Crystal Led Star

To celebrate my 100th publication and with the coming Christmas in mind (the tree is already up again) I decided to create something special. The result is this (Christmas) star made up of crystals that are individually illuminated from the centerpiece.

The star is made up of 6 individual crystal structures of 2 different size crystals. These are positioned around the center part (a hexagon) using lugs.

Normal 5mm LEDs are used for lighting and these are connected in the heart by soldering. A wire with a USB plug makes everything complete.

Printing

Everything can be printed without supports and is optimized for 0.4 nozzle and 0.2 layer height. Using a brim for the crystals may be necessary for good adhesion to the bed (I managed without). The Center Body Parts inner roof section will become rough with printing without supports, but since they are hidden on the inside I decided to print them without supports. It is certainly recommended to print the crystals in transparent or highly translucent material. I printed everything in PLA.

Assembly

Place the 5mm LEDs with the cathode and anode sides all facing the same way in the 6 crystal parts (2 per part, 12 in total). Then glue the different crystal parts one by one to the Bottom Center Body using the lugs. Make sure that the LED connections fit neatly into the slots. Now solder the cathodes of the LEDs together, as well as the anodes. 

When using 1.5V LEDs, add an appropriate resistor. (I used 3V LEDs where a resistor was unnecessary). Now feed a cable through the Top Center Part and solder the cable with USB connection or another power cable to the LEDs. Finally, glue the Top Center Body to the other parts. Make sure that the connections of the LEDs are well separated from each other so that they cannot short-circuit. I added a cut out round piece of plastic to separate them.

I used slowly color-changing LEDs, which emit a kaleidoscope of colors. Of course, single-color LEDs can also be used or even programmable ones. I fed the cable through a hole in the Top Center Body heart. Perhaps people want to create a different transit, so that's why I also added a closed version.

To give your own spin on the design or be able to alter more easy, I also added the full STEP file of the model.

It was very difficult to take representative photos of the actual result because the light emitted overexposed the photos. The actual result is way more beautiful than I can currently show with photos!

I thought it is fair to mention that the inspiration for this model largely came from the publication of a crystal star from Roland Schneider at Grabcad (shared for free). You can find his model and renderings at https://grabcad.com/library/crystal-star-2 However, I started from scratch and constructed everything myself, mainly to divide into smaller parts making them easier printable, to make the shapes holow and to add the center parts and LEDs.