Solar lighting can be a great way to light up your home or outdoors area for a small cost, while also limiting the need for consuming electricity, thus consuming our limited natural resources. Today we will be taking a look at three great 3D prints for both indoor and outdoor lights, ideal for your own home, or to give as thoughtful gifts to those you cherish. Enjoy!
Tree Solar Lantern
The first 3D print for today is the Tree Solar Lantern, and has the classic lantern shape, with the added detail of having trees incorporated into the design itself. It can easily be hung from a tree branch, or any other number of racks or arrangements, given the sizeable shepherds hook attached to the top of it.
The author suggests printing the main body of the lantern in ASA, while printing the accompanying light refractor for the light bulb in a clear or transparent Petg or TPU material, although we believe many other materials could also work just fine.
The lantern is designed for a 3.15 inch solar lantern top that is readily available in many stores, including Amazon, making it easy to purchase or replace should the need be. Other solar panels might also work, especially if you are not adverse to tinkering with the model itself.
Lumen Lift
This next 3D print was inspired by commercial lights, called Lumen Lift, and can be a great and cheap alternative to the expensive options sold at a retail store. This model was designed by our editor here at Altered Rooms, and can be used for both indoor and outdoor purposes.
Unlike our first example, the Lumen Lift is a minimalistic and highly modern lantern, featuring sleek lines and a large surface area for the refractive panels, allowing plenty of light to wash over whatever area you wish to illuminate. It has a large handle, making it easy to hang up or carry around.
The solar light used for this lantern is a 3.35 x 3.35 inch module, available at both Amazon and a range of other online and physical stores. For the print itself, you can go with the tested PLA for the lantern, but it should also be possible to use various other types. In case you need more inspiration for materials, this Altered Rooms filament guide is a great place to start.
Light Pillar
The third and final model we wish to showcase today is the aptly named Light Pillar, again designed by our editor here at Altered Rooms. This model is not meant to be hung, rather is a freestanding lamp with a stylish and modern ribbed design.
This design is even more economical than the others, as it can be printed in vase mode, although the top cap does require supports for printing. As with the Lumen Lift, the editor recommends white PLA, although there are many other options for the creatives out there.
The solar panel is another one of the 3.35 x 3.35 inch models, and if you buy them from Amazon, they come in a nifty 3-pack, allowing you to experiment with both the Lumen Lift and Light Pillar, or just print multiple of the same.
Final thoughts
Regardless of which print you are drawn to the most, these solar lighting options are flexible in terms of where you wish to place them, and are excellent at enhancing the ambiance of any space.
They are cheap and simple to print, also making them great projects for starting out with 3D printing, or teaching your children the joys of solar power as the internal wiring is straight-forward and does not require the use of power tools or complicated schematics.
All in all, we are sure you will love one or more of these designs, and we hope you will try them out and leave a comment on the author’s page.
