May 29, 2025
Description
I designed this compass magnet inspired by the Stray Kids lightstick compass as a freebie to hand out during SKZ concerts. There is a pocket in the back for pressing in a 6x2mm magnet with minimal force. I included a “pressing support” print which is a negative of the magnet for if you end up needing more than hand force and want to use an arbor press or clamp to help with pressing in the magnets.
Print settings: no supports needed, and I just printed with 15% infill and 3 outer perimeters on my old Ender 3. Filament is this one: matte cherry red. You might run into slight stringiness due to the star shape so play with your retraction settings as needed.
To get good “tips” on prints like this where the star comes to a point in the middle, you'll need to be sure the each tiny layer is cooled down before printing the subsequent layers. Generally you need slow down the printing, make sure your fan is at full power, etcetc - See this for more info. Note that this won't be an issue if you print multiple instances of the magnet; only if you print one or two, since the layer times are so low.
To make the heart and text pop, I colored them in with silver and gold sharpie. Posca paint markers would work well too. Any paint would be fine; just that markers are easier to handle for such small details.
Note: there are two STL models for the compass magnet: one with the magnet hole being nominally Ø6.4mm, which is generous clearance but due to my old Ender 3 build plate and elephant foot it's a good press, and a second model being Ø5.98mm, which is good enough for a press fit by finger.
License:
Creative Commons — Attribution — Noncommercial