Leafy Lampshade - Banana leaf inspired by LAMcDonald

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

This is a very quick and basic lampshade inspired by banana leaves. The leaves are a single layer (0.25mm) thick so will require a well-adjusted printer! The centre part has a 30mm hole to fit a B22 batten (not sure about E27 sorry - I don't have one to try it on). The centre has slots to fit either 5, 7 or 9 leaves at regular spacing around the perimeter.
How to make it:
-Print one centre part, preferably using NO extra shells as the holes will be too small otherwise, and 15% fill (or whatever you prefer)
-Print 5, 7 or 9 leaves. 3 will work also, just use every 3rd hole of the top row
-Carefully fit the base of leaf stem into appropriate hole in centre part
-Attach to light fitting
-NOTE: SUITABLE FOR CFL OR LED LAMPS ONLY!
You may have issues getting the leaf stem bases to fit in the holes - either file/sand them slightly or file out the hole with a square needle file (3mm or smaller) Ideally the stems should press in snugly until the flange touches the base part.
The leaves print flat, but will sag under their own weight. The amount of sag will depend on your specific filament. I made two lampshades while developing the design, the first used translucent green PLA for the leaves, the second used aluminium, copper and brass metal-fill (see pics). The green PLA sagged a lot; the metal-fill didn't sag as much.
I may make adjustments to the design depending on how my shades fare. I'm happy with them so far, but I'll probably think of improvements later on...