spiral planter with drainage (vase mode)

"There are so many spiral cups and planters on this website, why would you design another one?"

Well… first of all, hello. I am glad you asked. Like, I am sure, so many other designers, I frequently see models online and think “I like this, but it is missing some elements that I find necessary for my needs”. After gathering so many such thoughts, I thought it was time to create my own version of the spiral planter.

Design considerations

A planter needs drainage

Planters need drainage. They do, don't at me. When a model is designed as a planter but does not include a plan for drainage, you should be skeptical of it. It is necessary. This is certainly a cool look for a planter, and I can see how adding conventional drainage can ruin the aesthetic. But that's no excuse to skip it.

I didn't want drainage to be an afterthought, to be a plain little dish that breaks the aesthetic, to be left up to others to make a remix. A strong design includes that from the get go. This model includes built-in drainage and water tray, all internal to the planter so that it maintains a consistent look. It looks great and you can properly water your plants!

A planter should be large enouhg for your plants

Usually, I see folks get the same size planter as the one that the plant came in. This is too small. Almost all plant stores will sell you a plant in a pot that is way too small. This is actually a good thing. Stores price their plants based on the size of the pot, so getting a big plant in a small pot is actually a good deal. Stores also have limited space, so smaller pots allow stores to have more stock (or take up less space), allowing their prices to be lower. It's a win win. However, this means that when you take it home, you immediately need to put it in a larger pot. Small pots are cute, but they will suffocate your plants.

This planter was specifically designed as a 4 inch planter (110mm). This is big enough for small succulents you might pick up at your local nursery. It can easily be scaled up to 130% for a 6 inch planter (150mm). It can also be scaled down to 75% for a 3 inch planter (85mm) if you must.

Models should print fast and be sturdy

Usually, designers often think that fast printing and structurally sturdy are at odds with each other – or don't think past the design itself at all. Especially due to the previous point – planters need to be bigger – designing for speed is important. But at the same time, a planter shouldn't be flimsy and fragile. That all starts with designing for both of those qualities specifically.

In this model, all parameters were specifically picked to optimize vase mode printing with structural integrity. Go ahead, give it a little squeeze! You know you want to.

Models should fully refine the look

This one is more of a personal choice, I'll admit that. But I don't like models where the spiral goes all the way from the bottom to the top, leaving a sharp, jagged edge at the both the top and bottom. I always think those designs look unfinished.

The bottom of this planter is a solid circle, allowing it to adhere more easily to the print bed. At the top, the spiral has been tapered, again allowing the top edge to be a smooth circle.

"I still want just a cup thing I guess"

How did you get in here? This is not a Q&A section. But whatever… if you know all this about planters and still want just an open shape with no drainage or fancy internal bits… I added one of those too. But please don't put your plants in it. Use it as a cut flower vase or a desk organizer or something.

Print settings

Here are the settings that I recommend for printing this model at 100% scale:

• Spiral vase mode / Spiralize outer contour: turn this on, that's what this mode is all about
• Layer height: 0.3mm
• Line width / Extrusion width: 0.6mm
• Bottom thickness / Bottom layers: 1.2mm (that's 4 layers at our layer height)
• Wall speed: 35mm/s (you can bump this up a bit if you are confident in your printer)
• Printing temperature: 10 degrees hotter than your usual temperature
• Flow: 110%

When scaling, essentially multiply the various values above by the scale factor as well. When in doubt, always check the preview carefully.

Special note for PrusaSlicer and other Slic3r derivatives: Under Print Settings > Advanced, there is a "Slice gap closing radius" setting. You need to set this to 0. This is very important.

Special note for Cura 5: Start from a “Fine” quality profile and apply the settings from above. Starting from a “Normal” or “Draft” profile for some reason ends up slicing the model differently, even with the same settings applied. No idea why this is happening.

If you scale the model up to 130%:

• Line width / Extrusion width: 0.8mm
• Bottom thickness / Bottom layers: 1.5mm (that's 5 layers at 0.3mm layer height… be sure to check the preview to make sure that all solid bottom layers are complete circles… if this value is too low, some layers will be just a single outer circle, and if it too high, some layers will have the spiral pattern in them)

If you scale the model down to 75%:

• Line width / Extrusion width: 0.5mm - 0.6mm (with Arachne, 0.6mm should never really be a problem, and I don't like going lower for vase mode prints… check the preview)
• Bottom thickness / Bottom layers: 0.9mm (that's 3 layers at 0.3mm layer height)

Preview

When sliced, the preview should look like this. If it doesn't, something is wrong, so check the settings mentioned above.

Update: December 2022

I am travelling (as people are want to do in December) and got bored and decided to redo this planter. I have added a version 2, fixing some issues from y'all's feedback, as well as improving the drainage a bit. This is the same model everyone knows and loves, further refined.

The above setting and information still holds for all these updates. Here is some info about the new updates:

A few folks have had mentioned having issues with small holes at the location where the top of the “second bottom” above the drainage area meets the outside wall. While these did not make a big functional difference, as any water that potentially comes out would just drain into the dish below anyway. However… this planter is about refinement, so I might as well fix it. That transition is now smooth instead of sharp, which should not have the same issue with holes.

The drainage area was also improved, and now will taper in. This leaves more space outside the planter and hold a bit more water before overflowing. There was no particular issue with the original design, but I wanted to improve it anyway. Enjoy!

This is the first variation on this planter. Rather than spiraling in a single direction, this model changes direction part way up the model. This was based on feedback from my girlfriend, who could not see when the water has started draining into the dish. She would often keep watering, causing the dish to overflow. This model hopes to address that, by placing the mostly-straight-up-and-down section exactly at the drainage area, allowing you to see into the dish more easily.

The new tapered drainage is also in this model, allowing the dish to hold a bit more water than before.

Notes

All planters in the photos were printed on an Elegoo Neptune 2 with a 0.4mm nozzle. Here's the breakdown:

• 130% scaled model, printed in iSanmate Rainbow PLA. It has a monkey mask monstera in it.
• 100% scaled model, printed in Jayo Twinkle Black PLA. It has a haworthia in it. I got it from Whole Foods after a night out 6 years ago. It was about a quarter of its current size then.
• 100% scaled model, printed in Polymaker PolyTerra Sakura Pink PLA. It has a Madagascar palm in it. I used my sharpie blender model to color it as it was printing.