The New Hotness

This plug for a portable air conditioner’s window vent may be un-buildable with my current state of 3D printer-fu. The top view shows the recess for a disk of insulating foam:

The side view shows the thread profile and the groove for the O-ring seal:

The bottom view shows the hemispheric finger grip recess:

Basically, that design requires extensive support material no matter how it’s laid out. I tried the obvious way without any support, but that huge flat surface popped off the glass:

The thread and groove overhangs in that orientation would require support and then extensive cleanout. Slic3r doesn’t do a good job of supporting internal layers, so the bottom of the recesses tend to flop into the hexagonal infill. I’m not sure building internal support all the way up the inside of the threads would be a Good Thing, though.

Rotating by 90 degrees and cutting it in half failed because the automagic support structure popped off the platform:

Admittedly, that was before I started using hairspray (on the platform!), but both orientations require far too much support. In fact, the rotated version might weigh half a kilo…

I’m also generating the thread elements incorrectly; the joints don’t meet smoothly at the junctions. I think tapering each element so the smaller end nests inside the larger end will work better. Perhaps using a scaled hexagonal element would be better / faster than the current extruded 2D shape?

I think the correct way to proceed will be a 3D print of the finger grip and flange section, oriented so the hemisphere points upward, with the threaded section made from a length of PVC pipe with lathe-turned threads and O-ring groove, butted against the flange around the grip section.

Problem: that’s an 8 mm pitch thread and my inch-size lathe doesn’t do metric:

• Need: 8 mm = 0.315 in → 3.175 TPI
• Closest: 3-1/4 TPI → 0.308 in = 7.82 mm
• Worse: 3 TPI → 0.333 in = 8.47 mm

The plug needs about three turns, which means the 3-1/4 TPI = 7.82 mm pitch thread would be off by 0.54 mm, roughly a third of the thread form’s crest. That might actually work, as the “thread” on the inside of the pipe this thing fits into is actually a thin ridge, rather than an actual thread shape, and the plug is supposed to jam against the flange anyway.

Maybe a four-axis setup in the Sherline, with the rotary table holding the PVC pipe (or whatever) aligned with the X axis? It would just barely fit under the spindle with the end mill in a collet.

The pipe rack doesn’t hold any suitable plastic pipe.

The OpenSCAD source code:

// Portable AC Vent Plug
// Ed Nisley KE4ZNU - June 2013

Layout = "Show";			// Show Build Grip Helix HelixUnit Ring Plug Stiffener
//-------
//- Extrusion parameters must match reality!
//  Print with +0 shells and 3 solid layers

ThreadThick = 0.25;
ThreadWidth = 0.40;

HoleWindage = 0.3;

Protrusion = 0.1;			// make holes end cleanly

function IntegerMultiple(Size,Unit) = Unit * ceil(Size / Unit);

//-------
// Plug Dimensions

PlugLength = 53.0;
PlugOD = 128.0;

FlangeThick = 5.0;
FlangeWidth = 4.0;
FlangeOD = 2*FlangeWidth + PlugOD;

HelixPitch = 8.0;
HelixOffset = 29.0 - HelixPitch/2;		// add half turn to ensure snug fit against flange
HelixLength = PlugLength - HelixOffset;
HelixDepth = 3.0;
HelixBase = 3.5;
HelixTip = 1.8;

ORingDia = 3.4;
ORingDepth = 0.75 * ORingDia;
ORingOffset = ORingDia/2;

GripOD = 90.0;
GripDepth = 20.0;
GripBar = 15.0;

AlignDia = 3.0;
AlignDepth = 5.0;

FoamOD = PlugOD - 4*HelixDepth;
FoamDepth = PlugLength - GripDepth;

NumSides = 12*4;
$fn = NumSides;

echo("Flange OD: ",FlangeOD);
echo("Overall length:",(FlangeThick + PlugLength));

module PolyCyl(Dia,Height,ForceSides=0) {			// based on nophead's polyholes

  Sides = (ForceSides != 0) ? ForceSides : (ceil(Dia) + 2);

  FixDia = Dia / cos(180/Sides);

  cylinder(r=(FixDia + HoleWindage)/2,h=Height,$fn=Sides);
}

module ShowPegGrid(Space = 10.0,Size = 1.0) {

  RangeX = floor(100 / Space);
  RangeY = floor(125 / Space);

	for (x=[-RangeX:RangeX])
	  for (y=[-RangeY:RangeY])
		translate([x*Space,y*Space,Size/2])
		  %cube(Size,center=true);

