THE DOUBLE HELIX EXPERIMENT (WITH BONUS SQUIGGLE)

December 23, 2022
Description
If you've come this far, you've noticed that the ring is printed as a helical coil shape, and you may or may not be intrigued at that thought.
Well it's not. It's a very simple flat four-minute print, heated and wrapped around a mandrel to the correct diameter.
It's a simple process that isn't. Wherever heat is involved (and my weapon of choice is boiling water) there are dangers, so please be careful.
I like to hold the printed part in a cup of just boiled water (just below 100°C) and in a few seconds it will become like wet spaghetti. Quickly wrap it around your mandrel till you get the required shape. Don't worry if it takes a few attempts, I don't know what the limits are on reworking PLA, and I haven't found them yet.
You might have to just finesse the ends with another form of heat (ie a hairdryer), but found with practice you get to know what's happening and it sort of works itself out.
There's a bonus STL included for a “SQUIGGLE” ring produced in the same way - I would like to see where this technique leads with multi layers and folded forms, but we shall see!
Try 50% infill and Aligned Rectilinear top and bottom layers.