Compost Bubbler

thingiverse

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36gFTeYfBP0 This is definitely a work in progress, though in it's current state, a functional design. When making ACT or Compost Tea, I'd normally put a little Ancient Forest in some cheese cloth and toss it in some water mixed with molasses and some mycos, and bubble it for a few days, but that crude practice didn't agitate the mixture to my liking. So this is my first attempt to streamline the process. This design works by using utilizing the Venturi effect to inject pumped air directly into a solution, and raise the liquid up a pipe or column. It then can wash over the humus mixture and leach out the bottom in drips, like a coffee percolator. I still want to increase the flow in hopes of increasing the oxygenation and microbial life of the solution. This design requires a 2 gallon bucket, dual outlet aquarium pump, tubing and a 220mm length of 1/2" PVC, plus 2 elbows and connecting pieces. The diameter of the PVC was too large and the air wasn't lifting the water well, so I had to decrease that diameter of the PVC, and this is done with the Reduction Files. Both the "30 start" and "30 stop" files account for 60mm, so I was able to fill in the space between with four "40 mid" pieces. You may want custom sized peices, so I'm including the SCAD file and you can adjust the height with the variable named "H". To make a screen, you have to upload a simple disc into your slicer, and in the slicer settings, set your perimeters to whatever you want, but the tops and bottoms must be set to "0" zero. Then you can adjust the mesh size with percentage of infill. I've found about 25% to be perfect. FWIW, 40% will diffuse light to a minor degree, yet the solution was still not passing through well. Still, it's nice to have the ability to adjust that, and I can now see this having a possible application in DIY water filtration. I printed with PLA at .2 layer height. IDK if my print speeds were too quick, or the PLA at the end of the roll doesn't adhere well, I noticed some of my air sneaking out into the base support ring and leaking out into the solution which is fine, but it does decrease the amount of water being lifted up the column, so maybe this would print better with PETG? If anyone has idea on how to improve this design and help me get a little more bang out of my air pump, please share. The solution is bubbled well when lifting water up the shaft, but I'd like to get better flow out of the Venturi if that's possible. Parts to print; 1 - Dual Venturi Pump 1 - Lid 1 - Basket (holds about 1/4 cup) 1 - disc (25% infill, 0 tops and bottoms) 1 - 30 start 1 - 30 stop 4 - 40 mid