Made in the USA Ornament

This is an ornament to decorate a Christmas tree. It is in the shape of a star to represent the white stars on our American flag. The top of the star has a hole for attaching a ribbon to hang on a branch. The message "Made in the USA" is a proud and hopeful announcement that 3D printing is empowering Americans to begin making things in a new way - here on our own soil. I designed it in Tinkercad in about 15 minutes. I printed it on my Airwolf 3D Printer (Model HDL) using red and white PLA filament. It can be printed easily, without support.

Step 1: Designing the Model (or Just Download This One)

I designed this model with a user friendly software called Tinkercad. It only took 2 minutes to sign up for a FREE account. The first thing I did was drag a star (from the right) onto the grid. I re-sized the star then started dragging and dropping the letters. Next I re-sized the letters. Finally I exported the model into STL format by clicking on the top left menu bar:

Design => Download for 3D printing => STL

Voila! An STL file was now on my desktop and ready to 3D print!

Step 2: Getting It Started

I downloaded and installed MatterControl -This is another FREE and easy to use software. I connected to my Airwolf 3D printer and added the file by clicking the "ADD" icon at the bottom left hand corner.

Finally I hit "START" to begin printing.

Step 3: Optional - Changing the Color for Lettering

I wanted the colors to stand out so when the printer began to print the letters I paused the job. Then I pulled the white filament out and fed in red filament in its place. I then resumed the print job to finish the letters in red.

If you want this effect, keep an eye on your print job and be prepared to pause the printer at the right moment.

Thanks for looking!

~Eva