Attention

This project is still a work in progress. While I have printed and tested all the files, there may still be issues, particularly with tolerances or documentation. If you notice anything amiss, please let me know so I can address it.

Introduction

After more than two years of designing and prototyping, I am very happy to finally present you the Solar System Planet Lamp Collection. In the course of this, I printed over 50 lamp prototypes and spent more than 20 kg of Filament. Inspired by the original Moon Lamp by moononournation (popularized on Printables by Frank Deschner), I decided that I want to create Lamps for other celestial bodies, too. All of the models below, except for the Death Star Lamp, the Phobos Lamp, the Legacy Lamp Base and the Bambu Base are original creations, based on NASA image data I made into Lithophane lamps with original python software. The three models mentioned are Remixes of Starwars Death Star Lithophane Lamp by Olivier Popiers, the Phobos Moon Lamp by HuaCook, the Designer Moon Lamp's Base by Frank Deschner and the LED Lamp 001 Base by Bambu Lab.

Requirements

All Lamps have a size of ~ 205mm x 205mm x 195mm. They should print fine on most printers except for small printers such as the Prusa mini or Bambu A1 Mini. You will need around 300g of Filament (preferably PLA or PLA+) per lamp.
The lamps are mounted to their base with a M75x4 metric thread. The idea for the thread and also the thread dimensions are taken over from the Lithophane Moon Lamp with wide Screw Base by The Quicksilver. This means that his moon lamp as well as his mounting options are compatible with my lamps and bases. I am providing multiple different base options that all use the same thread. Choose the lamp of your liking and match it with any lamp base of your liking. All compatible lamp bases are listed below. You may either need a standard lamp base with a E14 or E27 thread or threaded E14 or E27 sockets. Some Bases also require M3 heat set inserts and M3 BHCS screws. There is additionally the option to use a a Bambu LED Kit as base.

Print Settings

There are only a few settings you should tweak in the slicer to print the lamps.

Print in PLA or PLA+
Recommended layer height: 0.15mm
Use the Arachne Perimeter Generator for more precise printing with better details
If you use Arachne, set the minimum line width to 75% to avoid holes!
Set wall count to 5-6 to obtain a solid lamp
Set seam position to aligned
Activate Brim (Outer Brim Only) and set the Brim width to 5-10 mm
No Support required! The lamps print perfectly fine without support. All lamp bases come with in-built snap off supports (where required).

Be aware, that slicing and printing may take a very long time. The STL files can take up to 10 min. to slice.

Filament

Filament matters. A lot! Depending on the Pigments in your filament, your lamp may have more or less contrast or a warmer or cooler color temperature. Additionally, you can choose colored filament to create Planet Lamps with specific colors. The picture below illustrates this:

I tried several different types of filament. My favourite is Filament PM White PLA + (not the Lithophane version). All models in the pictures were printed with this filament. It creates a lot of contrast and a very warm light. I recommend printing a Filament Swatch to test how your filament will look as a Lithophane. For reference: all Planet Lamps have a minimum wall thickness of 0.6mm and a maximum wall thickness of 2.8mm. I usually print the Lithophane Calibration Tower by American Filament. Your light source also impacts the looks of your lamp. I prefer to use low wattage warm white light, but you can experiment with different light bulb colors or color temperatures.

Planet Lamps

The list below contains all (Dwarf)Planets of the solar system and the sun, turned into lithophane lamps. All of the lamps below are original creations. There are eight different options for earth and two different versions for Venus available. For earth, there is a daytime satellite lamp available, a lamp combining daytime satellite data with bathymetry (sea level) data, a political world map lamp and a lamp only containing bathymetry data and larger waterbodies, the Fishworld. Each of those four different versions are available with the north pole facing up and the south pole facing up. If you are from the southern hemisphere or if you want to hang your lamp upside down, you may prefer the south pole facing up version. The pictures below only show the north pole facing up versions. For Venus, there is one version available showing the atmosphere of the planet (as seen through a telescope) and one version showing the surface structure of Venus (obtained by atmosphere penetrating scans).