}

//-------
// Recessed finger grip
// Includes Protrusion below Z=0 for clean removal from plug

module GripShape(Length,Width,Depth) {

Radius = (pow(Depth,2) + pow(Length,2)/4) / (2*Depth);

	difference(convexity=2) {
		intersection() {
			translate([0,0,(-Radius + Depth)])
				sphere(r=Radius);
			translate([0,0,(Depth/2 - Protrusion)])
				cube([2*Radius,2*Radius,(Depth + Protrusion)],center=true);
		}
		translate([0,0,Depth/2])
			cube([2*Radius,Width,(Depth + Protrusion)],center=true);
	}
}

//-------
// One section of the screw thread helix

module HelixUnit() {

UnitAdjust = 1.25;

	linear_extrude(height=UnitAdjust*PI*PlugOD/NumSides,center=true)
		polygon(points=[
				[0,0],
				[-HelixDepth,(HelixBase - HelixTip)/2],
				[-HelixDepth,HelixBase - (HelixBase - HelixTip)/2],
				[0,HelixBase],
				[Protrusion,HelixBase],
				[Protrusion,0],
				[0,0]
		]);
}

//-------
// Helix Element Shape

module HelixShape() {

    Turns = HelixLength/HelixPitch;
    Slices = Turns*NumSides;
    RotIncr = 1/NumSides;
    PitchRad = PlugOD/2;
    ZIncr = HelixLength/Slices;
    helixangle = atan(HelixPitch/(3.14159265358979*PlugOD));

    for (i = [0:Slices-1]) {
		translate([PitchRad*cos(360*i/NumSides),PitchRad*sin(360*i/NumSides),i*ZIncr])
			rotate([90+helixangle,0,360*i/NumSides])
				HelixUnit();
	}

}

//-------
// O Ring Shape

module ORingShape(MajorDia,MinorDia,Recess) {
	rotate_extrude()
		translate([MajorDia/2,0,0])
			polygon(points=[[0,0],
							[-Recess,0.25*MinorDia],
							[-Recess,0.75*MinorDia],
							[0,MinorDia],
							[Protrusion,MinorDia],
							[Protrusion,0],
							[0,0]]);
}

//-------
// Overall plug shape

module PlugShape() {

	difference(convexity=5) {
		union() {
			cylinder(r=FlangeOD/2,h=FlangeThick);
			cylinder(r=PlugOD/2,h=(PlugLength + FlangeThick));
		}
		translate([0,0,(PlugLength + FlangeThick - FoamDepth)])
			cylinder(r=FoamOD/2,h=(FoamDepth + Protrusion));
		translate([0,0,(ORingOffset + FlangeThick - ORingDia/2)])
			ORingShape(PlugOD,ORingDia,ORingDepth);
		GripShape(GripOD,GripBar,GripDepth);
/*		for (x=[-1,1])
			translate([(x*PlugOD/4),AlignDepth,(FlangeThick + PlugLength/2)])
				rotate([90,0,0])
					PolyCyl(AlignDia,2*AlignDepth,6);
*/
	}
}

//-------
// Plug assembly

module PlugAssembly() {

	difference(convexity=5) {
		render(convexity=5) PlugShape();
		translate([0,0,(FlangeThick + HelixOffset)])
			HelixShape();
	}
}

//-------
// Build it!

ShowPegGrid();

if (Layout == "Plug") {
	PlugShape();
}

if (Layout == "Show") {
	PlugAssembly();
}

if (Layout == "Build") {
	difference() {
		intersection(convexity=10) {
			translate([0,0,FlangeOD/2])
				cube([2*FlangeOD,3*PlugLength,FlangeOD],center=true);
			union() {
				translate([0,10,0])
					rotate([90,0,180])
						PlugAssembly();
				translate([0,-10,0])
					rotate([-90,0,180])
						PlugAssembly();
			}
		}
	}
}

if (Layout == "Grip")
	GripShape(GripOD,GripBar,GripDepth);

if (Layout == "Ring")
	ORingShape(PlugOD,ORingDia,ORingDepth);

if (Layout == "HelixUnit")
	HelixUnit();

if (Layout == "Helix")
	HelixShape();