Jan 2, 2015 | By Simon
Ask anybody over the age of 12 what helped them sleep soundly at night when they were a kid and at least a few people will say "my night light".
Known for coming in a variety of shapes, sizes and designs, the direct-to-outlet lights provide subtle lighting at night for when nature calls in the middle of the night or to keep the monsters in the closet.
Aiming to add their own twist to traditional and store-bought night light designs, Instructables user DayDream Unique has created their own 3D printed night light design using Autodesk's 123D Design that they have generously shared with the Instructables community.
With the option to make your own design using an Instructables-branded template, a blank design, or a custom design of your own liking, all that is needed to create the night light is the included STL file, a CR2032 coin battery, a white LED (10 or 5 mm) and a custom design of your choosing if you choose to go that route.
To start, launch Autodesk 123D Design and insert one of the provided models that you have chosen (Instructables design, blank design, customizable design).
Once the provided model has been imported (in this case, the Instructables design), hold the left mouse button to re-position the model on the provided grid in Autodesk 123D Design's work area.
If you chose to customize your design, this is where you can add text by selecting the text menu and clicking on a face of the model to place the text. If the text ends up not looking like how you'd prefer, you can always change the font and size in the menu. If it appears hard to read, you can always pan around the model or simply click to view from the top view. Once this is done, you can drag the text somewhere else by simply clicking and dragging it.
Next, it's time to actually make the text have 3D properties so that it's form is reflected in the final model design. To do this, you'll want to extrude the text.
To extrude the text, simply select the Extrude tool (located in the Construct menu) and select the text. From here, the text will be highlighted and you will be able to 'pull' the text three-dimensionally through the rest of the model.
From here, you can turn off the sketch tool and it's time to prepare the model to export for 3D printing.
Finally, to export the file, click 'Export' and select STL. In the Mesh Tessellation box set the quality to "FINE" for more professional-looking results.
From here, you can either send the file to your 3D printer's print dialogue or send the STL file to a third-party 3D printer such as Shapeways.
Once the file is printed, it's time to fold. Simply follow the below instructions and fold accordingly:
Last but not least, it's time to add the battery and LED. To do this, simply put the LED in the provided square holes and insert your battery into the provided slot. Voila!
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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