Hexagonal LED Lantern
Open-top six-sided lantern with eighteen diamond windows, integral corner lap tabs and a supported hexagonal floor. LED ONLY; no candles.
Materials
- 200-240 gsm cardstock
- Craft knife and cutting mat
- Metal ruler and blunt scoring tool
- PVA glue
- Small clips
- Battery LED tealight, maximum 40 mm diameter x 45 mm high
Finished size: 100 x 86.60254 x 120 mm; regular hexagon side 50 mm
Steps
CutValley foldMountain foldGlue area
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Calibrate and cut the six pierced walls
Print at 100 percent. Measure the 50 mm ruler and a 50 x 120 mm body. Cut the three enclosed diamonds in each wall on a mat, then cut the outer perimeters without removing either tab. Score only the two marked hinges. Keep the 6 mm bridges intact; do not cut the fold lines.
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Pre-fold and identify the laps
Keep printed sides outside. Fold every right seam tab away from the printed face by 60 degrees from flat (120-degree internal corner). Fold each lower tab away from the print by 90 degrees toward the lantern interior. The 8 mm seam tab belongs beneath the next wall, never over a diamond.
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Join the first three faces
Apply a thin film of glue to the printed face of P1 right tab. Align P2 left edge exactly with P1 seam hinge; bottom and top body edges must be level. Press the first 8 mm of P2 onto the tab. Repeat P2 to P3. Keep 120-degree inside corners; clip the solid rails and allow the joins to set.
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Close the six-sided shell
Repeat P3 to P4, P4 to P5 and P5 to P6 with 8 mm laps. Close P6 tab under P1 left edge last, pressing through the open top. On a level surface, measure 50 mm between neighboring vertical hinges, 100 mm between opposite corners and 86.60 mm between opposite walls. Adjust before glue sets; all six lower tabs point inward at the same level. Let seams dry.
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Fit and glue the hexagonal floor
Cut B1 and verify all six edges are 50 mm. Lower it through the open top with its unprinted face down; rotate so every edge meets one wall bottom, not a corner. Dry-fit on the six 8 mm support tabs. Remove B1, put glue on the upward/reverse face of each lower tab (opposite its printed GLUE mark), and replace B1. Press its six edge zones down against the tabs on a flat table. Keep the floor level; allow PVA to dry fully.
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Insert and service the LED through the top
Confirm the floor is bonded at all six supports and the shell stands level. Switch on a battery LED tealight no larger than 40 mm diameter x 45 mm high and lower it through the 86.60 mm across-flats top opening onto the center of B1. Leave the top open; lift the LED out to switch it off or replace batteries. LED ONLY - no candles or flame. Actual assembly testing remains pending.
Notes
The 3D model shows each piece in its finished, idealized shape; the exploded view only spreads the pieces apart. It is not a paper-physics simulation: curved shapes are forming guides, not exact physical folding or proof of developability, and intermediate fold shapes are not supplied.
- LED ONLY. No candles, flames, fuel lights or hot lamps. Use a battery LED tealight only.
- Original construction. Physical printing, cutting and assembly verification pending. This is a tabletop lantern; do not suspend or carry it by the paper walls.
- Six walls P1-P6: each body 50 x 120 mm, cut bounds 58 x 128 mm including tabs. Each has three 22 x 24 mm diamond holes centered at (25,30), (25,60), (25,90) mm from the body lower-left corner. Side rails are at least 14 mm; inter-window bridges 6 mm.
- B1 is a regular hexagon: six 50 mm edges, 100 mm corner-to-corner, 50*sqrt(3) = 86.60254 mm across flats. The same open-top aperture gives permanent LED access.
- Face correspondence: viewed from above, B1 vertex V1=(50,0) mm; V2=(25,43.30127), V3=(-25,43.30127), V4=(-50,0), V5=(-25,-43.30127), V6=(25,-43.30127). Pi spans Vi to V(i+1), wrapping V7 to V1, at heights 0-120 mm.
- Every wall has an 8 mm right lap tab, hinged between heights 10 and 110 mm. Its full-depth edge runs from height 14 to 106 mm. It sits behind the first 8 mm of the next wall, clear of all windows. P6 joins P1.
- Each bottom support hinge spans x=2 to 48 mm; its 8 mm-deep free edge spans x=6 to 44 mm. These relieved trapezoids lie beneath B1 and do not collide at corners.
- All meshes preserve exact flat triangle lengths, including holes and both integral tabs. Ideal zero-thickness paper: glued layers coincide; real cardstock thickness and fold radii are not simulated. No diffuser, lid, handle or LED is represented as paper geometry.