frame-corner model on the printer bed. Image supplied by Xinxin Li.
Rows of dark rectangular pieces form a T-shaped arrangement on a printer build plate.
05 — Rectangular specimens arranged on a build plate. Image supplied by Xinxin Li.
Four ornate frame-corner pieces, two white and two multicoloured, are arranged on a grey surface.
06 — Frame-corner examples with different surface appearances. Image supplied by Xinxin Li.
Dark and white rectangular pieces are arranged in overlapping rows on a tabletop, with visible surface lines and relief.
07 — Rectangular specimen examples. Image supplied by Xinxin Li.
Black and white printed objects, including patterned tiles, compartmented trays and handled forms, are arranged on a grey surface.
08 — An overview of printed collection pieces. Image supplied by Xinxin Li.

CAD, fabrication & handling

My CAD work prepared models for fabrication and for use as test specimens. Cross-department coordination supported production across the materials and processes represented in the collection.

Packaging extended the design work beyond printing. I tailored protective packaging to each model’s dimensions, with transport protection as the goal. No quantified reduction in damage or packaging-test result is claimed.

03 / Protective packaging

A grey foam sheet has rectangular outlines marked for differently sized object compartments.
09 — Planning the protective insert layout. Image supplied by Xinxin Li.
Grey foam inserts with multiple rectangular cutouts are laid on a workbench.
10 — Cut compartments shaped around the collection pieces. Image supplied by Xinxin Li.
Bagged printed objects, including colourful frame corners, sit in individual cutouts within a grey presentation box.
11 — Collection objects fitted into protective compartments. Image supplied by Xinxin Li.
Rows of individually wrapped rectangular specimens are held in foam slots inside an open box.
12 — Specimens organized in individual slots. Image supplied by Xinxin Li.
Three closed grey rectangular boxes are lined up on a workshop table.
13 — The closed collection boxes. Image supplied by Xinxin Li.

Contribution to the collection

My outputs included CAD models, printed collection pieces and protective packaging supporting IPI’s material research. The collection provides physical examples through which printing processes and materials can be examined.

This case study describes my design and fabrication contribution. It does not claim that I led preservation experiments or established material stability, service life or conservation guidelines. Those conclusions require the research team’s methods and results.

Connecting making with museum practice

This work brought the practical skills of industrial design—modelling, fabrication and object handling—into a museum research context. It connects my interest in how objects are made with questions about how cultural institutions study, preserve and use them for learning.

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