Turbo Skimmer for Swimming Pool

thingiverse

I got this idea from the Skim Doctor. The design seems too simple not to recreate especially with an available 3d printer. This is the first prototype and it's looking promising. Upon testing, I see that there are room for improvements. 1. Instead of a vertically straight opening, making them slightly slanted will possibly allow the water to enter in a cone shape increasing the velocity. 2. The tube diameter is 5" wide, perhaps a 4" may create a faster funnel. 3. This can be designed into a one piece print to save lots of printing time, the size difference between the two tube is .5mm and it fits not to snug and not too lose. Since the walls are rather thin I did not want it to be too snug risking it cracking. The screw holes is 4mm wide, I imagine a long reusable zip tie would be cheap and should do the trick. I'm sure there are some nuts and bolts design found here would work at the right scale. Total print time was close to 30 hours. I imagine this can be cut in half in a one piece design. If you remake this and make it better, please share your design so we all can benefit from it.