PVC Tube Spacer

thingiverse

I'm not sure how useful this thing will be to anyone else, but I thought I would post it anyway in case it can help someone, even if it's just for inspiration. I like to carry some items in my car to help in case of an emergency (jumper cables, 12V air compressor, tire iron, a gallon of windshield washer fluid, a couple extra quarts of oil, an ice scraper, and so on). My car has a handy "shelf" at the back of the trunk, but unfortunately it isn't flat - it is sloped towards the back of the car. This means that anything I put on the shelf slides off as I drive and is in the way when I want to put other things in the trunk (i.e. groceries, etc.). ------ I got the idea to solve this problem using a little bit of PVC pipe, so I calculated what I thought I needed, purchased the pipe and fittings, measured and cut the pieces and glued it all together (see last photo). The problem was that I allowed too much play in the depth of the retainer. The weight of the containers would cause the retainer to shift such that the containers would teeter on the edge of the shelf. I needed to take some length out of the PVC pipes that formed the depth of the retainer. Unfortunately, making this change would mean starting over with the PVC assembly - the 2 parts I needed to change were connected to 2 other fittings and if I cut them, this would mean everything else would be too short to reassemble. So I decided to solve the problem with 3D printing. ----- According to my measurements, taking up the slack in the retainer would require 4" from the outside of the PVC tube, so I designed this thing to do that. I first tested it with a piece of wood to be sure, and I made it slip over the end of the PVC end cap so I know it will stay in place. Lastly, I rounded all of the edges so it wouldn't snag on the automotive carpeting. It's a big print - each one took about 13 hours to print on my printer, but it works. Now my containers stay put and I can still remove them if I need them. The other two photos show the part on the printer, and as-installed. Overall, it was a fun project.