Le Petit Prince Christmas Pyramid (Weihnachtspyramide) 3D Printer Model

Author: @
License: CC BY-NC-SA
File formats: stl
Download type: zip
Size:6.9MB

The file 'Le Petit Prince Christmas Pyramid (Weihnachtspyramide) 3D Printer Model' is (stl) file type, size is 6.9MB.

Summary

This is a "little prince" themed "christmas pyramid".
Here's the pyramid in action and building instructions:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glVsnl6bkXQ&t=1s

What is a "Christmaspyramid"?

A Christmaspyramid or "Weihnachtspyramide" is an old decor piece from Germany: circular paterned candles create heat, which spins the propeller on top. The propeller is connected to one or more plates, on those you can find many different wooden figures.

What do I need?

You need one 608 bearing, measuring 7 mm (thickness) by 8 mm (ID) by 22 mm (OD). That is a classic skateboard bearing. I recommend buying a new bearing that is turning really well (ABEC 9 to 11). You also need 9 classical tealight candles (around 40 mm in diameter). Instructions for building: video above.
You find the number of prints for each parts in the name of the part.
You can print the whole set without support in case you have good bridging settings. If not you just need one support block at the end of the long rod.

CAUTION! Because this is all plastic, you should turn the candles off everytime you have used the pyramid. PLA has a low melting point. I made the design as save as possible. The Structure won't get hot, if you have a good turning bearing and exact manufactured parts.

If you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments section. The set is designed to not use any glue at all. In some sections it can be good to permanently use it. I designed the connections to press fit. It may happen that you have to use a hobby knife to adjust these fits depending on your layer height or your printer in general.

Design process

In total it took almost three weeks of sketching and testing the whole model. At first I tried to use two bearings for more stability but that didnt work because of the inaccuracy of my printer: the long rod in the middle is not that straight to ensure a smooth and friction free spinning. For this case the candles do not create enough flow to spin the model. The second bearing would have been in the baseplate.

For snapfitting connectors I went with .2 and .25 mm clearance and hemispheres (d= 2 mm) for holding everything in place.
Because I have no experience using 3D modelling programs like Blender, Sculptris and Meshmixer I went with finished designs and implemented them into Fusion 360. I had to modify them quite a lot but I think using finished designs saved me a lot of time.

Because I had no idea how much the whole thing would weight I printed very small sections of my design to test the fit to find the clearances. In past designs I did not care about these and used some hot glue to make it fit. Thinking more about my design and printing these sections for testing was quite new but it worked really well! Although 3Dprinting is a method for rapid prototyping you should think about sustainability and test your design before printing. That is one of the things I learned by doing this project.

I learned some gimmicks in Fusion:
-bringing .stl files into BRep without screwing up your whole design history:
You can open a new project in Fusion and convert your .stl from a mesh into a BRep (solid body) and bring this new component into your "main design".
-toggle object visebilties by pressing "ctrl" and a number from 4 to 7.
-align components to make them easier to print using the "align" command.

Background story:

As a child I had a kind of obsession with these christmas pyramids. I had more fun looking at these than anything else! :D I read the book in my childhood and came back to it when i was 19-20. I am really glad that I had that relaxed childhood. Sometimes I want to return to that time, so that is why I made the pyramid spin counterclockwise. In case you want to use your own figures I have made a turntable with no connectors. YMost of the pyramids I have seen spin clockwise. You can make your pyramid spin clockwise by simply mirroring the turntable_cloud and _body_plane files.

Remixed models:
ww.thingiverse.com/thing:934033

thingiverse.com/thing:2162616

thingiverse.com/thing:2755289

thingiverse.com/thing:1147748

thingiverse.com/thing:3948024

thingiverse.com/thing:2663491

myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-the-little-prince-drawing-number-two-4706

myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-plane-from-the-little-prince-104171

myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-gift-box-container-80133

myminifactory.com/object/3d-print-christmas-tree-earrings-charm-multi-colour-or-one-colour-78708

arm_body_print_3.stl 605.2KB
Baseplate_print_1.stl 1.5MB
Big_cloud_downpart_print_1.stl 488.4KB
blade_1_print_1.stl 218.3KB
blade_2_print_1.stl 274.5KB
blade_6_print_1.stl 257.7KB
blade_B_print_1.stl 263.4KB
Blade_stars1_print_4.stl 186.3KB
Blade_stars2_print_4.stl 186.3KB
Body_plane_print_1.stl 154.1KB
bottom_part_B612_print_1.stl 732.6KB
Box_print_1.stl 762.8KB
Candle_holder_christmas_tree_print_1.stl 690.2KB
Candle_holder_gift_print_1.stl 725.2KB
Candle_holder_snake_or_hat_print_1.stl 869.7KB
Christmas_tree_print_1.stl 388.7KB
Connector_pin_baseplate_to_candles_print__6.stl 445.8KB
Connector_pin_cloud_arm_print_3.stl 541.9KB
Connector_pin_plane_print_1.stl 1.1MB
Cutted_cloud_print_1.stl 203.7KB
Fox_print_1.stl 420.3KB
Gift_top_print_1.stl 244.5KB
Holder_B612_print_1.stl 1.3MB
Le_Petit_Prince_print_1.stl 547.2KB
long_rod_print_1.stl 197.0KB
Propeller_plane_print_1.stl 378.8KB
Rose_print_1.stl 466.2KB
short_rod_print_1.stl 252.8KB
Snowman_print_1.stl 384.4KB
Star_for_arm_print_3.stl 4.0KB
top_part_B612_print_1.stl 3.8MB
Turntable_cloud_print_1.stl 450.7KB
Turntable_print_1.stl 590.5KB
turntable_without_mounts_for_creativity.stl 197.9KB