3D Printed Kirby Light!

I made a Kirby lamp/light bulb shade, inspired more or less by the light bulb transformation in Kirby & the Forgotten Land game.

Software:

• Rhino + Grasshopper
• Slicer: Professional 3D printing made accessible | Ultimaker

Hardware:

• Filament
• 3D Printer
• Paint
• Light

My first step was to measure an existing light in my home. For this design, I measured the base of the lightbulb fixture, then the dimensions of the actual lightbulb as well (I also measured other types of standard light bulbs to ensure my shade would fit on a variety of standard sized bulbs).

I designed the lamp shade in two components using Rhino + a grasshopper script that allowed parametrization of height, width, and length. I first wrote code to generate a 3D surface in the shape of a cylinder for the bottom portion, then a sphere for the top portion, and connected the two. I made the base cylinder width the size of my lamp base, allowing it to fit snuggly on the base, but be smaller than the top portion so it couldn't fall off the light bulb.

I initially attempted this method, however had issues joining the two pieces so I revised my approach. Instead, I created a function that looped through a set of height and width parameters, and had the shape "drawn" be based on the height. To draw each shape I created 3D points at the designated radius, then joined all the points to create a surface which was translated into a mesh. I initially added an extra curved-in portion on the bottom of the shade, however removed it due to printing concerns, and concerns that it wouldn't fit correctly on the light fixture.

Once I was happy with my shape, I cut it in two pieces so it could be assembled around the light bulb, and also have a better chance of printing successfully. I did this using the "cut" function in the Rhino editor. My .stl files for each component, designed to fit around a standard sized light bulb (as pictured above) are attached below.

I exported the components as .stl files and imported them into my Cura software for slicing and preparation. To reduce printing time and support material, I printed this using "spiralize mode" which allows each component to be printed as an uninterrupted line of filament with a thickness matching that of a single layer. I chose a layer height of 0.12mm which worked pretty well, however the top piece didn't print great due to lack of supports. However, it does allow extra light to come through the top which I ended up liking.

Finally, I took my two 3D printed pieces, removed the skirt around the base, and painted it to look like kirby! I then assembled it by attaching the body piece to the base of the light fixture, screwing in the lightbulb, and adding the top piece. I attached the top piece with a small bit of tape to add as a hinge, so we can still remove it to replace the lightbulb when necessary.