Hex surface vase (spiral print)

The main source page for this model is on GitHub. I provide it on Printables as well for your convenience, but the GitHub page may have more recent updates and more detailed instructions.

Go to my site for an overview of my other models. Only a few of them are published on Printables.

Description

This is intended to be printed in ‘spiral vase’ mode which prints a single seamless wall in one continuous movement. The radius of the models is about 53 mm, scale it up or down as you see fit.

Due to the many facets this looks particularly nice in shiny filaments, like the ‘silky copper’ as shown in the photos.

This was created by doing some calculations, then drawing polygons from scratch in Blender, and repeating them. The different size models were simply created by making one very long model and then cutting it into parts of different lengths.

If you want to use this as a planter or other container that will hold liquids, you should coat the inside with something waterproof, like epoxy. It is very hard to make 3D prints that are watertight on their own. Even if it seems to succeed at first, you're likely to find a puddle of water after a while without any clue where exactly the leak is…

If you like this, then you might also like the variation with a twist inside the hexagons.

How to print this

‘Spiral vase’ mode (as it is called in PrusaSlicer and Slic3r) has different names in different slicing programs: Cura calls it “Spiralize outer contour” (may need to be activated in the preferences), in S3D it is “Corkscrew/vase.” It is not mandatory for printing this model, but provides the nicest results when printing with a single shell.

A 3mf file is provided that shows an example configuration for printing in vase mode. I increased perimeter width to 0.6 mm to get a stronger result. Pre-sliced files for the Prusa Mini and MK3S are also provided.

You can also print it without spiral mode by setting infill to 0% and using zero top layers. This allows to print with more shells for extra strength, but it will produce a visible seam unless you enable random contour starting points in your slicer.

For a really smooth finish on smaller prints, print in spiral vase mode with 0.1 mm layers. 0.2 mm is good for larger sizes.

I provide models of varying heights. You can create a model of any height by taking the tallest one and chopping off a segment of the desired length. This can be done directly in some slicing programs like PrusaSlicer.

The 0.2 mm print in the comparison photo has some artifacts because the ‘ensure vertical shell thickness’ option was enabled in Slic3r, which may cause it to switch back to regular layers at random points. Make sure this option is not enabled when printing in spiral vase mode.