Design idea for pipe swiveling joint

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1

Hello everyone,

I’m trying to upgrade some of my shop-vac to festool adapter and include a swiveling joint.

The first design idea that came to my mind was an o-ring / Internal flange, but this would work great when the connecting elements are perpendicular.

So I iterated over this idea and came up with this…

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I tried with a 0.2, 0.25, 0.3mm tolerance, and different print orientations.
But no success yet…

So I’d like to get your advise on some design ideas or existing designs that could work?
I’ve made print in place parts before but only made some conical hinges where printing would always be supported, so it was fairly easy… but here i’m as stuck as the print…

Thanks for the help :wink:

2

Perhaps if the T slots were made into L slots to eliminate half of the overhang (a L can fully constrain the joint) and instead of making the T-slot and the ‘tongue’ go all the way around just have it in two places 180 degrees apart (diametral length TBD) you could get it to print if it were laying on its side? Perhaps even adding a feature where the male T (or L) section tapers into the main body at each end…

3

Thanks a lot for your help !

I made it a lot simpler, with 3 L tabs, increasing the tolerance to 0.4mm, and adding some support on the inner overhang ring.
(printed standing up on the straight opening)

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Proof of concept was successful after some cleaning with and exacto knife.
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“Final” piece being printed right now…

Will post link to makerworld model if successful.

Thanks again for your precious help!

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4

If you want a little more advice…

I would suggest you convert the flat mating surfaces to 45 degree angles. They will be stronger than Ts or Ls and will print easier/cleaner.

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5

I fully agree!

Here is an example where I did exactly as Lexi proposed:

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The only contact area that you have to break loose is on the left side of the joint at the outer diameter.

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6

Thanks Alex and Lexi.

Didn’t replied yet cause I wanted to do a test with the idea, but couldn’t yet :sweat_smile:

I will try to print something tomorrow night to compare.

I posted my design if you want to try it :wink:

7

Thanks for your ideas!!

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I just moved the body with a 0.4mm gap to an extra 0.2mm to the left to give an extra layer to cool down. (That’s why the gap is not uniform)
The test piece just finished. Way more clean and smooth slide!

Will test the complete piece now.

Thanks for your precious help!

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8

New piece done and smoother than original.
New design published.

The mechanism broke off by just a slight twist.

Big improvement from first model :wink:

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