3D Printed Christmas Decoration Lithophanes
November 28, 2021
By Ludovic Richter
Christmas is just around the corner, and we all think about decorating our houses to make it as cozy as possible. Christmas trees are the major element to lift up the Christmas spirit and atmosphere for children and adults alike. It’s joyous to prepare & decorate your house (if everything is according to plan).
It’s a wonderful moment when you finished your setup and light up your Christmas Tree. But this year, we will make it even more special! With the help & design of Ludovic Richter & ItsLitho lithophane maker, we’ve made it possible for you to make a 3D printed Christmas ball lithophane in a very simple way. As a light source, it only requires garland lights. It couldn’t be easier!
So how do you make a 3D printed Christmas ball from a lithophane? Let’s jump in!
In this guide, we will show you how to make your own 3D printed custom lithophane Christmas ball. The aim is clear, make it easy to design, easy to print, easy to assemble & easy to decorate. This model fits garlands with spot LEDs with a diameter of a maximum of 8mm.
Follow the instructions below and the Christmas magic will follow.
First, head over to the ItsLitho Lithophane maker, preferably in a different tab to follow this guide alongside the tool. Once you’ve done that, we can begin to create our unique Christmas lithophane ball!
To start building your own Christmas balls, download the dedicated profile following.
The image preparation is being made in two stages.
You can import 2 or more images to be wrapped on the lithophane, but this ratio (H:L) should be close to 1:3 at the end.
In this step, the only settings you have to play with are your minimum and maximum thicknesses, depending of the filament you’ll use, and the lithophane resolution. The template is optimized for a 0.8-2.8mm thicknesses, but it should work if you slightly modify these by default values. When that’s done, just download your model (no attribute needed).
As you can see, the printed lithophane is bottom and top opened. Now we choose and print the remaining parts which are needed to build the Christmas ball. Several models are available, but they all work in the same way:
Please select you model following these links:
Print all parts flat on the building plate, support and brim could help but are not mandatory.
Filaments that work well with lithophanes can be found in the store. For example, the filament used for these prints is Tinmorry matt white PLA. When all parts are printed, you can assemble your Christmas balls lithophane as seen in the video below.
You’re now ready to create an amazing Christmas ball Lithophane with garland light using ItsLitho. Light up the Christmas ball & enjoy the magic!
Enjoy these festive months & we wish you already a Merry Christmas.
With ItsLitho you are able to design your own unique lithophane in an easy and adaptive manner. Keep track of your design with the preview model, choose different shapes, add handy attributes and customize it the way you want!
We have selected the best-known products for creating lithophanes in our store!
Free online designing software that helps you create high-quality 3D printed lithophanes. It’s a simple yet powerful cross-platform lithophane maker.