3D-Printed Mathematical Lampshades

https://hessammehr.github.io/blog/posts/2025-12-24-maths-to-lampshade.html

32•hessammehr•4d ago

Comments

mlmonkey•1h ago

In theory, one should be able to use OpenSCAD to come up with fancy surfaces to 3-D print, right?

I'm just dipping my toes in 3D printing, with a recent acquisition of a Bambu P2S

hessammehr•1h ago

I haven't used OpenSCAD much beyond combining primitives. Truthfully these organic shapes are more of a use-case for 3D modelling software like Blender rather than CAD, but I'd be keen to hear if you end up giving OpenSCAD a go.

My Bambu A1 mini has been reliable despite the challenging geometry; pretty sure your P2S will work just as well if not better. Good luck!

Zarathruster•1h ago

I was in your shoes about a year ago with an A1 mini, getting into OpenSCAD to make my own keycaps.

If you're getting into OpenSCAD I'd highly recommend getting Belfry ASAP.

https://github.com/BelfrySCAD/BOSL2/wiki

I wouldn't really consider using OpenSCAD without it

aforwardslash•1m ago

> In theory, one should be able to use OpenSCAD to come up with fancy surfaces to 3-D print, right?

Yes, but it is painfully slow. Even perforated patterns are quite slow to generate.

hessammehr•1h ago

Just noticed that this has made it to the front page, so just had a quick look through to see if there are any broken links, etc. (as I have a habit of forgetting them) and added the missing OnShape link to the LED strip diffuser.

Also recommend checking out the live Marimo notebook linked down at the bottom. Incredible what you can do with Pyodide + Marimo these days. I only wish there was a webassembly version of jax to make it easier to share random numpyro experiments.

Aurornis•1h ago

Cool project. The author used PLA, but for anything near a heat source PETG or ASA would be a better choice. PLA will soften and deform at only mildly elevated temperatures. An LED light strip will generate enough heat to cause normal PLA to warp and droop over time.

JKCalhoun•47m ago

Was going to comment similar. Definitely don't want to use these lamp shades with incandescent bulbs (too hot).

As per drooping over time, perhaps for some of these models the "Persistence of Memory" might apply a nice transform to the shapes.

hessammehr•24m ago

Good to know about the risk of deformation due to heat from the LED strip. Ours hasn’t visibly warped over the past few months of use, fingers crossed it will last a little while

givc•55m ago

This is awesome. I’ve also been playing with OnShape to make lamps and it’s been quite challenging. I also tried Blender but the learning curve is just too steep for me. I like this idea of using Python. I might try OpenSCAD too like someone else suggested.

Here’s my lamp if you’re curious, printed with a .8 mm nozzle, otherwise it would fail https://imgur.com/a/mRqw1pI

alhirzel•2m ago

Try cadquery also!

https://github.com/CadQuery/cadquery

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3D-Printed Mathematical Lampshades

Comments

Native Linux VST plugin directory

Airfoil (2024)

Mousefood – Build embedded terminal UIs for microcontrollers

Oban, the job processing framework from Elixir, has come to Python

Microsoft forced me to switch to Linux

Computer History Museum Launches Digital Portal to Its Collection

Android's desktop interface leaks

The Five Levels: From Spicy Autocomplete to the Software Factory

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I have written gemma3 inference in pure C

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I Overengineered a Spinning Top

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Native Instruments enters into insolvency proceedings

LM Studio 0.4.0

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Amazon One palm authentication discontinued

Kyber (YC W23) Is Hiring a Staff Engineer

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