Light-Up Christmas Tree Topper Star - LED Lantern with Snowflake Cut-Out, No Supports

A star for the top of the tree that actually glows. Inside is a small battery-powered LED fairy-light string, and the light shines through a cut-out snowflake (or stars) on the front, softened by a thin white diffuser. A ribbed sleeve grips tree tips from 8 to 25 mm, so the star sits straight on real and artificial trees.

What you get. Two sizes in one download: a standard star 143 mm tip to tip (136 mm tall) and a small one 114 mm (109 mm tall) for little or table-top trees. Each size has a front half in three patterns (snowflake, stars, plain), a back half with a cable hole, a 0.8 mm diffuser sheet and a sleeve that fits both sizes. The plain front is closed, so it glows only when printed in translucent filament.

Why it prints well. There are no supports at all. Both halves print face-down on the bed with straight walls, so the cut-out pattern comes out crisp. Four press-fit pegs close the halves without glue or screws. The star is 28 mm thick with about 23 mm of free space inside: room for a string of 10 to 20 small LEDs. The battery box stays outside, behind the star, and the wire goes through the 9 mm hole in the back half.

Colours. Gold silk for the star looks best; the diffuser in natural or white PLA gives an even glow; the sleeve can be any colour (green blends in with the tree). Any colour for the star works, since the light does the work.

IN THE FILES

- front-150-snowflake-gold, front-150-stars-gold, front-150-plain-gold: front halves for the standard star (142.7 × 135.7 × 14 mm)

- back-150-gold: back half with the cable hole (142.7 × 135.7 × 18 mm including the pegs)

- diffuser-150-white: diffuser sheet, 0.8 mm thick

- the same set with 120 in the name for the small star (114.1 × 108.5 mm); the number is the setting in the source file, the finished sizes are 143 and 114 mm

- sleeve-green: sleeve for tree tips of 8 to 25 mm, 34 mm across at the bottom, 95 mm tall including the square peg

- tree_topper_led_star.scad: the parametric source. You can change the size (120 to 180), the pattern and the fits.

SIZE: standard star 143 × 136 × 28 mm; with the sleeve fitted the whole piece is about 184 mm tall. Small star 114 × 109 × 28 mm, about 163 mm tall with the sleeve.

PRINT SETTINGS: PLA, 0.20 mm layers, 3 walls, 15 % infill, no supports. Each half face-down as in the files. The two halves of one star do not fit side by side on a 250 mm plate, so print them one after the other (one 143 × 136 mm half fits even a 180 mm bed). Sleeve upright with a 5 mm brim (it is tall and narrow).

ASSEMBLY: Lay the LED string inside the back half and pass the wire through the cable hole. Put the diffuser on the inside of the front half, then press the halves together on the four pegs (a drop of glue is optional; if the pegs are too tight on your printer, open the holes slightly). Push the square peg of the sleeve into the socket at the bottom of the star and slip the sleeve on the tip of the tree.

SAFETY: LED lights only. Never use bulbs that get hot inside a plastic star.

Honest notes:

- The images are 3D renders made from the same files you print. This star has not been test-printed yet, and we have not tried the grip of the sleeve on a real tree.

- What we checked numerically on the exported STL files (both sizes): every file is a closed single solid; the halves close on the four pegs and the diffuser lies inside without any overlap; the sleeve peg sits in its socket with a 0.2 mm gap; no overhangs that need support.

- The pegs are a snug fit (4.0 mm pegs in 4.1 mm holes), so they may need a little adjustment depending on your printer.

- The design is original: no licensed characters, no brands.

SLICED (Bambu Lab P2S, 0.20 mm, PLA, 3MF included):

- back-150: 30.2 g, about 41 min

- diffusers: 8.3 g, about 15 min

- front-150-snowflake: 29.1 g, about 44 min

- sleeve: 21.2 g, about 55 min

- small-120: 43.9 g, about 1 h 7 min