Sorter V2 Documentation

⚠ Under heavy construction

As of July 11, 2026, Sorter V2 is not yet in a position to be built.

The documentation that exists is incomplete. Any given page may be accurate, inaccurate, present only as an example, or badly out of date. We do not yet recommend that anyone attempt to build Sorter.

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Helpers — Heat inserts

Installing heat inserts

How-to guide

Pressing brass heat-set inserts into printed parts.

Author Spencer

Contributors BrickCycleAlice and barthel

Parts needed

Heat inserts

Tools needed

  • Soldering iron or heat-set insert press
  • Needle-nose pliers

A soldering iron does this, and so does a dedicated heat-set insert press. Both are below.

Eight assembly steps call for inserts. Do a part's inserts before you start its own steps, and use the size that part's list asks for.

Using a soldering iron

Step 1 Place the insert

Brass heat insert standing over its hole in a printed part, thinner end down, next to an insert already installed flush
Set each insert over its hole, thinner section first. Photo: BrickCycleAlice.
Soldering iron tip centered on a heat insert, pressing it straight down into the part
Center the tip and press gently while it heats. Photo: BrickCycleAlice.

Stand the insert on its hole, thinner section down, straight and centered.

Step 2 Heat it in

The iron tip, the insert, and the plastic around it are all hot enough to burn. Hold small inserts with the needle-nose pliers, never your fingers, and rest the iron in its stand between inserts. Melting plastic gives off fumes, so work somewhere ventilated and do not lean over the part while it is heating.

  1. Set the iron to 200 to 220 C (390 to 430 F). For any other filament, use its printing temperature as a rough guide.
  2. Line the tip up with the center of the insert and apply slight pressure.
  3. Wait. After about 20 seconds the plastic reaches its melting point and the insert starts to sink on its own. A larger insert takes longer to get there.
  4. Push it straight down into the hole, not at an angle. It travels faster as it gets hotter, so go steadily and check it from two sides as it sinks, not just from above.
  5. Keep the iron on it until the top of the insert is flush with the surface of the part.
  6. Straighten it before you take the heat away. Once the plastic cools it will not move.

If one goes crooked or sinks too far

Reheat it. Pull it back up and straight with the pliers while the plastic is still soft, then let it set again.

If the plastic around it has visibly melted or bulged, that hole may not hold a thread. Back the insert out, let the part cool fully, and try a screw in it. Reprint the part if the screw does not bite.

Using a heat press

Benchtop heat-set insert press with a set of tips
Manufacturer product photo, not a Basically photo.

A heat-set insert press* holds the insert square and drives it straight down, so you line it up over the hole and lower the arm.

The press, start to finish. Video: Basically's own YouTube channel. Who filmed it isn't recorded.

The finished result

Each insert flush with the surface it went into, and square to it. A small glossy ring where the plastic melted and closed around the brass is normal. Plastic that has bulged up around the rim, or a crater where the insert has sunk below the surface, is not.

A small printed bracket on a bench with three brass heat inserts fitted, each one seated flush in its own raised boss with the knurling on the brass visible and a faint ring of melted plastic closing around it
Three finished inserts, on the door module's bearing holder. Flush with each boss, square to it, and the brass knurling still visible. Photo: BrickCycleAlice.

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