Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Candle Maker

My girlfriend loves to burn candles. However when a candle is burned to the end there is always some wax remaining. We collect this wax for a friend who makes new candles from this wax. However I wanted to try it for myself.

So I saw on Yeggi a picture of a candle maker, made from a milk karton. For those of you who do not know what Yeggi is, just put www.yeggi.com in your browser and you are directed to a database with hundred/thousands indexed 3d designs for your 3D printer.

So when I searched for the candlemaker ( http://www.yeggi.com/q/kaarsmaker/ ) the image immediately came up. But when I clicked on it I was linked to a non-existing page on thingiverse. So what now.

Well I fired up Tinkercad and designed my own ofcourse. You can find me design here.
https://www.tinkercad.com/things/emyyD9VQTuu-kaarsenmal



 
Or you can download it at the bottom of this story.

So how to use this mold.


 

First get an empty standard milk karton and clean it thoroughly. Next cut the top part away so you will have a nice square tube, and make it as high as you desire.







Put my candle maker on top and put some rope in the middle circle in the candle maker. make sure the rope reaches the bottom of the karton. The rope will function as the wick. Shoe laces are ideal for this. As I lacked them at the time I used some standard rope. Don't use synthetic rope as that will not work. Use natural materials like cotton or sisal. At the end of the rope (on the bottom of the carton) put a paperclip. This will prevent you from pulling the wick out of the candle.

Now in a spare saucepan or something similar warm up your candle wax remains until it is liquid. Candle wax melts easily at about 60 degrees celsius, so it will not be too hot.





When melted pour the wax into the carton and let it totally down. The carton may leak a bit so put it on an old newspaper in the kitchen sink where it can not do any harm.





When cooled down take off the candle maker and peel of the carton and voila: a brand new candle ready to use.




Works like a charm and the candle maker can be re-used all the time.

Rests me to present you the STL files so you can print your own.


STL file for Candle Maker

So till next time.
Have fun.

Luc Volders