Christmas and Holiday Wreath (Locking Assembly)

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays!

This project is inspired by my favorite interlocking blocks.  I like the creative designs other people have shared, but I wanted to make my own version and custom features.  I modeled everything from scratch.

Key Features 

• No hardware, just printed parts

• No supports

• Threaded connectors secure everything

  • No guessing at tolerances for a friction fit

• Locking tabs for hexagon and octagon wreaths

• Single and multicolor decorations 

• Built-in hanger

Size

I made these leaves and branches at a smaller scale than other designs.  This saved me a lot of time because I can fit two leaves on my print bed.  The inner diameter for holes is 17.6 mm, and the outer diameter is 26.4 mm.  Studs are 6.6 mm tall.

You can take a “standard” size decoration (30 mm outer diameter) and scale it to 88% to fit this design.  There are two important notes.  First, scaling like this also shrinks the original tolerance.  Second, scaling to 88% will not match the inner diameter.

Connectors and Parts

Decorations on the corners/joints form a nut and bolt pair that locks everything in place.  You could use glue instead, but adding decorations is the point of this project.

Hexagon wreath required parts:

• 3 top leaves

• 2 bottom leaves 

• 1 hanger (bottom) leaf

• 6 decorations 

• 6 double height bolts 

Octagon wreath required parts:

• 4 top leaves 

• 3 bottom leaves 

• 1 hanger (bottom) leaf

• 8 decorations 

• 8 double height bolts 

Extra decorations that go on the four holes on leaves use single height bolts.

Decorations and Colors 

I made decorations that use a single color, but more colors = more fun.

Since I do not have an automatic filament changer, I made designs that use color changes for just the first layer (0.24 mm thick).  This amounts to manageable 2 - 3 manual swaps at the start of a print.  However, you need to be careful using dark colors on top of light or semi transparent colors because some of the color can bleed through.

The realistic tree leaves have an extra outline because green leaves do not stand out against green branches.

Thanks for visiting, and enjoy!