Sidelines: PLA 3D print hot water tweaking

A quick demonstration of fixing, tweaking or reshaping a PLA 3D print using hot water at about 80°C.
This is an extract of the genie lamp fabrication videos listed in the playlist.
Tags: PLA 3D-print gap tweak tweaking distortion model making

[@ericsaul9306]

That's a nice trick! A slight recommendation would be for the print base to be three pieces, the handle, the actual base and the vessel, with the vessel in one piece and on its head, that would achieve the ideal 3d printing orientation to avoid warping, and if for some reason you need really good tolerances you could print it with a raft

[@QuickPLC-kh5of]

Thanks, Eric. I had a couple of constraints. I have a really cheap, low-quality printer at home but decided to make these on an Ultimaker 2+ at my local library. (It just worked!) The print bed is about 22.5 cm square so it was a tight fit. It also put all the support on the inside which kept the outside clean. I think I could have avoided most of the distortion by fitting the lamp top during the glue-up. It would have held the lamp sides in the correct relative positions. Have a look at th-cam.com/video/PWJ1t3-23SE/w-d-xo.htmlsi=TVp8rnDAgg5_9OKE to see more!

[@ericsaul9306]

@@QuickPLC-kh5of I see, in that case you may benefit from creating a guiding lid, just some "jigsaw" pattern on the bottom that will help you align everything else, you could also get some ideas from wood joins, I've made my fair share of them for 3D prints and they do wonders

[@sergiorr90]

Excelent!!! a nice trick for repertoire. Speacilly useful for big pieces

[@QuickPLC-kh5of]

Thanks! It solved the problem for me anyway.