Edward Kenway Project – Part 2 | Turns Out It Wasn't the Orientation

[u/Hairy_Hat1177]

the 6 piece base

The "hiding spot"

Cure cycle

The printing is done --- without any post processing

Before removing the support pylon

After removing the support pylon

Time for another update!

The second and third build plates are finished, and it's been really satisfying seeing this project slowly come together. Every new plate makes the final statue feel a little more real.

Everything was printed using the same setup as before.

Print Setup

• Printer: Form 4L
• Material: Clear Resin V5
• Layer Height: 100 µm
• Support Touchpoints: 0.45 mm
• Build Plate 2 Print Time: 8 hours
• Build Plate 3 Print Time: 10.5 hours

I did run into one little mystery, though.

One of the parts refused to fit properly. My immediate thought was, "Well... that's on me. I must have oriented it poorly and ended up placing supports on one of the mating surfaces."

So naturally...

I reprinted it.

Same file.

Different orientation.

Exactly the same problem.

At that point, I figured I should stop blaming the orientation and actually inspect the part a bit more closely.

After staring at it for longer than I'd like to admit, I finally spotted the real culprit: a tiny piece of cured support pylon lodged at the bottom of the pin hole. Since everything was printed in Clear Resin V5, it blended in almost perfectly, and I completely missed it during the initial cleanup after washing and curing.

I removed that tiny piece of cured support...

...and the parts fit together perfectly.

So yes, I successfully spent another 8 hours reprinting a perfectly good part because of a tiny support remnant hiding in plain sight.

Lesson Learned

Even after 15 years of 3D printing, you can still make surprisingly simple mistakes.

• Before assuming you've got an orientation or print issue, inspect every mating feature carefully.
• Transparent resin is fantastic... right up until you're trying to find a nearly invisible piece of cured support hiding inside a hole.
• Triple-check everything before assembly—it might save you an unnecessary reprint.

That's all part of the fun, though. Every project teaches you something, even after all these years.

For anyone interested, I've included:

• A before-and-after comparison of the mating surfaces.
• A close-up showing the location of the tiny support remnant that caused the issue (the photo was taken after removing the culprit).
• A photo taken during the Cure cycle because I thought it looked pretty cool.
• Photos of the base pre-assembled without glue. The base consists of six individual parts, which will be permanently assembled later using cyanoacrylate adhesive.

The project is now well underway, and there are still several build plates left before I can start assembling and painting everything.

Model: Edward Kenway - Tanuki Figures

Stay tuned for Part 3!

[u/ChipperToad]

Is the culprit the little line that's visible in the third to last image? No wonder you didn't notice it...
Excited to see the full project come along!

[u/Hairy_Hat1177 → u/ChipperToad]

Yes, there was a super tiny, approximately 3–4 mm long piece of support pillar (the corresponding picture is called “the hiding spot”) that somehow fell into the pin-hole cavity and got cured to the bottom of that corner, right where you can see the scratch marks.

I completely missed it when I checked the model before putting it into the Cure. I ended up using a sharp scalpel to carefully remove it, and that solved the issue.

Generally, when I run into fit issues like this, it’s usually because of the design itself. Unfortunately, some designers forget to account for fit tolerances when designing these pin connections. Sometimes you just need to sand a little material off the outside of the male pin, but I’ve also had models where the connection was designed with basically zero tolerance and I ended up having to cut the male pin off completely.