3D Printed Vacuum Hose Adapter

[MrCrankyface]

Great project!
Prioritize thicker walls rather than high infill, when it comes to strength that will give the biggest effect.
Granted if you want the strongest parts you want really thick walls and then maybe ~80% infill.
Too high infill(95-100) can cause printing issues if the printer isn't perfectly calibrated and it doesn't add any significant strength compared to 80-90%.

Next step is analyzing how the part breaks, is it layer separation or pure fracture across layers.
In the first case you can print hotter to really fuse the layers, second case is more of a material limitation if you already have a high wall count and infill.

PLA will always be limited when it comes to shock loads due to it being strong but brittle.
Modified PLA or PETG printed at correct temps(too high temp makes it brittle) will be the way to go for something that might get hit or dropped.

Just wanted to share my experiences if it helps anyone.

 

[Jubil]

My printer is just finishing up a 22 hour print for a nozzle adapter for my leaf blower. I made a tapered section to neck the nozzle from 3 inches down to 2 inch so that I can increase the air velocity at the nozzle. I will find out soon if it works or not.
The blower has more than enough air volume, so I can sacrifice some of the volume to get more speed.

If this don't work then it back to shopping for a new one that has better velocity, they make them BUT $$$$$

Just In case you didn’t know already, when you reduce discharge size it will likely increase engine speed, possibly enough to damage said engine.

Chuck

 

[Lo-Fi]

FYI.. Baking PLA prints increases the strength substantially:

Half-Baked Idea: Put Your PLA In The Oven

[Thomas] wanted to try baking some carbon fiber 3D printing filament because the vendor had promised higher strength and rigidity after the parts were annealed in the oven. Being of a scientific mi…

hackaday.com

The carbon fiber filament is pretty cool too.

 

[jwmelvin]

I've done a couple similar projects. My vacuum nearly always has the narrow nozzle on it, to get in T-slots on the mills and to stop small items from being inadvertently sucked up:

It's here if you want to try it; 2.25" hose end and 13mm nozzle width (happy to share the Fusion 360 file if anyone would like to modify it). I also made a straight coupling for the shop vac.

For my blower, I made a nozzle as part of an insecticide-spray adaptation:

I also tried a different nozzle, where the intent was to generate counterrotating vortices to reduce spread, but it was not effective. It was large so had to be printed in a couple parts and glued together:

-jason

 

[Pierre52]

If your printer can handle flexible filaments (direct drive rather than Bowden), give TPU a try. I have recently had to adapt a bunch of different tools to a new Festool hose on my shop vac. TPU has enough flex to give a really good push fit that won't come loose under normal working conditions. You can also design a fitting in Fusion 360 with a left hand thread to match the various shop vac hoses.

 

[Flyinfool]

good luck!

i was able to print a nozzle for a 4" Dewalt leaf blower, to reduce to a 3" opening
it worked well, but was fragile
i used low pla%(15% infil) , which didn't help much in the durability
i'm considering a reprint with higher infill of 25% and thicker walls

I used 1.5mm wall thickness with 30% infill at 190°C temp. The design has 1/8 thick walls. So far it is a perfect press fit onto the end of the OEM nozzle. It does have some strength as I dropped it on the concrete floor a few times while cleaning it up and removing the support structures.

Just In case you didn’t know already, when you reduce discharge size it will likely increase engine speed, possibly enough to damage said engine.

Chuck

This is an battery electric blower that has a brushless dc motor and it seems to have a governor to control RPM. Putting the nozzle to the ground to completely block flow it does not speed up much if any.

 

[Winegrower]

I hate this thread. This is the kind of stuff that could make me want a 3D printer, and I know I don’t want to spend time on that. I would have to upgrade Solidworks, fool all around with new computers, probably have Windows 11…oh my. Please delete?

 

[KyleG]

I hate this thread. This is the kind of stuff that could make me want a 3D printer, and I know I don’t want to spend time on that. I would have to upgrade Solidworks, fool all around with new computers, probably have Windows 11…oh my. Please delete?

Yes, you do want one. You don’t even know everything you’ll use it for until you have one. I’m not sure if the time sink concern was genuine or facetious, but there is merit to it. If 3d printing is the means, not the end goal for you, get a Prusa. The software is good and the hardware is reliable.

 

[Winegrower]

If 3d printing is the means, not the end goal for you, get a Prusa.

NOOO! I won’t even look!

What model?

 

[WobblyHand]

NOOO! I won’t even look!

What model?

I was just on that site, rubbernecking. Wish I had an actual use for one. They are intriguing. So far I have resisted.