Stair Jumble Vase

3D Printed Stair Jumble Vase Designed by Clockspring3D

Vase mode printing, as we know, has a particular constraint in that angles just can't be too far from vertical, and that's in both the angling-up and angling-down directions.  There just isn't enough overlap between lines past a certain point, and the results are a mess!  I'm pretty conservative about those angles, and generally keep it to about 45 degrees.

Now, this made life a bit difficult when I set out to model some vase mode staircases!  Obviously we can't have horizontal landings in the world of vase mode, nor can we have horizontal steps.  Since stairs are generally full of right angles, this also meant we couldn't have vertical bits either.  So, as you can see, everything's tilted on angles!

And, then the stairs multiplied, but that did cause some issues with the other mortal enemy of vase mode - pockets that were not connected to the outside.  A good way to think about printability in vase mode is that it must be possible to take any horizontal slice and trace a line around the entire form.  If you look closely, you'll see a few little grooves that deftly take care of those pockets and make them part of the overall perimeter once again.