Chunky futuristic bookends with LED neon strips inserted for a cool glow. These sturdy bookends look fantastic on bookshelves and countertops, doubling as both mood-lighting and functional book storage. Perfect for paperback and hardback books!

Printer settings:

Printed using Prusament PETG Signal White on a Prusa MK3S+ with a 0.6mm nozzle and 0.3mm layer height. I used 4 perimeters and 15% gyroid infill. The extra perimeters minimise light-bleed to create a futuristic ambience, as well as adding some strength.

Print with the "face" downwards on the build plate (where the light strip will shine from). The .3mf files are set-up like this already for ease of use. The channels that the LED lights are inserted into are chamfered, so the print doesn't require supports.

Assembly instructions:

The LED lights are standard 6mm wide by 12mm tall silicon strips. The model is designed so that the strip can be pushed into place - no glue required.

The exact LED strips I used were purchased here, but any similar ones should work well. The assembly requires soldering the strips to wire and then connecting the wire to a 12 V DC power supply. LED neon strips can only be cut at certain intervals (approx. every 25mm/1 inch). This model is perfectly-scaled to allow the trimmed LED strip fit, without any gaps or bulges in the channel.

The model includes a hidden pathway for the wires. This is placed on the rear-most bottom corner the bookend (adjusted for each direction in the files), so you can conceal the wiring behind your books. I suggest that you connect the two ends of the LED strip at this point for the simplest wiring.

If this is your first time wiring LED strips, please be careful and make sure to research, follow tutorials and/or get help from someone experienced.