Note 01 · Test
Why we test lamps in water
A lamp shade is a thin wall that has to hold shape and pass light. In air, a failed print still looks like a form. In water, the same wall shows you where it is weak. We lower a print into a clear bath and watch it take a gentle load. The surface tells us if the thickness we chose is honest.
We are not testing waterproofing. These are dry lamps. The bath is a way to see structure without a lamp-holder in the frame. Light through water is also closer to how a shade will glow than a desk lamp pointed at a raw mesh.
If a wall buckles, it does not leave the lab. If it holds, we hang it on a finished lamp from the farm and look again. Print-tested means both steps. That is the difference between a file that sliced and a file we will put on the monthly shelf.
See the test story on the lab page.
Note 02 · Form
A printable shade from a minimal surface
Minimal surfaces are efficient. They divide space with less area than a flat sheet, which is useful when you want a shade that is thin and still stiff. We build families in Grasshopper: a period, a radius, a wall offset. The same definition can be a 180 mm pendant or a 90 mm table shade.
The work is not the surface. The work is the seam, the brim, the split. A gyroid that looks perfect in the viewport will fail on a 0.4 nozzle if the wall drops below three lines. We thicken, we cut a cap, we mark orientation. Layer lines become part of the drawing, not a defect to hide.
Ripple Shade 180 is that process, not a one-off sculpture. You get the 3MF we already ran, with the notes we would give the farm. If you want the math family and not a crate of finished lamps, you are in the right place.
Ripple Shade 180 is this month’s drop.
Note 03 · Fence
What we will never put in this library
We will not put source files of in-sale exclusive lamps here. Those belong to the finished-goods path on minsurf.com. Printsurf is a different shelf. If you arrived looking for a wholesale lamp, turn around at the fence.
We will not put a dump of 150 untested meshes at a low price. A monthly club is a paced drop: a few print-tested editions, notes, and a farm that has already printed them. The library stays small on purpose.
We will not put a clip, ring, or holder that still fails in the bath into a paid month. Immature structures can sit on the free shelf, marked as such. You can print them, share them, and see how the lab thinks. You should not sell them as a product.
That is the fence. Files here. Finished lamps, private label, and exclusive editions there. minsurf.com if you need the other door.