Xmas LED light chain star configurable in size !

Introduction

Let's make an LED light chain Xmas star ! Fortunately the provided 3D printed clips can be used for stars with different sizes.

Materials required

• LED light chain
• 20 screws 3.5 x 16
• strip of wood 27mm x 12mm
• enough zip ties

Tools required

• Screw driver
• Saw
• Pen
• Drill
• Drilling bit 2mm

Calculate the length of the wood strips

You have got a LED light chain of length ‘l’:

The Xmas star we want to make is a pentagram requires 10 strips of wood of length ‘a’:

If the LED light chain is wrapped around once, the length a of each strip is a = l / 10.

If the LED light chain is wrapped around twice, the length a of each strip is a = l / 20.

The table below provides an overview of the length ‘l’ of the LED light chain and the corresponding strip length ‘a’.

Make 10 strips of wood of the required length ‘a’'.

My LED light chain is 7m long, I wrapped it twice around the star, so the length of the strips are 35 cm for my project.

Height of the Xmas star

One aspect when considering the length of the strips is the total height of the Xmas star. The height is calculated as

height ‘h’= 2.49 * a

The table below provides an overview:

As the length of my strips of wood are a = 0.35m it will be of height h = 0.87m

Print the clips

If you slice the STL file and create your print file: I used PETG, 0.3mm resolution, brim, 3 perimeters and 30% fill for clip with hole and 20% for the others.

Step 1

Print one outer clip “with hole” - this is the clip at the top with a hole to attach a cord. Check if the strip of woods fit into the clip.

Step 2

Print four outer clips (no hole)

Step 3

Print five inner clips

Assemble the star

Step 1

Arrange the star as depicted below on a flat surface. 


 

Step 2

Mark with a pen the screw holes on the wood. Ensure that the strip of wood is tighly pressed into the clip

Step 3

Drill a hole into to strips. This will avoid that the strip will break when inserting the screw.

Step 4

Reassemble star and tighten the screws

Step5

Fix LED light chain with zip ties

Step 6

Install the Xmas star

Adapt the clips to your needs !

An openSCAD fle is provided so that you can adapt the clips to your needs. 

Disclaimer

Please use at your own risk. I have no experience yet if the clips are strong enough to hold Xmas stars up to 2m height. I have no experience yet if the Xmas star will be affected by water, snow, rain, wind, whatever.