Easy Print LED Light Bridge / Arc 3D Printer Model

Author: @
License: CC BY-NC
File formats: STL,txt
Download type: zip
Size:369.1KB

The file 'Easy Print LED Light Bridge / Arc 3D Printer Model' is (STL,txt) file type, size is 369.1KB.

Summary

Like so many people, I really liked the LED Bridge Lamp by Opossums. There are plenty of other great designs out there too, like this one, this one and this one. They've all got their own strengths but I felt there might be people out there who would appreciate the way I've tackled this too.

What Makes Mine Different (and a warning)
For my version I tried to use as little filament as possible whilst still keeping it quite large. I really like that these don't get in the way of your work! Because of that, if you use these files, I highly suggest you use a 0.4mm nozzle and double-check the slicing before you print. It's designed to have exactly two walls for the segments and middle bit, which I've found more than strong enough, but that does also mean there's no room for error.

Versions
I've generated three different versions:

  • 170cm / 5' 7" (the original - verified)
  • 140cm / 4' 7" (currently printing but critical components verified)
  • 100cm / 3' 3.5" (not tested)

Note that these sizes aren't the diameter of the arc but rather the minimum desk size you'll need to fit them. If you look closely in the pictures, I've tried to fit the 170cm version on a desk which is 150cm, which causes obvious overhangs but still sits fine without clamping/screws.

Material and LED Strip
I printed this in PLA and it seems to be fine with the heat generated by my selected LED strip. The 170cm version uses around 2.4m (7' 11") of LED strip so other versions will use less - just make sure it's only 10mm / 3/8" wide.

Printing Guide
Remember - 0.4mm nozzle only! All three versions need 2x base parts, 20x segment parts and 1x middle part. The base in the 170cm version is 20cm high but the other two are 16cm. All parts should be fine to print on small printers, even an Ender-2, although I did print my parts on a Prusa i3 MK3. I wouldn't suggest printing more than six segments at a time since their contact to the print surface is quite small and you might encounter the odd failure (unless you use a brim). Absolutely no need for supports at all.

Assembly
Nothing too difficult here. Everything should just push together and hold pretty tightly with friction. You should have 2 sides comprising of 10 segments each, a middle piece to connect them both, and they should slot into the bases easily. If you have trouble inserting parts into each other, I found that if you start with the side that has the channel for the LED strip it can be slightly easier.

base100.STL 160.7KB
base140.STL 158.8KB
base170.STL 159.0KB
middle100.STL 102.0KB
middle140.STL 81.7KB
middle170.STL 81.7KB
readme100.txt 304.0B
readme140.txt 304.0B
readme170.txt 299.0B
segment100.STL 141.3KB
segment140.STL 136.6KB
segment170.STL 142.5KB