The Fourth of July: Fireworks, Cookouts, and Patriotic 3D Printing

Earlier this week, my husband and I met up with some friends at a local brewpub and we had a great time playing three rounds of general trivia. Not only was this fun because bar trivia is something I sorely missed at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it also had a theme question each round, and this week the theme was the Fourth of July; did you know that blue is the hardest color of firework to produce? Our Independence Day holiday here in the United States is coming up very soon, and if you’d like to celebrate with some patriotic prints, you’ve come to the right place!

First off, you’ll want to look the part, obviously, and what better way to do that than with this tricolor Star Bracelet from Cults3D user Balkhagal4D? It was designed for printing using a diamond hotend, or on any 3D printer with three extruders. If you *only* have a dual extruder, you can just print two of the parts in the same color.

If you’re looking to put out some patriotic decorations, you can’t go wrong with this Golden Eagle from Thingiverse user boris3dstudio…or I guess you can, since it’s not actually our national bird the bald eagle, but we can pretend. Just don’t ruin the illusion by reading the extensive Wikipedia entry on golden eagles that’s been added to the summary of this print. Better yet, maybe just check out this Striding Eagle print by MyMiniFactory user filamentone instead.

These Stackable 4th of July Stars by Thingiverse user Andres1122 would look great on an end table or even out on your back patio if you’re grilling out. They don’t need any rafts or supports, and you can choose whatever resolution and infill you’d like.

If you’re looking for another great piece at your Independence Day table, set out these Three Candles by Cults3D user gzumwalt, who designed the models with Autodesk Fusion 360 and Meshmixer 3.5.474, sliced them using Cura 4.1, and printed them out of PLA on an Ultimaker 2+ Extended and an Ultimaker 3 Extended.

“Runs a few days on a charge using three salvaged tea lamp LEDs and flame lenses, one magnet, one reed switch, one 500mah LiPo battery and six 3D printed parts (five unique). Tilt it rearward and it lights, tilt it forward and it extinguishes.”

For a similarly patriotic look, you can also print these Fourth of July – Red, White & Blue interlocking rotating vases by Thingiverse user Aragorn2015, made using PLA filament and “608zz bearings.”

MyMiniFactory user Tim’s Trinkets had the sweetest reason for creating this 3D printable Glow in the Dark America Flag, which is meant to be printed out of transparent material and be watertight in order to hold glow stick fluid:

“My Mom bought an America flag glow stick but was so disappointed that the flag was plastic and did not glow. So I created this for her as a surprise.”

This needs to be printed with two internal walls and no inside supports. Once it’s off the print bed, slice open the spout on top (which you can’t see in this image) and use the funnel you 3D printed along with the flag to pour in fluid from non-toxic glowsticks.

I suppose you could call this USA Coin Map (Quarters) by MyMiniFactory user WrightBuilt.ca a decoration, but really I just wanted to include it because it’s really neat; bonus if you have quarters with which to fill it! The STL files for all 50 states, along with several blank squares, are included, and the map should be oriented for printing without supports. This was printed on a Prusa i3 Mk2.5S with MMU2.5s Single at 150% speed, though it’s noted that the printer could use a tune-up, and the materials used were PRUSA Silver, Fillaments.ca INGEO 850 Black/White, and cheap Grey.

Let’s move on to most everyone’s favorite, and potentially dangerous, part of the Independence Day holiday, and that’s setting off fireworks—sorry to everyone like me who has dogs that quake and cry at the sound. This 15 shot bottle rocket rack by Thingiverse user willabob19 was so popular, they went back and made a 21 shot bottle rocket rack later!

This Bottle Rocket Fireworks Fin Set was the second edition created by Cults3D user rebeltaz, as the first version had an opening that was just 1 mm too small for the 6 mm diameter bottle rockets.

“So, to go along with my nose cone, I give you this fin set – with a slightly larger opening. I also increased the thickness of the fins ever so slightly, since the original fins broke when I tried to remove them from the build plate.”

Moving on to my favorite part of the Fourth of July—the cookouts—and what’s more patriotic than Captain America? MyMiniFactory user EHP42 created this 95.96 x 95.97 x 4 mm Captain America Shield Logo Coaster model from an SVG image of the shield, and it can obviously be printed without supports.

“…I have each color set to a different layer height, so you can do a manual color switch. Start printing in white, change color to blue, then red.

“The red in the picture looks a bit odd because I used a translucent red, so it mixes with the blue beneath to give a purplish color.”

Mosaic Manufacturing added a Fourth of July Party Pack on Thingiverse, which includes coasters, a USA flag topper for cupcakes and other treats, a stick with a star on the end to put in your drink or just wave around, and an American bottle opener. Everything can be printed at 20% infill and a 0.2 mm resolution, and you should use food-safe PLA for the cupcake toppers, and the star stick if you use it as a drink stirrer.

“To print the bottle opener, you will need to insert a nickel (Canadian or American $0.05 coin) into the print at 3.98mm. To do so, you can follow the G197 command instructions here.”

To complete your holiday feast, you can print the “4th of July Special Edition” Hamburger Pin, USA Cookie Cutter, and Uncle Sam’s Hat Cookie Cutter, all by Cults3D user OogiMe. Here again, you’ll want to use food-safe PLA material if your prints will be coming into contact with food.

Happy 3D printing, and have a safe and happy Fourth of July weekend from all of us here at 3DPrint.com!