Get critically lit!
I couldn't find a D20 model that fit my preferences (easy to print, no supports, uses less filament, etc.), so I made my own and turned it into a lamp shade!
This model uses shockingly little filament, 140g split between one to two colors for all the faces and just 40g for the base. The jig I made uses more at ~70g but I'm sure less infill and a better designer could get that lower. AMS/Multi Material Printing is optional, but useful! Not to mention, any configuration of faces can be made for all you spindown fans.
Required Stuff:
I used this lightbulb holder with a stupid long cable and an extra RGB smart bulb I had lying around for the light (I don't recommend using a lightbulb that generates a lot of heat). Making it fit the Bambu LED Lamp kit would be pretty trivial. You don't have to use a light if you just want a giant D20. For assembly, I exclusively used a 3D printer pen, but glue would also work, if not be a bit harder.
Slicer/Printing instructions:
- For every face, import together the Face, Number, and Frame.
- You can import just the face and frame for hollow numbers, just know some numbers, like 10, 20, and 8 will have holes that don't print correctly.
- A .3MF file is included with everything imported/colored.
- For your bottom face, import just the D20_Bottom, it has the frame included.
- For a custom face, you can use the blank face and import a .2mm tall design and set it to block printing for the original face. You also could just use the blank face for every face if you're an icosa-fan.
- Set the filament color for the frame/face/number to be the color(s) you want.
- For a darker lamp, use an opaque filament for the face and the translucent filament for the number.
- For no filament swaps, scale just the number of each face up 2x or more.
- You should be able to fit two faces at a time at least on your build plate to reduce filament swaps for one nozzle setup, for a total of 11 print jobs (10 for faces, 1 for the base and jig.
- My settings for printing this had my initial layer at .2mm with .08mm layers after that with default settings for everything else. You may need a brim if you have bed adhesion issues.
- Make sure the faces cool COMPLETELY before taking them off the build plate. Any warping will mess up the alignment/fit. I didn't do that and… it worked out fine, but you should really do as I say.
Assembly Instructions:
Forewarning, the assembly is a smidge of a pain, and is easiest if you've got a soldering iron/3D printing pen. Glue should also work, but it'll need to be fast drying else you'll be struggling to hold it in place for the appropriate amount of time.
- I started by gluing five together using the included jig and a 3D printing pen to fuse together the faces into a pentagonal tentshape. If you wear it on your head at this point it becomes a Yamacrit.
- I found it easiest to then make the middle ring of faces, and yes you may have to glue/melt some faces from the outside. Just be careful, you'll be fine.
- Get the bottom pentagonal tent shape made (one of which should be the base face, the one with the hole in it)
- Glue/melt the top/middle ring together, then glue the bottom set together, keeping in mind whatever face is opposite to the base will be the one on top, aka “the roll” of the die.
- The rest of the base prints normally and slips onto the light stand I linked above, of which then the assembled D20 should just snap pretty snuggly onto it and be tight enough to carry by the top but loose enough to be popped off in case the light bulb needs to be changed. I didn't want bugs and cobwebs finding their way inside.
That's it! It's a fun craft to kill an evening with and the results are way better than I expected them to be! Hope someone actually makes this thing, I know it's not the easiest project and was designed for specific hardware, but hopefully people find some joy out of it.
JC Wollslager
