Garland with 121 3D stars - 5m long!

After printing 2.8m with the snowflake garland, I wanted to push productivity to the extreme.

I was just curious how many meters could be pushed out of an area of 200x200mm (chosen to make the model accessible to everyone), so I got to work. 

After the flat model, it would be nice to print a 3D model. 

These 2 things combined resulted in the accompanying design. The continuous connecting thread runs under the 3D stars. The stars were nested as tightly as possible.

I managed, with my printer settings and speeds, to reduce the print time to just under 10 hours, a good night's printing.

It is printed with nozzle 0.4, layer thickness 0.2. I didn't use a skirt (anyone with a 200x200 bed can't use it after all) and infill at 0%! Feel free to set both of these anyway.

I have also added a separate model of the star so that you can try something out before the final print of 121 pieces.

p.s. printing with glitter PLA would probably be the best choice for this model. Unfortunately I didn't have these myself so I opted for silver gray.

For information on how to stretch the garland after printing, I refer you to my other published model: Snowflake Garlands (2.8m long!). There I described in detail the way to do this with hot water.

p.s. this only works with PLA, as it has the property of softening below 100°C (212°F).

                                                                                   Background Coverimage by pvproductions on Freepik