3D Printable Goodies: Love Is In the Air on Valentine’s Day

Whether you prefer chocolates, jewelry, sex toys, or something else, 3D printing is always a good idea when it comes to Valentine’s Day. According to Good Housekeeping, Americans send out 145 million Valentine’s Day cards each year, more than eight billion of those (gross chalk-flavored) candy conversation hearts are manufactured a year, and we spent $5.8 billion on Valentine’s Day jewelry in 2020. So why not be different this year, and 3D print your valentines instead?

To save you some time, I went to my three go-to 3D model websites—Cults3D, MyMiniFactory, and Thingiverse—picked my three favorite free Valentine prints from each, and compiled them here.

Hearts Headband, Cults3D

First up are these cute heart headbands from ABBYMATH, which are meant for dual extrusion printers, though she did say that “the headband by itself may print well with some supports inside the hearts.” The hearts in the headbands were 3D printed with UV color-changing filament, which is really cool.

Valentine Heart Pinwalker, Cults3D

I love this model by user gzumwalt not only because it’s adorable, but also because it’s animated, using a pin-style walking mechanism to move, “while the eyes scan side to side looking for a Valentine!” The Valentine Heart Pinwalker was designed in Autodesk Fusion 360, sliced with Cura 4.121 software, and printed on an Ultimaker S5 out of PLA. Most of the parts were printed at 20% infill, .15 mm layer height, and with no supports, and you’ll need some non-3D printed parts, like a battery and pin cable, to make this heart get up and go. The chassis assembly and final assembly steps are included on Cults3D.

“This is a precision print and assembly model using at times very small parts and in very tight spaces. Prior to assembly, test fit and trim, file, sand, etc. all parts as necessary for smooth movement of moving surfaces, and tight fit for non moving surfaces. Depending on you printer, your printer settings and the colors you chose, more or less trimming, filing and/or sanding may be required. Carefully file all edges that contacted the build plate to make absolutely certain that all build plate “ooze” is removed and that all edges are smooth. I used small jewelers files and plenty of patience to perform this step.”

Heart Hands, Cults3D

This last Cults3D model, by user Code_and_Make, could easily be hung as a window decoration, and comes in several different styles, all of which should easily scale in your preferred slicer at ~20% infill, 0.1-.2 mm resolution, no supports, and no raft, unless you have adhesion issues with your printer. You can print it in many different filaments, including PLA, ABS, and PETG.

“This work, “Heart Hands” is based on romantic-together-love-4998162 by qna_123456789.”

Ripple Heart Vase, MyMiniFactory

Valentine’s Day means flowers, and who wouldn’t want to display a bouquet from your sweetie in this beautiful vase from user ChrisBobo? Though it looks complex, this decorative heart vase is described as “simple,” and prints without supports.

“I printed this at 170% scale on an ender 3 with no infill and no top layers.”

Valentine Heart, MyMiniFactory

As a major book lover, this 3D printed heart-shaped bookmark would definitely be the way to my heart, though I’m off the market; sorry fellas. MyMiniFactory user Kubaker 3D printed the 69.83 x 57.71 x 1 mm bookmark at a 0.2 mm layer resolution, in 12 minutes…enough time to finish reading a chapter in your latest novel!

Valentine’s Voodoo Wizardry, MyMiniFactory

I’ll be the first to admit that sometimes my tastes run a little on the strange side; check out the Easter Alien print from my 2017 Easter 3D printing story for proof. That’s why I adore this weird little 3D printed voodoo doll—before the 14th, you can have the hearts and butterflies facing out of his little chest cavity, but if you get your heart broken this Valentine’s Day, flip those right over to reveal daggers and diarrhea, which is referred to simply as Virus in its STL file. User Mixination says that the butterfly is the only part of this print-in-place figure that should be printed with supports.

Valentine’s Day Honeycomb Lamp Add-ons, Thingiverse

So these Valentine-themed 3D prints are actually meant as add-on decorations to this Honeycomb lamp shade, both by user Bemko; the lamp shade itself is a remix of this one by Tada3. The lamp shade has more shallow walls to save on material, and an extra surface at the bottom so it’s easier to mount to a wooden base with a lightbulb socket. There are two versions of the lamp with different center wall thicknesses, and while the line width changes based on which one you use, both will print best at a 0.204 mm layer height for even spacing on the Z axis. Bemko also created 3D printed add-ons for Easter and springtime as well.

“You may need to tweak the size by 1-2% to get a perfect fit depending on your printer tolerances,” Bemko wrote about the Valentine’s Day add-ons.

Valentine Heart Napkin Holder, Thingiverse

I love setting out different decorations and door hangings and towels for various holidays, which is why I love this cute napkin holder by user sarahperdue5. The double heart design was originally printed on a Creality CR-10S, with supports but no rafts, at 20% infill and 0.2 mm resolution. PLA+ filament from eSun was used to print this one, obviously in red for Valentine’s Day.

Valentine’s Heart Tower Container, Thingiverse

Finally, this “simple heart storage container” by user 3DTwinkie would be perfect to use as a gift box for your Valentine’s valentine. It prints without supports, and the lid snaps on and off easily.

From everyone at 3DPrint.com, happy Valentine’s Day, and as always, happy 3D printing!