From the Loftsmith Workshop
Schwibbogen candle arch for 36-42 mm LED tea lights
A little Christmas window arch for the sill, with a row of red cups along the top that each hold an LED tea light. The white arch has a tree, houses and hanging stars cut into it, and it sits on four red feet. Change the number of lights to suit your window.
18 parts · 170 g · 395 × 84 × 176 mm
Ask for the sizes you want to tweak, e.g. “make the width adjustable”.
How to print it
Parts
- arch-1 · PLA (white or wood fill) · Flat, front face up (as exported)
Left section, 122 x 155 x 6 mm, ~23 g, ~34 min. No supports.
- arch-2 · PLA (white or wood fill) · Flat, front face up (as exported)
Middle section with the tall tree and star, 150 x 173 x 6 mm, ~36 g, ~51 min. No supports.
- arch-3 · PLA (white or wood fill) · Flat, front face up (as exported)
Right section, 122 x 155 x 6 mm, ~24 g, ~35 min. No supports.
- key ×4 · PLA (accent colour) · Flat
Bowtie keys, 18 x 8.6 x 6 mm, ~1 g each. Two per joint: one in the base rail, one in the band.
- cup ×7 · PLA (accent colour) · Upright, stem down
Tulip cup on a stem, ~8 g and ~17 min each. Stiff PLA holds the tab slot fit; LED lights only.
- foot ×4 · PLA (accent colour) · Flat base down, slot up
30 x 84 mm slotted feet, ~8 g each. One under each joint and one at each end.
Print settings
- Layer height
- 0.2 mm
- Walls
- 2
- Infill
- 15%
- Supports
- None
- Notes
- Default 7-light set at 2 walls / 15%: about 176 g and 5 h 36 min in total across all 18 pieces; the longest single piece is the 51 min middle section. With 3 walls / 15% (a stiffer, nearly solid 6 mm panel) it is about 236 g and 7 h 32 min. Print the arch sections in white or wood-fill PLA, and the
Hardware
- 7 × LED tea light, 36-42 mm diameter · One per cup. Set the LED tea light diameter slider to your measured size. Never use wax tea lights or real flames.
- PLA-compatible glue (optional) · A drop in each key pocket makes the joints permanent; the keys also work dry.
Assembly
- Measure your LED tea lights and your sill depth, then set the sliders before exporting. The number of lights sets the span; the largest-piece slider sets how many sections there are.
- Lay the arch sections face up on a table in order and push them together at the joints.
- Press a bowtie key into each joint from the front: one in the base rail and one in the band. Add a drop of glue if you want the joints permanent.
- Stand the arch up and push the base rail down into the feet: one foot under each joint and one at each end.
- Drop a cup onto each tab on top of the band. The tab goes into the slot under the stem.
- Switch on the LED tea lights and set one in each cup. To switch one off, lift it out using the finger notch at the back of the cup.
Good to know
- For LED tea lights only. Never use wax tea lights or any open flame: PLA softens at about 55 °C and burns.
- The span is not a slider. It follows from the number of lights and the light size: with 38 mm lights it is 271 mm for 5 lights, 395 mm for 7 and 518 mm for 9.
- Tipping was checked statically from the centre of mass. The default arch tips past 19 degrees on a 90 mm sill; on a shallower sill the feet are shorter and it tips at a smaller angle (12.4 degrees at the 60 mm minimum), so on shallow sills keep it clear of curtains and window handles.
- The cup clearance (0.6 mm default) and key clearance (0.15 mm per side) are geometric settings, not results from a test print. Print one cup and one key first and adjust the sliders if they are too tight or too loose.
- The light's weight (12 g each) is an assumption used in the tip check. LED tea light heights vary (18-22 mm); the cup holds the lower 10 mm.
- The stars, trees and houses are placed automatically for each light count and bed size, so the scene changes a little when you move those sliders.
- It is a bigger print than a quick gadget: about 176 g and 5 h 36 min for the default set, split over 18 pieces of 51 min or less.
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