XL LEGO Christmas Tree

I don't really have the space for a "real" Christmas tree. This sounds like a great excuse to make something cool. I always thought that the old LEGO pine tree looks like a Christmas tree, so I will make a bigger version of that tree.

I will measure the original and the thickness of the wood that I have will dictate the dimensions of the final tree. The program that I used to design the tree used to be free and really great, but now it is taken over by Corel Draw and hard to use offline.

The video that I added is in Dutch, but perhaps it is still helpful.

Supplies

10 mm MDF

Pipe with a 25mm outer diameter

Pipe with a 25mm inner diameter

Green (electrical) tape

Woodglue

Green paint

Brush

Sand paper

Tools:

Laser cutter (or CNC)

A way to make your pipes shorter

Step 1: Laser Cutting

Use the attached file to cut the parts in the laser cutter. (or CNC) If you have a CNC, you can probably use much thicker wood and make the tree even bigger. Make sure to make the inner hole the right size for the pipes you can get.

If you don't have your own laser cutter, you might be able to find a makerspace where you can use te laser cutter.

Step 2: Cut the Big Pipe

From the bigger pipe you have to cut one piece that is 60mm high and 9 rings that are 15mm high.

You could cut these by hand. (I didn't)

Deburr them after cutting.

Step 3: Dry Fit

Dry fit all the parts.

Now you can also mark the hight of the small pipe and cut it to length.

Step 4: Glue

The two tiny rings and one solid piece have to be glued together to form the top of the tree.

The bottom also has to be glued together from three parts; a big ring, a tiny ring and a disc with a hole in the middle.

Step 5: Form the Top

The top of the original LEGO tree has a taper, so I used the belt sander to create that on the three parts that I glued together to become te top.

Step 6: Painting

Because I used MDF and the laser burned the edges, I had to use many layers of paint and much sanding in between. The primer I used was a very poor quality (or just too old) so my results weren't great. I hope you do better.

Step 7: Tape the Rings

Use green (electrical) tape to make the 60 mm big pipe and 15 mm rings green. You can also use something else, but I think green tape is the easiest way.

Step 8: Final Assembly

Now comes the fun part: The final Assembly!

Start with the base.

Drop the small pipe in.

Slide the 60 mm big pipe over it.

Now add the biggest tree part and add a 15 mm ring and add smaller tree parts and rings until you add the top part.

You might want to use some superglue to stick it all together. I didn't use any glue in the final assembly.

Final thoughts

It would probably be even more fun to use a double layer of wood and make the tree twice as high. It is now 5x the original and than it would be 10x.

My paint was really old and that was probably the reason that it took forever to dry and I didn't make it in time for Christmas.

I will probably add lights next Christmas.

It was a really straight forward project with a really cool result.