Cut Fir Twigs Christmas Tree - Upcycling

Purpose

Cut fir twigs are a commonly available waste product during the christmas season. Instead of throwing them away, they can be upcycled into a beatuiful christmas tree.

Hardware

Assembly

1. Start printing the clamps.

2. From each wooden slat cut off about a 30 mm piece. Glue or screw one of the two to each end of one slat.

3. Glue or screw the slats together in a + configuration. Make sure the slat with the feet sits on top of the one wihtout.

4. While the glue dries, start drilling pocket holes into the stem.

   1. Drill the holes about two thirds of the stem's diameter deep.

   2. Angle the holes upwards by about 15 °.

   3. Start with the first holes roughly 250 mm above the woods lower end.

   4. Drill smaller holes towards the top. A diameter of 10 mm for the bottom, 8 mm in the middle and 6 mm for the top worked well.

   5. Drill one hole into the top's center (axially). This is for a twig plus, if desired, a christmas tree tip ornament.

5. Once the glue is dried and the clamps printed take them off the printer and loosely clamp them around the foot assembly's center.

6. Take the drilled stem and insert it into the clamps. Then tighten down the clamps. (Do not over-tighten.)

7. Populate the stem with twigs, and decorate the tree to your heart's content.

8. Admire your beautiful christmas tree and have a very merry christmas.

9. Take down the tree, stow it away and re-erect it for the next christmas season.

Tip: The twigs keep fresh longer when sprayed with water mist once in a while.

Note: The images show version one of the clamps. Version two strips down heavily on filament use, only about 59 % compared to version one, without sacrificing stability.

Slicer Settings

Files

• STL: For every part a .stl file is uploaded. This allows to easily reload or replace the .stl file in question from within the slicer.

• STEP: The entire clamp assembly is uploaded as a single .step file. It includes multiple bodies.

• 3MF: A .3mf project file including every single part with all its proper settings is uploaded. This is great if all you want is to fire up your machine, print the parts, and go to town with building up the christmas tree.

• F3D: A parametric Fusion 360 file of the christmas tree clamp. This is great if you want to modify it to fit your needs.

• BGCODE: Presliced so it can easily be printed from mobile devices.

Note: The gcode information in the header is for utilizing PrusaSlicer's "speed" print profile.