instructables

Rhinestone and 3D Print Molecule Necklaces

by Penolopy Bulnick

I was looking at some projects on the site the other design for that.
day and saw a laser cut Serotonin necklace and
thought it would be fun to make a 3D printed version If you are interested in molecules but not as
that also has rhinestones! I fiddled with the design necklaces, check out these molecule ornaments.
until It came out just the way I wanted it and this is
the results! I thought Serotonin was a good molecule
for this project but decided to branch out and so far I
have also made Dopamine, Adrenaline, GABA, and
I'm also selling these necklaces on Etsy! Check them
Caffeine. I'll talk a little about each molecule in Step
out :) Serotonin - Dopamine - Adrenaline - GABA - Ca
2.
ffeine
If anyone is interested in the designs with holes
Instructable 290
instead of inserts for Rhinestones, let me know. It
should be a fairly quick and easy process to adapt the

Rhinestone and 3D Print Molecule Necklaces: Page 1

Step 1: Supplies and Files

For Printing:

3D Printer of choice - I have a Prusa MK3

1.75mm PLA Filament in color of choice - I used...
Copper
Silver
Bronze

For Jewelry Making:

Glue - I keep experimenting but this time I used Weld-On 4 Acrylic Adhesive
Pointed Back Clear 4mm/SS16 Rhinestones, can be hard to find but I bought mine here on Etsy
Fine Chain
Clasp
2 - 4mm Jump Rings
1 - 5mm Jump Ring
Jewelry Pliers
Tweezers

View in 3D Download
https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FJ6/QP27/JOWTI7NZ/FJ6QP27JOWTI7NZ.stl
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View in 3D Download
https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FYE/ZVP4/JOWTI7MJ/FYEZVP4JOWTI7MJ.stl
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View in 3D Download
https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FTQ/8XP2/JOWTI7JO/FTQ8XP2JOWTI7JO.stl
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 https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FKI/LM2N/JOWTI7H1/FKILM2NJOWTI7H1.stl
… View in 3D Download

View in 3D Download
https://www.instructables.com/ORIG/FDP/ALN7/JOWTI7GG/FDPALN7JOWTI7GG.stl
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Step 2: Designing the Molecules

I used Tinkercad to design the molecules and it was a very finicky process (not because of Tinkercad but because
of the way I wanted the design to look).

I started by designing the parts I needed to make it. This consisted of an oval cylinder and a cylinder with a cone
cutout for a rhinestone. I used an oval cylinder for the connector pieces because I didn't want those pieces to just
be normal rectangles, I wanted to soften it up a bit and give it some more detail.

In order to get the dimensions about right, I started by bringing in a basic design of the molecule and then scaling it
to the length and width I wanted. When I had that, I took my starting pieces and started putting it together. Above
you can see how I worked to get the 3 piece intersections and 2 piece intersections to make sure the corners and
joins all looked right. Once I finished a design, I constantly exported it and brought it into the slicer to find any
errors. Then I went back to Tinkercad and made alterations and repeated the process until I had the final design I
wanted.

Since some of the molecules were similar, when I could, I worked with a finished design and altered it to make the
new design such as Dopamine and Adrenaline.

I ended up making:

Serotonin - well-being and happiness

Dopamine - reward-motivated behavior (also sometimes considered the pleasure-seeking molecule)
Adrenaline - causing increased heart rate, it is the molecule of energy
Caffeine - is a psychoactive drug, known for causing awakeness
GABA (gamma-Aminobutyric acid) - reduces excitability / anti-anxiety

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 1

1. Editing where 3 meet.

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 1

1. Editing where 2 meet.

Step 3: Print!

I didn't really do anything special for printing except for the 100% infill to make them as sturdy as possible.

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Step 4: Gluing

Start by gluing the rhinestones in their spots. Tweezers make it easier to put the rhinestones down on the glue.

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Step 5: Assemble the Necklace

Make it however you want, but for mine, I took two pieces of fine chain at about 6.5" long and connected them to
the molecule using the 4mm jump rings.

On the other end of the chains, I attached the larger jump ring to one and the clasp to the other.

Step 6: All the Molecules!

Any other molecules you think would make cute pendants? Share your ideas :)

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Step 7: Serotonin

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Step 8: Dopamine

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Step 9: Adrenaline

Step 10: Caffeine

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Step 11: GABA

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Great idea!
Are these Rhinestones also available in colors? Then one could use e.g. white ones for oxygen,
blue ones for nitrogen, yellow ones for sulfur, green for chlorine and so on. In addition, one may
also use copper filament for aromatic and silver for aliphatic parts of the molecules. I guess I will try
to construct A, G, C and T in the holiday break.
I think you should be able to find rhinestones in different colors too. I think color coordinating would
look really neat :)
I have very little 3-D printing experience, but with these molecules, there is a isomeric structure
(chair - L&D isomers, boat) that is more complicated that the 2-D representations shown here. Is
there anyway for the print to come off the plate when printing?

My 3-D printing experience is limited to the handheld 3-D pen.

You can build up more from the plate, it really just depends on what you want to do. Though, you'll
probably need support material if you build up at low angles.

You can certainly make these more complicated, I was going for more of a basic represenation to
give it an easy and clean design :)
These look so stylish :)

Thank you :)

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Beautiful! I really like this 3D printed jewelry series you are publishing (I am thinking about the
constellation necklace, the 3D print on tulle fabric, the Halloween jewelry...)! Very creative, I'll
probably use these ideas to make some gifts!
Thank you! I'm glad you are enjoying the projects and I hope they help with your making :)

Ha ha. Excellent collection. How about a bit of morphine to round off a "Dirty (half) Dozen"
You could have the necklaces coated in trace solutions of these substances and your skin would
absorb them bit by bit!!!!
That would certainly be interesting!

Super creative, once again! I love the caffeine ;-)

Thank you! Yeah, caffeine is fun, I wasn't sure how many rhinestones to add to it, but I'm happy
with how it turned out :)

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