From the Loftsmith Workshop

Spiral fairy-light Christmas tree sized to your LED string

Turns a spare string of fairy lights into a little tabletop Christmas tree. The lights wind up the cone in a spiral groove, with a star on top, and the base is a ribbed ring that holds it steady. Set your string's length and spacing so it fits.

3 parts · 103 g · 109 × 108 × 214 mm

by Loftsmith Workshop

White cone with spiral ridges and a small red star on top, standing in a ribbed red base ring
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No adjustable sizes

Ask for the sizes you want to tweak, e.g. “make the width adjustable”.

Change it in the Studio

Parts

  • tree · PLA (white or translucent) · Upright, open foot down, as modelled

    99.5 x 99.4 x 170 mm, about 62 g and 101 min. A hollow cone with a 2.8 mm wall carrying the helical groove, LED seats, the lead slot at the rim, a tuck hole for the wire tail and the star socket. White or translucent PLA lets the LEDs glow through.

  • stand · PLA (accent colour, red shown) · Upright, flat bottom down

    108.8 x 107.5 x 25.5 mm, about 40 g and 59 min. Fluted round stand with a 3 mm locating lip, an open-top cradle for the battery box and a window that the box slides out through.

  • star · PLA (same accent colour) · Flat on its back face (printRotate applied)

    20.6 x 29 x 5 mm, about 1 g and 6 min. Its 4 x 5 mm peg pushes into a 4.4 x 5.4 x 9 mm socket on the tree tip.

Print settings

Layer height
0.2 mm
Walls
2
Infill
15%
Supports
None
Notes
All three parts at 2 walls / 15% infill: about 107 g and 2 h 51 min in total (Loftsmith engine estimate; tree ~62 g / 101 min, stand ~40 g / 59 min, star ~1 g / 6 min). Each part fits an A1 mini bed separately; on a 256 mm bed they fit on one plate. The upper groove flank leans 44 degrees from verti

Hardware

  • Battery fairy-light string (copper or silver wire, seed LEDs) · Defaults are set for 2 m total with a 100 mm lead and 20 LEDs at 100 mm spacing. Bead seats assume LEDs about 3 mm across. The battery box goes in the stand: default 62 x 48 x 20 mm (3 x AA type), adj

Assembly

  1. Measure your string: total length from the battery box to the wire end, the bare lead from the box to the first LED, and the distance between LEDs. Measure the battery box too. Set the String length, Lead, LED spacing and Battery box sliders on Adjust.
  2. Print the tree, stand and star (no supports).
  3. Drop the battery box into the stand's cradle with its switch end facing the window.
  4. Lift the lead straight up out of the cradle. Lower the tree into the stand's lip so the bare lead slides into the narrow slot in the tree's rim, just above the window. Spare lead coils up inside the hollow tree.
  5. Put the first LED in the seat where the groove starts. Wind the string up the groove, pressing each LED into its seat, then tuck the wire tail into the small hole at the end of the groove.
  6. Push the star's peg into the socket on top of the tree.
  7. To switch the lights on or off, slide the battery box out through the window (the cradle allows about 32 mm), flip the switch and push it back in.

Good to know

  • The fit is only as good as your measurements. Specs vary between sellers, so measure the total length, lead and LED spacing instead of trusting the listing. If a measurement is off, the last LED lands short of or past the end of the groove.
  • The seats are shaped for seed-LED beads about 3 mm across; 2-4 mm beads sit in the groove. Larger LED caps or mini-light bulbs will not fit.
  • Use battery or USB LED strings only. Do not use mains or incandescent lights, because PLA softens at about 55 °C.
  • The wire is held by the groove and by the copper keeping its own bend; nothing clips it in. If the tail springs out, a small piece of tape fixes it.
  • With the default box the lead must be at least 59 mm (the slider starts at 60 mm). A shorter lead leaves the first LED inside the tree.
  • The box slides out about 32 mm through the window. If your box's switch is further from the window end than that, lift the tree off to reach it.
  • Long strings on short trees pack the turns tightly: at 3.5 m on the default 170 mm tree only 1.4 mm of land is left between turns. Use a taller tree for long strings.
  • The fits, the groove length and stability were checked in the Loftsmith engine, not on a real print. Print it and test-wind your own string before giving it as a gift.
I printed this Remix

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