Mini LED Christmas Tree

18 Dec 2017

Here is a quick project to get you in the festive mood !!. Make your self a simple Mini LED Christmas Tree for your study table/computer desk. I know there are a few days for Christmas eve, and you still have time to fire up your 3D printer and look for LEDs in your kit, or source them from element14 store.

To start, download the STL file attached below and 3d print it. In my case I am using Green 1.75mm Hatchbox PLA filament. And the file should take about 30 to 40 mins to 3D print, based on you 3D printer and slicer settings.

Here are the list of components you will need, in addition to the 3D printed part above

9V battey
9V battery snap connector
Five 5mm LEDs, in my case I am using 4 Red and 1 Yellow LED, but you can go with all RED
220 Ohms resistor, as that is the lowest value resistor I have in my kit
Soldering Iron, wire cutter and a forcep/pliers to prevent your fingers from burning while soldering ..

The 5mm LEDs nicely snap into the holes of the 3D printed part, and then solder the LEDs and the resistor in series, as you see in picture below

Want to learn about series and parallel circuit check out video at- The Learning Circuit 02: Series & Parallel Circuits by makerkaren

And once you done soldering, run a quick test with the 9V battery before soldering the +ve end of the battery connector to the resistor and the -ve end to the bottom of the LED.Also before soldering the battery snap connector pass the connector through the 3D printed notches as shown in the picture below, this will help hold the snap connector when connecting/disconnecting the battery. And if your 9v battery does not tightly fit in the 3D printed part at the back, use electrical tape/double sided foam tape..