20mm Conduit Straight Connector

thingiverse

WARNING: DO NOT USE FOR ELECTRICAL PURPOSES. THE BOLT HOLES, IF USED WILL GO THROUGH THE WIRING (AN OBVIOUS ELECTRICAL HAZARD) THIS IS FOR MAKING FRAMES TO SUPPORT PLANTS/NETS/FROST COVERS/OUTDOOR STRUCTURES. Are you a gardener, market farmer, or looking to make/fix a hoop house cheaply? Do you use frost covers and netting to protect your plants and/or crops? Then using the freely available, relatively cheap 20mm electrical conduit as your framing material may be the ideal solution. However, while you can absolutely use saddle clamps, and star pickets with twine/wire to anchor each end of the arched conduit, the connectors to make better, or more complex designs aren't commercially available, and the ones I've seen in stores aren't designed for load bearing stresses and strains. Unfortunately, the conduit manufacturers (Like the DETA brand found here in Australia) are only for light duty electrical applications, so they simply don't make a viable connector for this purpose, (literally all of mine broke on a gusty day) so I have designed a range of better ones. This is a STRONG, straight-connector to use 20mm electrical conduit for garden trellises, frost cover and netting support, as well as hoop houses. It makes it ideal if you're using conduit off-cuts to make longer lengths, or making repairs to existing structures. But why stop there? If you're looking for the 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8 , 9or even 10-way connector for 20mm conduit, I have an entire range to help you to make weird/wacky/fanciful 2D and 3D trellises and frames. Some of the more unusual models (3,5 and 6 way connectors) have been built with domes in mind (using bent conduit) and even full geodesic dome structures. 1- Way "Stake styled" Anchor found here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6228095 1-Way "Screw down" anchor found here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6228135 2-Way "Straight" Connector: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6187349 2-Way "Right-Angle" Connector: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6188056 3-Way "Y" Connector: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6181085 4-Way Cross Connector: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6163584 5-Way Connector: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6181104 6-Way Connector: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6181111 7-Way Connector: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6187567 8-Way Connector: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6167506 Half 8-Way Connector: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6195584 Quarter 8-Way Connector: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6196723 9-Way Connector: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6190630 10-Way Connector: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6182651 My design has three things going for it: It can be easily printed without ANY supports whatsoever. It is FAR stronger, and takes advantage of "laid flat" orientation to minimise the weaknesses involved in layered FDM printing) and if that isn't enough... I included M4 bolt holes so you can simultaneously: a) Lock the conduit into the connector using the bolt. (Drill a hole through the conduit first, obviously) b) Use the M4 bolt to ensure the layers of the connector are held together, even under significant strain. NOTES: While I don't recommend PLA for this purpose, (It's exposed to UV and water after all) I chose to use PETG and protect the conduit from UV by wrapping it in duct tape. It's working well so far, but we'll see how it's going after a couple of seasons.