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A honeycomb bauble in two halves that click together, with a hole in the cap for the string.

About this design

A Christmas ornament you print flat: two honeycomb nets that you warm and press into half balls, then push together on the pins round the rim. It comes out 85 mm across and about 68 mm deep, with a solid cap on top and a 3 mm hole through it for a thread, a ribbon or an ornament hook.

Made with our mesh former. Each net prints in about 70 minutes, with no supports, and weighs under 8 g, so a tree full of them is cheap. The press, a plug and a cavity, is printed once and forms every half: the ball is symmetric, so the front and the back come out of the same press.

Print the nets in red, gold, white or silk PLA and PETG and the honeycomb catches the tree lights. The zip has both nets, the plug, the cavity, a print sheet and the outline as an SVG you can drop on the mesh former to change the size or the net pattern.

Shown as a 3D render of the closed ornament in front of the two press halves, not a photo.

Made with Meshcast

Meshcast is a free toolkit for makers that runs in your browser: turn any 3D model into a candle, soap, concrete or silicone mold, or make your own cookie cutters, texture rollers, stamps and keychains. Nothing to install, and you can try every tool without an account.

• Mesh Former: meshcast.app/mesh-former
• Guide and print facts for this design: meshcast.app/3d-models/mesh-christmas-ornament
• 400+ ready-made molds and models: meshcast.app/3d-models
• Meshcast: https://meshcast.app/
• Instagram: @meshcast.app

How this was made

The model is parametric: it is generated by Meshcast's own code, not made by an AI. The pictures are rendered in Blender. We use AI to assist our work (ideas, writing and checking), so this design carries Thingiverse's AI label to be on the safe side.

Selling what you make?

Free for personal use under CC BY-NC. Selling what you cast or print from this design needs a Meshcast commercial licence (Pro or Founder): meshcast.app/licenses

Print settings

Sliced with PrusaSlicer 2.7.2 at MK3S speeds: 0.4 mm nozzle, 0.2 mm layers, 2 walls, 10% infill. Each net about 70 min and 8 g, in PETG or PLA. Plug and cavity 5 h 41 min and 89 g together, in PLA, printed once. Size is the closed ornament. No supports.

What you need

• About 16 g of PETG or PLA per ornament, and 90 g of PLA once for the press
• A heat gun, or a hair dryer on its hottest setting
• Thread, ribbon or an ornament hook, and a drop of glue if you want it closed for good

Steps

1. Print the front net, the back net, the plug and the cavity, all flat on the bed.
2. Lay the front net in the cavity's pocket, flat face down, so the small pins go through the holes in its rim.
3. Warm it with the heat gun kept moving 15 to 20 cm away until it goes limp. Turn the plug over side to side, like the page of a book (its left edge goes to the right, its top stays at the top), push it straight down and hold it for a minute while it cools.
4. Do the same with the back net in the same press.
5. Put the halves rim to rim and press the pins of the front into the holes of the back. Thread the string through the hole in the cap.