Moon Lamps

Unfortunately, there are not as many high quality images of the Solar System's Moons available as there are for its Planets. So far I can only provide Lamps for the Earth's Moon, Jupiter's moon Io and the martian moon Phobos. The Moon and Io are both original creations. The lamp of the moon is based on highly edited image data and thus looks quite different from the already existing moon lamps out there. I focussed on highlighting edges and increasing contrasts. The result is a moon lamp, where the dark side of the moon is not boring anymore. All the small craters on the surface really stand out now.

The Phobos moon lamp is a remix of HuaCook's design. I simply added threads to make the lamp compatible with my bases. Due to different licenses, I cannot directly add the STL to the collection. Instead, you can find Phobos here.

Other Lamps

The category "other Lamps" so far only contains the death star lamp which is a direct remix of Olivier Popiers' Starwars deathstar lithophane lamp. Here, I added the M75x4 thread and also indented the Death Star's ray. In the future, I would like to create more lamps in this category, for example of the world of Game of Thrones or of Middle Earth. If you have any ideas or maps that could be turned into Lamps, please send me a PM.

Lamp Bases

Printing the Planet or Moon of your choice is only a part of creating your own lamp. You'll also need a Lamp Base to illuminate your Planet or Moon. I am providing several differen Lamp Bases, all with a matching M75x4 thread. All of the Bases below will work for all of the Planets and Moons. Except for the Legacy Base and the Bambu Base, these are original creations as well. The Legacy Base is a direct remix of Frank Deschners's base from his Designer Moon Lamp. I only added threads for socket and lamp. The Bambu Base is a direct remix of Bambu Lab's lamp base for their LED Lamp Kit. Here, I also added the M75x4 thread and slightly modified the lamp further. Depending on which base you choose, you will need different hardware for assembly. You will find a detailed BOM and assembly instructions below.

Links to shops are only suggestions on where you can find parts. I am not connected to any of the linked vendors and don't endorse them. Links are also supposed to show you how the required parts are called and look like.

Other Models

There is also a smaller version of this Lamp Collection available: the Solar System Lithophane Christmas Baubles Collection. The smaller version also comes with multiple different Illumination options and can be used for fairy lights, Christmas Baubles, night lights, baby mobiles and more. Check it out!

Make your own Planet Lamps and Bases or Remix mine

If you wish to make your own planet lamps, please do not hesitate to PM me. I can give you guidance and provide you with the workflow I used to create my lamps. I will gladly provide you with spherical STL files (without the cut for the base) and with step files or Inventor/Fusion files for remixes.

Also hit me up if you have a nice idea for new lamps. If I find the time, I may provide a detailed tutorial in the future.

Acknowledgements

A big shoutout and thanks to:

moonournation: to my knowledge, the Lithophane Moon Lamp OP, the original creator who came up with the idea.
The QuickSilver: to my knowledge, the first person to add a thread to the moon lamp (I used the same diameter).
Olivier Popiers: The creator of the Death Star Lamp I remixed.
HuaCook: the creator of the Phobos Lamp I remixed.
Frank Deschner: the person to popularize the Lithophane Moon Lamp and creator of the lamp base I remixed to create the Legacy Base.
Bambu Lab: the creators of the base for their LED Lamp Kit 001 that I remixed to make it compatible with my lamps

Support me

Creating this collection of planet lamps took more than two years and I used over 20kg in Filament for prototyping. If you like my work, please consider supporting me.In the future, I would like to add models for the moons Callisto, Europa and Ganymede. Also I am thinking of adding rings to saturn. Your support will help me to make more models available for free. Thank you!
https://ko-fi.com/fritzpeppone

Changelog

06.12.2024: initial upload
07.12.2024: removed simplified mesh files with lower vertex count due to inconsistencies. For now, only high quality files are available
08.12.2024: corrected orientation for all base STL files
08.12.2024: STEP files for all bases online
10.12.2024: added links to the Christmas Bauble collection
16.12.2024: fixed an issue with the threaded E14 adapter
20.12.2024: added Phobos to the collection

Household