Repurpose the Bottle From Your Favorite Wine: 3D Print Your Own SplashLIGHT

December 6, 2014 by Debra Thimmesch 3D Design 3D Printing

Share this Article

If you have a 3D printer and a home decor sensibility that tends toward shabby chic meets wine-or-spirits-imbibing maker, then Australian DIY designer Avooq (a.k.a. Matthew William Keene) has a project for you. SplashLIGHT is an empty bottle converted into a clever lamp thanks to 3D printing. It looks like someone has just overturned a bottle of bubbly on the table top, which is half of the fun of this quirky, make-it-yourself functional art object.

To make the SplashLIGHT, you will need an old halogen desk lamp, an empty wine or liquor bottle — last night’s empty tequila or champagne or pricey Bordeaux bottle will do — plus a 3D printer. (If you are not comfortable dismantling, installing, and wiring the halogen lamp works into your bottle, get some help doing that part of the project; the more the merrier, right?)

Avooq shared the 3D model for the SplashLIGHT on the 3D printing website My Mini Factory, and the model can be adjusted based on the size of the bottle, particularly the opening into which the splash element, the 3D printed component of the SplashLIGHT, which serves as the base of the lamp, fits. Avooq left the socket for the lamp free inside of the bottle so it could be adjusted according to the desired position.

Wiring the cables through the 3D printed base

Avooq used a MakerBot 3D printer to produce the splash lamp base, printing at 0.2 mm layer height with a 20% infill. In order to make the base, you will need about 107 g of filament. Choose a color that resembles the wine or champagne or bourbon you just polished off or coordinate colors according to the label of the bottle or with our home decor.

Overall printing time for the SplashLIGHT lamp base is approximately 616 minutes, so if you are planning to produce several SplashLIGHTS to give as Christmas gifts, be sure you get the project underway sooner rather than later! Cheers!

Will you be making a SplashLIGHT? Let us know how it goes! We’d love to see photos of different bottles used and hear about your process. Let us know your thoughts over at the SplashLIGHT forum thread at 3DPB.com.