Glow in the Dark 3D-Printed Ghost Light

The idea for this night light came to me when I thought about how unsustainable it was to keep our kids' night lights on for hours after they had fallen asleep. Some lights automatically switch off after about 15 minutes but if the child is not yet sleeping by that time they can get scared when it happens.

This Glow in the Dark Ghost Light only needs a couple of minutes to 'charge' with the light switched on which means that by the time you have finished reading a bedtime story, the light is ready to be turned off. Once turned off, the Glow in the Dark filament will give off plenty of soft light for hours to make your child feel safe and distracted enough to fall asleep peacefully.

Continue reading to find out how easy it is to make this night light!

- 3D Printer
I used an Ultimaker 3, but any 3D Printer with a build volume of at least 100x100x130mm will do fine for this project.

- filament for 3D Printer
I used 2,85mm green PLA glow in the dark filament for the Ghost and 2,85mm white PLA filament for the base.

- lamp socket
I used an E14 lamp socket with cable, switch and plug already attached, but you can also assemble your own from separate parts. The hole in the base is 26mm in diameter.

- light bulb
I chose a small E14 20W LED light bulb to make sure it would fit inside the Ghost Light.

Optional:
- glue
- sanding paper
- file or chisel

Because I wanted to create a multifunctional lamp base to use with interchangeable lamp shades I modelled and 3D printed the base myself. The base has 4 'pins' on the top which hold the Ghost Light in place and make it easy to replace it with other shades later. Another option is to buy a ready-made lamp base with socket, cable, switch and plug from a local store.

Download the .stl files from this instructable and use these to print the 3 main parts with your 3D printer.

- deBos Design Lamp Base 100A.stl
This is a 1:1 scale base plate measuring 100x100mm. Print this using any colour filament you like.

- deBos Design Lamp Base 100B.stl
This is a 1:1 scale cube with brackets and a hole for the lamp socket, measuring roughly 100x100x100mm. Print this using any colour filament you like.

- deBos Design Ghost Light.stl
This is a 1:100 scale model of the Ghost Light. It should be scaled down to 1%, measuring 68x68x130mm. This model should be printed using the Glow in the Dark filament.

All of the 3D files can be printed without the need for support. There can be some stray bits of filament around the hole in part B but these can be easily filed off and won't be visible in the end.

Check the finished printed parts and use fine grit sanding paper to smooth any rough spots. The corners of the base cube can be quite sharp so you can use a knife or file to just take the sharpest edge of.

Assembly of the Ghost Light should be pretty straight forward as long as the parts are printed at the right size and the socket fits inside the hole in part B.

Try to fit the socket in between the support brackets in part B and see whether it fits snugly by itself or if it needs a little glue to fix it in place. The socket should go right up to the top of the cube so that any size light buld will fit inside.

I used some hot glue to make sure the socket was secure and won't come loose when I screw in a light bulb tightly.

Once the socket is in place, try to put base part B on top of base part A and see whether it fits. Again you can choose whether or not to fix the parts together using some glue or leaving the parts dismountable. I glued the parts together to make sure they won't come apart when one of the kids knocks it off the night stand.

That is pretty much it for the assemby bit. Told you it was easy ;)

Put the Ghost Light on top of the base and turn on the light. The Glow in the Dark filament only needs a couple of minutes to charge in order to give of a nice glow. Leave it on for a little longer and the glow will last for hours.

The glowing Ghost Light can even be used to read a book in a completely dark room!

I hope you will enjoy this project and I would love to see your Ghost Lights in action.