Fantasy Light-up Castle

Make a room a little more magical with this Light-up Fantasy Castle. The final piece is about 7" x 7" x 13".

This 3D printable model is based off of boldmachine's fantastic Medieval Castle model. This one has been chopped up to take battery-powered fairy lights and allows the user to have access to the battery pack for future battery changes, or even replacement of the entire light string. It has also been modified for multicolor 3D printing.

General Supplies

• 3D Printer or 3D Printer Service Request
• Printable File Location: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6102987
• 120" long battery-powered light string (battery pack must be less than 3" x 1" x 6" and ideally remote controlled)
• Tweezers
• Thin gauge wire <1 mm
• Some Patience

Specific Supplies I Used

• 3D Printing:
• Bambu X1 Combo printer with AMS
• Evryone silk dual color PLA (Red & Blue) 250 g trial size
• Evryone silk triple color PLA (Gold, Silver, Bronze) 250 g trial size
• Black PLA
• Light String:
• Ashland 120ct dual pack string lights (bead lights w/remote control)
• Thin Gauge Wire
• Twist tie wire you get from any electronic appliance

If you need an adapter so that your AMS can take the Evryone small 250g spools, I posted a 3D printable file here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6093925

You will need to print (or request from a 3D printing service) a copy of the P1_Base and P2_Castle each.

Files are located here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6102987/files

FOR SINGLE COLOR:

• Print WeeksB_P1_Base.stl
• Print WeeksB_P2_Castle.stl

FOR MULTIPLE COLOR:

• If your system can use 3MF file type:
• Print Weeksb_Multicolor_Castle.3mf (Shown in screenshot - you will print each plate separately)
• If you don't like 3MF or can't use it:
• Print all at once all STLs in WeeksB_Multicolor_P1_Base.zip
• Print all at once all STLS in WeeksB_Multicolor_P2_Castle.zip

For FFF/FDM: SUPPORT IS NOT NEEDED - except immediately under the large front towers on the Castle part (as shown in the image highlighted in a yellow box)

Note:

On the Bambu X1, each multicolor print took over 40 hours at a 0.24mm layer height and three colors. Single color should take less than 20 hours each.

For Non-Bambu(or equivalent FFF printers with 32 mm3/sec extrusion and 500 mm/s movement speeds) these prints will likely take 2-4x longer.

Use the following steps to light up any or all of the different towers for light. The image shows which towers can take the light string and shine light out. The left and right images are of opposite sides of the full piece.

There are twelve towers that can be wired up. In addition, the middle portion of the castle has windows open to the inside, so bunched up light left in the large inner cavity shines through there and underneath in the base.

1. Start with the Base part and the end of the light string furthest away from the battery pack.
2. Thread the end of the light string through the opening at the base of the middle fat tower to one of the tall thin towers at the far end. This may take some patience to get the string end to guide up the right hole.
3. Tip: Try curving the wire slightly before insertion so that it is angled sort of back to the side of the hole entrance.
4. Hold the light string in place with a bit of the thin gauge wire stuck under the light and ideally between the two light wire strands. (See image) This is a temporary measure so that when we perform the next step, we don't accidentally pull out the wire in this tower.

TIP: I find having the light string on when wiring them in place helpful as I can see where the lights are.

1. Continue to the most adjacent (fat) tower
2. Before wiring, loop a piece about the length of the fat tower - See first image
3. Take your thin gauge wire and thread it through the top of the fat tower and back out the entrance out the middle of the middle fat tower
4. Make a hook on your thin gauge wire and hook it to the end of the loop you made in the light string
5. Pull the thin gauge wire out of the fat tower - this should draw the light string up the fat tower (and ideally even a little bit out of the top) - See second image
6. Secure the end of the light loop around some of the columns of the fat tower - See third image
7. Note: be careful to not break any columns

Repeat the previous two steps for the other two fat and thin towers. Start with the thin tower first (this one will have have to use a looped light string as it's not using the end - just make sure your loop is tight together)

The last step of wiring the base is placing some lighting in the open area of the middle fat tower.

1. Loop the light string and hook it around some columns like in the previous steps.

The remaining ~3 inches that go from the top of the tower down to the base/opening will provide the necessary length to allow the castle portion to be taken off and on while still attached by the light string. Like that shown in the picture.

1. Making sure to keep the ~3" of wire to allow the light string to run from the top of the middle base tower back down to the opening.
2. From that point make another loop and thread it up through the bottom of the castle into one of the four holes in the back rectangularly portion and into one of the thin towers. There are actually two holes per tower. If you want more light, thread through the lower hole. If you want to use more light elsewhere but still have the towers lit, use the upper hole.
3. Use the thin gage wire to hold the wire string temporarily in place
4. Repeat for all four small towers

1. Making sure there is enough string to traverse from the back to the front, tightly loop the light string and feed it in one of the holes towards the front up into one of the tall thin towers
2. Use the thin gauge wire to temporarily hold the light string up at the top of the tower
3. Repeat for the second tower

1. Feed the thin gage wire down from the top of the front fat tower of the castle to the opening at the bottom
2. Make a tight hook on the wire where it emerges at the bottom and hook it onto the light string
3. Pull the thin gage wire up from the top of the tower until the light string pops out
4. Secure the light string at the top of the tower by hooking it around some of the columns
5. Bunch up any remaining light string up in the front portion where there are little windows that look into the body of the castle

You should now be done with wiring the castle. The image shows sort of what the wiring should look like here.

1. Place the battery into the rectangular cavity within the heart of the base part.
2. Carefully stuff all the remaining loose wire up into the cavity of the castle and the bit of wire from the base middle tower into its verticle cavity.
3. Place the castle into the base piece.
4. Turn on and enjoy

NOTE: If you have difficulty getting the remote to work, point it through the columns located on the base part and under the three large towers of the castle part.