Water Nozzle for Garden Pond

thingiverse

I have a small fish-pond, with an upper pond that is fed from a filter (made from a big bucket filled with graduated stones/gravel). The outflow is a 1-inch PVC pipe, but it wasn't long enough to avoid water waste. Plus, the stubby pipe piece was only about 6cm, so I wanted it to reach further out into the upper pond/spillway. 3D printing to the rescue. This piece is a fan-shape to fit over a 1" PVC pipe fitting. I'm using it over a detachable threaded assembly so I can remove it at will and try again, but you could just stick it on the end of a 1" PVC pipe as well. NOTE - it's the nozzle that is the 3D-printed part. The other pipe pieces in the pics are simple off-the-shelf PVC fittings - about $5 worth Still testing it at this point. It's purposefully snug - you'll need a very light sanding inside after the print. Took me about 30sec to lightly sand and get a snug friction-fit on the PVC pipe. Beware the print can pop off your print bed mid-print if your adhesion isn't great. Try a brim for more surface area contact. One Yr UPDATE first version served me well. It failed at almost exactly one year later. The collar let go from the main body. Version 2 has been designed, printed and added to this Thingiverse entry. I've reinforced the collar with some ribs. I've also taken the opportunity to raise the inner combing teeth and constrict the outflow just a bit. The water flow looks quite nice now with the new version. See you back here next year? Two Yr Update The second print is still fine, but thought I'd add another variant. The new file has separate holes to make a bit more splashy noise, and for a bit different visual effect. Likely providing even better aeration too. It prints nicely without supports. Print Settings Printer: MP Select Mini Rafts: Yes Supports: No Resolution: .2mm Infill: 35% Notes: Used a raft mostly because the height is tall, and wanted good bed-adhesion. Works well, and isn't a very large raft, just a small disk, so not much waste. (Had good adhesion on painters tape + glue-stick, with bed at 30C.) Post-Printing A Little Sanding I found it was a very good fit from my machine as is, with just a small bit of sanding resulted in a snug, water proof (at low pressures) fit. You could print it at 1% larger probably, for quick-fit with some goopy glue, but may leak if used in a friction-fit. Sanded with some 220grit paper for about 30seconds. A word of warning about assembly. If you use a screw-together coupling like I did, remember to think about assembly order. Even though I proudly announced that I had thought ahead and remembered not to glue the pieces together before putting the coupling ring over the straight piece, I quickly forgot in the excitement of assembly and had to destroy my part and print another :(. (The fan head won't go through the coupling ring of course - duh). PVC glue works okay with the PLA-to-PVC joint, by the way. PVC-cement is poor on PLA in peel/tension mode, but in shear mode it's pretty good. Bonds to the PVC and texture-fills on the PLA, so it holds pretty well (as I found in destructively disassembling the parts. Since it's right at the exit of water, a simple friction fit will often work too - very low water pressure there.