OpenForge Stone Flicker LED Torch Wall - Simplified

thingiverse

I really loved the flicker LED torch walls, but all the ones I found were way too complex for what they needed to be. I designed this torch wall as a self-contained unit with three printable pieces: the 3mm flicker LED, a common CR2032 battery holder, and some tiny wire (30ga I think). The top of the wall comes off easily, allowing you to remove the battery without disturbing your layout. You don't have to take the tile out of your layout to get to a switch on the bottom. The switch is unnecessary since it's just as easy to slide the battery in and out. This wall can be used as a separate wall with the separate bases or you can replace the standard wall on the integrated wall/base tiles. You may need to print the pieces with a brim, but no supports are required. Some filling of the walls may be necessary for a good fit of the top and bottom piece since the tolerances between them are pretty tight. This has some fairly thin walls near the battery holder, so you should use a .5mm nozzle or smaller. I didn't need a brim when I printed the torch flame with clear PLA. Alternatively, you could use some hot glue to create a flame and dissipate the light from the LED. Assembly is simple: the longer wire lead on the LED is positive and the shorter lead is negative. Simply take a 3mm flicker LED with your desired color and cut the leads down, remembering which is which. Now cut two tiny wires about 50-60mm long (28-30ga would work best). With wire this small, you'll most likely have to melt the plastic coating off the wire with your soldering iron because most wire strippers don't work on wire this small. Then solder the wire onto the LED leads using just a tiny bit of solder. After that, just slide the wire down through the holes in the torch till you can see them enter the battery compartment. Next, grab the wires with some small needle nose pliers or tweezers and pull on the wires to push the LED down into the torch. Once the LED reaches the torch, you can solder the wires to the battery holder. The battery holder should have markings to tell you which leads are positive and negative. Then you can push the battery holder down into the wall. Since the battery is a coin cell, there's no need for a resistor because coin cell batteries have high internal resistance. You only need to use a resistor if you want to dim the LED so it's not as bright. Use some super glue if needed to hold the battery holder in place and also a dot of glue to hold the LED on the torch. Before gluing the LED to the torch, you can add the flame. I used my soldering iron to get the PLA warm and pliable then pushed the LED inside and squeezed the base of the flame onto the LED.