Tea Light Lantern

thingiverse

My fiance and I wanted to make 3D-printed lanterns for our centerpieces and I didn't really like any of the ones I found, so I made my own. Obviously, these are not for use with actual candles if it is printed from PLA or other meltable materials, but we were planning to use electric tea lights in it. There is a small frame on the inside of each window so you can insert a lithophane. The dimensions for the lithophane as I have them are 66x92, but I would recommend printing the lantern first, measuring the width and height of the opening, then adding 1mm on to each. UPDATED VERSION as of December 26, 2021: We found that the lithophanes popped out on the bottom edge a bit, so I added a ledge along the back of the bottom and lowered that 2 mm so the ridge is the same all around the window. This should take care of the issue and make it much easier to put in lithophanes. I also scaled the inside of the lid down 0.5% so they are not quite as snug. UPDATED VERSION as of January 8, 2021: I found that the lip on the base of the lithophane holder was too thin to reliably print, so I made it the same thickness as the lips on the sides of the lithophane slots. The rest of the dimensions remained the same, so everything fits nicely together, the lids are easy to get off. we can use PLA lithophanes or cardboard and vellum, and the lantern still looks great! If you have a choice between tree-shaped supports or solid sheets, I would recommend solid. I tried printing with the tree-shaped supports and they became very stable at the top of the windows, so the solid supports work best.