Hey guys,

Today I'm going to teach you how to make a 3D printed Fragrance & Incense Burner. What's special about this one is that it's cheap, DIY, custimizable and also temp-controlled to allow you to relax and enjoy your own personal spirituality. Without further ado, let's get started!

This project was made by Abdullah Al-Dar in Fab Lab Dhahran

Step 1: Requirements

For this project we're going to need the following list of items. For those of you who wish to use it as an incense vase only you won't need anything other than a 3D printer and incense cones.

3D Printer (3Dhubs can help a lot too if you don't have one)
Old wood-burning pen or soldering pen(preferably with temperature control) (here's the one I used)
Aluminum Foil.
Copper Foil - with sticky side. You can probably get away without this item.
Incense Cones (These are good and cheap)
Fragrance Oil (examples, in fact most perfumes will work)
Glue

Step 2: 3D Print

This is fairly easy if you have your own 3D printer. Just load in the files and print. There are two files; top cover and bottom vase.

The settings I used are as follows:

Printed on Makerbot Rep 2 using Transparent filament
Layer Height: 0.15mm
Infill: 10%
No raft or support are needed
I printed each piece alone because there's a tendancy of prints failing when printed close to the edges.
This print took about 8 hours

Step 3: Remove Heating Element

Open up your soldering or woodburning pen.
Make sure the pen was NOT in use before otherwise, you'll burn your hands.
Also, be careful when removing the heating element not to damage it since it is fairly sensetive.
Once it's been removed from the main case of the soldering pen you can test it out (be careful not to touch it. Also if you want to leave it to cool down don't put it on a cold surface since it might get damaged or damage the surface)
Reading online I found out that the soldering or woodburning pens can reach insane tempratures of about 1000 degree celcius(typically 350 degrees) so you REALLY don't wanna touch their heating element

Step 4: Folding Aluminum

Now that we have the heating element out, it is time to take some aluminum foil and fold it.

Start by cutting a piece of foil (I used about half a meter of foil)
I cut this piece into two pieces, one being 75% while the other is 25% of the whole piece.
Measure your heating element to prepare for the next steps.
Fold the small piece so that it has a crevice in the middle. This is where the heating element will fit in. Depending on how big or small the heating element, shape this side accordingly.
Fold the big piece so that it becomes flat. The flatter it is the better so that it has bigger contact area with the perfume cup.
Now stick the two pieces together using the copper foil as shown in the pictures.
Bend the sides parallel to the heating element hole so that it becomes like a small table. I forgot to take a picture of this step. Make sure the legs are perfectly flat & level. Also you can add edges to the table to hold the oil.
I also put a thin circular piece of wood on the bottom surface of the fragrance burner to prevent the table legs of melting the plastic.

Now you have a nice looking table with the heating element inside. The tighter the aluminum table the better so that it transfers heat better & evenly. Be careful not to press the heating element too much or it might break! I broke one since I put a little bit too much force when I inserted it in the hole.

Step 5: Make a Hole

My original design doesn't have a hole from the back so I drilled a hole big enough to allow the heating element to enter. and then inserted it in the aluminum table
Glue the power cord with the hole so that it doesn't get pulled when moving the vase.

Step 6: Enjoy the Peace!

That sums it up for this tutorial. There are few ideas that I was thinking of that are shared below:

What if I want to use a candle?
- Candles are extremely hot (~1000 degrees Celsius) and they will melt the top cover rapidly. You can print the fragrance burner using other materials that handle heat better (porcelain for example). Check out All3DP's amazing list of filament types which will give a better idea on which kind of filaments can handle heat better than PLA. Of course you can use LED lights to give you nice reflections and they won't heat up much.
I wish to have different smoke patterns.
- You can customize the top cover and make your own shapes/holes. If you're new to 3D modeling then I suggest starting learning using TinkerCAD since it is very simple.
Why the temperature Control?
- It will give you better control of the perfume evaporation. Some perfumes evaporate better at certain temperatures while others barely evaporate at certain relatively low temps. Also, some heat will be lost so you won't be getting the maximum temp the heating element can produce.
Where do I put the perfume oil?
- Just use a small glass, porcelain or ceramic cup that usually comes with regular burners. They can be also found on Amazon.

A video showcasing the vase(well, mostly the smokes in action :P ) has been uploaded. If you have any questions please feel free to ask them in the comments section below.