This is a celestial themed pattern "expansion" for my original Modular Christmas Baubles:

I came up with a few more designs for my modular baubles, suitably simple for my artistic skills. They are themed around stars and other celestial objects fitting for Christmas and winter. I had planned to just add them to the original, but it took me a bit long to finish and test-print them. So I decided to add them like this instead so anyone who already downloaded (and hopefully liked) the original have a chance to find them.

These are interchangeable with the original options, so you can mix and match as you want.

Options

Each bauble is made up of a “top”, “bottom” and "middle" section, each of which comes in a variety of patterns and options:

Bauble patterns(Top and bottom):

• Guiding star pattern embossed

• Crescent moon and stars pattern embossed

• Stars pattern embossed

• Comet/shooting star pattern embossed

Middle options:

• Guiding star on ribbon(updated since pictures were taken to make it less fragile)

• Stars on ribbon

• Stars embossed into ribbon

Additional parts:

For each bauble you will also need to print a “Cap”, "Hanger" and 2x “Pin”, which can be found in the misc folder of the original: [https://www.printables.com/model/1490922-modular-christmas-baubles/files](https://www.printables.com/model/1490922-modular-christmas-baubles/files)

You can also mix and match with any of the original parts to build your own preferred combination.

Printing

These baubles are specifically designed to make printing as easy as possible, so you don't need any special settings. But here are the settings I have used:

Layer height: 0.15.

Perimeters: 3 (with 0.4mm nozzle).

Infill: 15%.

Brim: No, all parts have built-in brims. Just orientate them accordingly on the build plate.

Support: None, all parts are designed to be printed flat on print bed and support themselves(Prusaslicer might complain about "collapsing overhang" and “Loose extrusion”, but you can ignore both).

Complete individual objects: All parts are short enough that the gantry etc. of most printers should be able to clear them(At least they do on the Core One). So you can fill the bed ~4 pieces with this option on without risking stringing etc.

Scaling: The default size of the baubles are 50mm (~2") in diameter. I have not tried it, but they should scale as long as you scale all components identically. Though if you scale it down too much, the small details might no longer work properly.

Assembly

1. Start by cutting off the small flat square “brim” sections of the pins. A sidecutter works well, but a knife or simply breaking them off is also fine. 

2. If top surface layer of the pins are a bit rough, scrape/sand them down a little to be smooth so they fit through the middle section better.

3. Look at the two rectangular holes in the middle section: The pins will only fit through if orientated properly. 

4. With that orientation in mind, gently push both pins into the holes on a top or bottom. The pins should fit snuggly, but still go in without too much effort. I could push mine in with just a couple fingers. If they are too tight, try and print a set of pins again but scale them down 1-2%.

5. Push the middle section down over both the inserted pins. 

6. Carefully align the other half of the sphere with both the pins and gently push it on. 

7. Once you confirm it is properly on both pins, firmly push the parts together until there is no gap between them.

8. Put the cap onto the top part, and push the hanger through until it clicks into place. The hanger should stay in all by itself, while allowing it to rotate. But they will come back out if the bauble get pulled on. If you have small children or pets in the house, you might want to put the hanger in with a couple drops of glue!

Make your own designs

I would absolutely love to see the community come up with more, and better, designs for the baubles. Emboss some cool new designs onto the spheres. Add different decorations, logos, characters etc. to the middle section. 

For that reason, I have added .step files in the original post for the three blank main sections for you to play around with. Please add your creations as remixes to the original so people can mix and match.

More Christmas stuff