BLOCK LAMP - Nativity Night Light with Your Name

A little Christmas night light for the shelf, the kids' room or the dinner table. Five printed panels stand one behind the other in a slotted box: a dotted arch, the stable with the Holy Family, Bethlehem with the Magi on camels, and a starry sky with the star of Bethlehem. An LED tealight glows behind them, and every layer turns into a soft silhouette. Above the arch, a name you choose lights up through a thin layer of the front panel.

Highlights

• Your name, glowing: Type any name in the customizer and pick one of 5 fonts. Long names shrink to fit. With the light off the name almost disappears.

• Five layers of light: Front arch, stable, Bethlehem, star-filled sky and a white rear reflector give the scene real depth.

• Slides together, no glue: Rails in the base and in both side walls hold every panel straight; the lid locks the top. About 5 minutes to assemble.

• No supports: Every part prints flat. The panels print front face down for a clean, smooth front.

• Made for a real tealight: A raised cup puts the light in the middle of the scene. A push hole under the base pops the tealight out; star vents in the lid let warmth escape.

What you need

• White or natural PLA, about 176 g (pure white glows best).

• One 1.5" (38 mm) LED tealight. A model with a remote is recommended, because the tealight sits inside the lamp. The prototype uses a 1.5" x 1.6" remote-control tealight (CR2450).

• LED tealights only. Never use a real flame.

Files

• BLOCK_LAMP_Nativity_0.4.3mf: ready project, 4 plates (plate 4 is an optional front without a name).

• STL files: every part already in print orientation. Print each once.

• BLOCK_LAMP.scad: the customizer for your own name (install the fonts from BLOCK_LAMP_fonts.zip first).

• BLOCK_LAMP_Assembly_Guide.pdf and README.txt.

Print settings

Printed on a Bambu Lab X2D: 0.4 mm nozzle, 0.20 mm layers, 3 walls, 15 % infill, PLA, no supports. Plates 1 to 3 make the whole lamp: about 4 h 40 min and 176 g. The plates are laid out for a 256 x 256 mm bed; smaller printers can print the STLs in more batches. Keep elephant-foot compensation off or small: the rails have 0.15 mm clearance per side.

Customizer

• Name: up to about 12 letters, auto-fit.

• Font: Rounded (Fredoka), Script (Pacifico), Retro script (Lobster), Festive (Mountains of Christmas), Clean (Poppins).

• Part: export only the front panel with your name, or any other plate.

• Tealight cup: 38 to 44 mm (default 40.8 fits standard 38-39 mm tealights).

• Name glow: 0.3 to 0.6 mm; thinner is brighter.

Assembly

1. Switch the tealight on and drop it into the cup at the back of the base.

2. Press both side walls into the long slots of the base, rails facing inwards.

3. Slide the panels down the wall rails from back to front: rear, sky, town, stable, front. Smooth side to the front; Bethlehem on the left.

4. Press the lid on with the star vents over the tealight.

A panel feels tight? Two strokes of 400-grit sandpaper on its side edges.

This model is free. If you print one, please post a Make with a photo of yours lit up: it helps a lot. Merry Christmas!