Designing a 3D Printable Vase in Nomad Sculpt Using the Lathe Tool

Designing a 3D Printable Vase in Nomad Sculpt Using the Lathe Tool

Some of the cleanest, most satisfying 3D prints don’t start as complicated models. They start as a line.

In this article, we’re breaking down one of the most underrated tools in Nomad Sculpt—the Lathe Tool—and showing how it can be used to design a clean, symmetrical, and fully 3D-printable vase. If you’ve ever wondered how people make smooth, rotational objects that actually print well, this is the tool they’re using.

Why Vases Are a Big Deal in 3D Printing

Vases might sound boring at first, but they’re kind of legendary.

They’re among the oldest human-made objects ever created. Ancient pottery wheels were essentially early lathes, spinning material around a central axis to create perfectly symmetrical forms. Fast-forward a few thousand years, and modern 3D printers still love vases so much that slicers literally include a feature called vase mode.

If you want to understand:

  • Rotational geometry

  • Clean, smooth surfaces

  • Symmetry that prints reliably

Vases are one of the best places to start.

Starting with the Lathe Tool in Nomad Sculpt

Open up Nomad Sculpt and delete the default sphere. From there, select the Lathe Tool.

Instead of sculpting a full 3D object, the lathe tool works by showing you half of a profile. Whatever shape you draw gets spun around a central axis, instantly creating a perfectly symmetrical 3D object.

At this stage, you’ll:

  • Draw a rough side profile of your vase

  • Use control points (dots) to push or pull the shape

  • Add or remove points to refine curves and proportions

You’re not sculpting details yet—you’re defining form.

Refining the Shape

Once the basic profile looks good, you can fine-tune the curves:

  • Pull points outward to widen the body

  • Push them inward for necks or tapers

  • Adjust the base for stability

This is where the lathe tool shines. Small changes to a single line can dramatically affect the final object, and everything stays perfectly symmetrical.

When you’re happy, use the gizmo to view the object in full 3D. At this point, you already have a solid vase shape.

Creating the Opening

A vase needs a hollow interior, and there are a couple of easy ways to do this.

Method 1: Using a Cylinder (Quick and Flexible)

  • Add a cylinder to the scene

  • Position it inside the vase

  • Adjust its width to control wall thickness

  • Lower the opacity so you can see alignment clearly

  • Perform a voxel remesh to subtract the interior

This method is fast and gives you precise control over wall thickness.

Method 2: Cloning the Lathe (Matching the Shape)

  • Duplicate the lathe object

  • Scale the inner copy down slightly

  • Make sure it sits fully inside the outer shell

  • Voxel remesh the two together

This creates an interior that follows the exact outer shape of the vase, which can look especially clean.

Printing Considerations (Before You Hit Slice)

Before exporting your STL, keep these 3D printing rules in mind:

  1. Wall Thickness Matters

    Avoid paper-thin walls. Even if it looks good on screen, thin walls can fail during printing.

  2. Avoid Sharp Angles

    Gradual curves print better and are stronger than aggressive overhangs.

  3. Watch for Self-Intersections

    Nomad Sculpt doesn’t care if geometry overlaps—but your slicer definitely does.

Just because a model looks fine digitally doesn’t mean it’s physically printable.

A Quick Note on Vase Mode

Vase mode prints an object in one continuous wall, spiraling from bottom to top:

  • No infill

  • No layer starts and stops

  • One smooth extrusion

It’s fast, efficient, and perfect for symmetrical shapes like vases. That said, you don’t have to use vase mode for lathe-based designs—it’s just another tool in the toolbox.

Why the Lathe Tool Is So Powerful

The lathe tool turns complex-looking geometry into something simple and predictable. Instead of wrestling with symmetry or fixing print issues later, you design with printing in mind from the start.

It’s one of the fastest ways to go from idea to finished object—especially for functional or decorative prints.

Download the Vase

👉 Download the STL:
MakerBuildIt - https://makerbuildit.com/products/lathe-tool-vase-clean-symmetrical-vase
MakerWorld - https://makerworld.com/en/models/2176848-lathe-tool-vase-clean-symmetrical-vase

🛠 Gear Used (Some Affiliate Links) 
• Nomad Sculpt - https://nomadsculpt.com/
• 3D Printers - https://amzn.to/44A971y
• PLA filament - https://amzn.to/4p4OJNk

Sculpting is fun—but holding that finished print? That’s the best part.

Remember: good designs don’t fight physics. They work with it.

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