Christmas Tree Advent calendar

Summary

I made this Christmas tree advent calendar as fan project for Advent of Code, but it works just as well as a standalone one. You can print it with or without the “Advent of Code” sign. It's 15cm tall, takes about 60 grams of filament, requires no supports, no multi-material printer and no gluing.

To assemble, just slide each side onto the trunk so that the branches go into the 3 slots.

There are 24+1 slots to put stars on the tree. Snap a small star onto the tree each day from Dec 1st then finish the tree with a large top star on the 25th!

Print settings

I suggest printing with

• No supports
• 0.2mm (or 0.3mm) layer height
• 0.4mm (or 0.6mm) extrusion width
• 10% infill

To achieve the 2-color effect on the sides, switch filament after the 11th layer is completed (counting from 1 on 0.2mm layer height).

Parts

To have a functional tree, a following parts need printing:

• 1x Trunk
• 3x Side (in any combination)
• 1x Top star
• 24x Small star

If you print everything from one of these folders, you will be set:

• parts - PLAIN - tree with only stars
• parts - ADVENT OF CODE - tree with stars and “Advent of code” sign 

Tolerances

I recommend checking your tolerances before printing the 24 stars, since your configuration may affect how tight they fit into their slot. To do so, print the following files and select the fit you like the best:

• optional parts/star hole tester.stl
• optional parts/small star MEDIUM fit x1.stl
• optional parts/small star LOOSER fit x1.stl
• optional parts/small star TIGHTER fit x1.stl

Swap sides

You may use any combination of 3 sides to customize your tree:

• side1_AdventOfCode - 8 random stars + “Advent of code” sign
• side1_space_for_text - same as main side1, but without the text
• side1_only_stars - 8 random stars
• side1_empty - an empty side without any stars
• side2 - 8 random stars
• side3 - 8 random stars