A Stem in Vase Mode

There are several options for stems to attach to my Spiral Vase Rose print, but I wanted to see if I could design one that prints in spiral vase mode. I think this turned out fairly sturdy for a vase mode print; it also looks cool printed in a translucent filament.

This is designed primarily with the small (5cm) version of my Spiral Vase Rose in mind; the base has a diameter of about 4cm. The stem itself is 1cm wide.

The main version (stem_final.stl) has some small curves in the stem to give it a more organic feel, but I've also included an unadulterated straight version, which you could try bending yourself either digitally or post-printing, with the application of heat. I have also included two versions of the model that are essentially doubled up on stem height and too tall, so if you want a longer stem, you can just chop off the excess top at the desired height before you print it (this is fairly easy to do in Prusa slicer with the ‘cut’ function.)

If you are placing the stem in an opaque container, you can also supplement or vary the height of the stem by inserting some wire or a thin stick in the bottom.

To print:

• PLA or PETG; check out ‘makes’ to see what materials people have printed it in
• Spiral vase mode
• Tested at 0.2mm height and 0.4mm nozzle width, but other sizes may work if you want to try them.
• 1mm (5 x 0.2mm) of bottom layers recommended
• Post-printing: depending on how firmly the print is stuck to the bed, you may want to try and loosen each of the five sections individually. I did this by applying careful pressure inside the five narrow openings. Update from a year later: Put your build surface in the freezer or fridge, or put a flat ice back underneath; especially if you're printing in PETG!

New to vase mode or still learning?

• Spiral vase mode takes the outside wall of a solid, continuous model and calculates a continuous single spiraling path to print to the top. (Usually this is after a few standard solid layers at the bottom - PLA is very flexible when thin, and this gives it more stability.)
• In Prusa slicer, this is the “Spiral vase” option you can check off in Print Settings > Layers and Perimeters. It will automatically change several of your settings to be compatible with the mode.
• In Cura slicer: Special Modes > Spiralize Outer Contour
• To get a good vase mode print, you'll want to refine a couple more settings. You want to print slow and steady, and at a lower extrusion rate than normal printing. IMO you should test this for each filament, as well as for different layer heights, to determine a temperature, extrusion %, and speed (if the speed hasn't been slowed down automatically) to get a nice, clean vase mode print with that filament. Too much extrusion will get you tiny bumps around your print; too little can make it too fragile and prone to cracking between layers.
  • If you're still getting bumps: especially if you're on a more basic machine like an Ender 3, it may be a matter of computing and RAM, and your printer having tiny moments where it pauses. Fixes include using a faster microSD, being hardwired to the printer if you usually use OctoPrint, or upgrading your firmware (this is what worked for me) with options including arc calculation (marlin 2.0 and on), disallowing the printer from writing to the SD card, and turning off the power failure recovery mode. (The latter is very useful but may cause those little pauses with a big file.)