Light Stake Extension

thingiverse

I bought a bunch of solar garden lights from a hardware store. They work fine, but I quickly noticed they won't stand up straight for long, and any little bump causes the light stand to break from its in-ground stake. This is because there is only 18mm of "hold" between the stake and the light. The plastic is too soft. So I made a stake extension. My first version was a solid, simple extension. To my surprise, it melts in the sun and bends over (See pictures). What it needed was some solid support. I had some 5/16" all-thread lying around, and simply added a simple 6mm hole through the center of the stake. I then cut the all-thread to about 10mm longer than the stake (since the SCAD is parameterized, yours may need to be longer) and twisted it in. The extra 10mm is so I can hold onto some part of the all-thread while screwing it into the extension. In the pictures, you can see the actual light and measurement of the stake end. They also show the assembly process. You can see I used a vise grip to grab the end of the all-thread while I twisted the extension onto it. Note how I start at the small end of the extension. This is so I can make the end of the all-thread flush with the end that inserts into the stake. I really don't know how modular this might be for other lights, but all of those little decorative garden lights seem to be made the same dimensions. The included SCAD file contains enough parameters (I hope) for you to adjust as needed. Also note: The orientation of the STL is upside down so it can print with no supports. Each stand takes about 3 hours on my printer settings. I printed 4 at a time.