November 17, 2025
Description
Update: Added a mini stick man that can be abducted instead of the cow.
This mini UFO cow abduction lamp uses a standard battery powered tea light candle under the base.
Print one of each file.
-Beam looks best in translucent PLA and printed in spiral mode with fuzzy skin. (Know your speed and temp settings for this type of PLA.) You can print with 0 bottom layers and a brim for a completely hollow beam, or spiral mode for outer contour and add bottom layers and make a small hole for the light to fit into the bottom if you want a sturdier base for your beam. The flickering light from the candle lights up the beam from within.
-UFO base, lamp base, and cow will need supports. Keep cow oriented upside down in slicer so supports are touching its back to avoid accidentally breaking the legs off when removing supports, though this reinforced cow from @jackmcbrezel seems pretty solid. Cow will need to be downsized in slicer to approximately 19mm long. I also printed the cow at 1/2 speed but you could experiment with full speed and see how it looks.
-UFO parts and lamp base 10% infill. Cow 100% infill. Standard print quality, but would look best in super.
-Paint your UFO's lights and windows if you wish. (I will try to add multi-color print option soon.)
To assemble:
-Remove the vinyl "flame" covering the bulb on your tea light with pliers.
-Place beam on top of bulb.
-Glue cow to top of lamp base wherever you wish. Heck, add multiple cows around the "field" if you feel like it.
-Slide lamp base over the beam through the hole in the center and push tea light inside.
-Glue two UFO pieces together.
-UFO can either sit loosely on top of the beam so you can spin it, or you can glue it in place on top of the beam. Leaving it loose allows you to easily change the tea light if needed by disassembling in reverse order. (I'm aware that the hole in the UFO bottom is slightly larger than the top of the beam. I will add a more snug fitting version for those that don't want it to spin or sit loosely, but it works fine for just sitting on a desk or shelf.)
-Switch on your tea light and blast off to space.
Work in progress. Would love to see your makes or remixes!
License:
Creative Commons - Attribution - Share Alike
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