3d printers for making stuff for the RV

For all of you that have not been following This Thread on DIY Sub Forum, I thought I might come on over to the Tech Issues sub Forum and share on this thread for those who haven't.

LittleBill has been working on this for a while and I have completed the Beta test of the 3d printed water fill adapter.

Now for the disclaimer and to hopefully stay within the Forum Rules.
I have no financial stake in this and no one has twisted my arm to make any remarks that are not my mine.

These are the adapters.

They seemed well made and robust.

This is my fill spout

This is installed,I had to wiggle a bit to get it seated,just line up tabs,turn about 1/4 turn clockwise and it seated tight on the fill spout,no wiggle at all.

The hose threads fit the hose end perfect

But as I have done on my city water inlet I put a 90 degree fitting on to decrease the strain on the inlet. With a quick dis connect that I use on all my hoses,filter and regulator.


And this is installed


When filled the water comes out the holes,not a big spray and much nicer than the hose thing I used before.


This is so much better than the other types of devices that I have used to fill my gravity fill fresh water tank,it filled faster with less mess,just unhook and stow it away,one of the best purchases that I have made for my RV.

Thanks LittleBill for all your hard work!

Thanks IAMICHABOD,

Appreciate the kind words.

Never thought I would be in a place where I could design and print something out of thin air.

3d printing really has opened a new world for me.

LittleBill,Your welcome.
I finally had a chance to try it on a neighbors RV with a fill spout like mine and it fit just fine.

IAMICHABOD wrote:
LittleBill,Your welcome.
I finally had a chance to try it on a neighbors RV with a fill spout like mine and it fit just fine.

Nice!

Bill,

They arrived today...no discernible difference on fit. I tried on an older 5th wheel and a newer class C motorhome. They both worked flawlessly on both water fill fittings. Both screwed onto a brass hose fitting perfectly.
Thanks, they are going to work well!!!

Housted

I recently did some "research" on 3-d Printers

There are two types
The filiment type use a coil of plastic "Rod" that they melt and deposit. the problems are 1: the finish is kind of rough (though they are improving that) and the plastic has a fairly low melting point.. set a 3-d Printed part on a dash it might look like an S. Dali painting when you get back to it (melted)

Resin printers are better with high temp enviorments but the resin is hazmat. and you need to print (Very fine finish) then wash, dispose of the wash materials and waste as haz-mat. work under a vent hood (lab hood) and so on... Not something for the average home. (If I built a house I'd consider a resin printer station because they are the better printer but alas... not happening.)

Housted wrote:
Bill,

They arrived today...no discernible difference on fit. I tried on an older 5th wheel and a newer class C motorhome. They both worked flawlessly on both water fill fittings. Both screwed onto a brass hose fitting perfectly.
Thanks, they are going to work well!!!

Housted

Thanks Housted! Glad they are working out well!

wa8yxm wrote:
I recently did some "research" on 3-d Printers

There are two types
The filiment type use a coil of plastic "Rod" that they melt and deposit. the problems are 1: the finish is kind of rough (though they are improving that) and the plastic has a fairly low melting point.. set a 3-d Printed part on a dash it might look like an S. Dali painting when you get back to it (melted)

Resin printers are better with high temp enviorments but the resin is hazmat. and you need to print (Very fine finish) then wash, dispose of the wash materials and waste as haz-mat. work under a vent hood (lab hood) and so on... Not something for the average home. (If I built a house I'd consider a resin printer station because they are the better printer but alas... not happening.)

FDM (rod) or SLA (resin) printers both have strength and weakness. It completely depends on what you need. There is no "better" overall printer, only specific tasks.

SLA is generally used for hi definition/quality prints, think figurines. They require more work to process as mentioned. The home size printers are also very small printers, they do not produce large prints unless you buy expensive versions. They are also less strong then FDM printers. They generally "print" faster then FDM, and it costs more in materials to print with them. As stated the rooms need to be vented with using this stuff, and gloves and masks are required as the stuff is toxic.


FDM printers are much larger by default, generally don't require any post processing, and can make a variety of different prints, using different filament such as PLA TPU ABS PETG ASA and NYLON to name a few. ASA parts can withstand dashboard temperatures or even under the hood temperatures ( again you have to use the correct filament for the job you need). FDM does leave "layers" but can produce some very nice parts, tolerances can be tight as well I am consistently under .02mm in accuracy. Print times are generally slow, and can take hours to days to print a single item.

Hope that helps anyone considering one

wa8yxm wrote:
I recently did some "research" on 3-d Printers



Resin printers are better with high temp enviorments but the resin is hazmat. and you need to print (Very fine finish) then wash, dispose of the wash materials and waste as haz-mat. work under a vent hood (lab hood) and so on... Not something for the average home. (If I built a house I'd consider a resin printer station because they are the better printer but alas... not happening.)

they do print better but you have to watch out. strengh wise the filiment printers win hands down depending on the type of filiment you use, but yes the resin printers are very cool for print quality out of the box.

StirCrazy wrote:

wa8yxm wrote:
I recently did some "research" on 3-d Printers



Resin printers are better with high temp enviorments but the resin is hazmat. and you need to print (Very fine finish) then wash, dispose of the wash materials and waste as haz-mat. work under a vent hood (lab hood) and so on... Not something for the average home. (If I built a house I'd consider a resin printer station because they are the better printer but alas... not happening.)

they do print better but you have to watch out. strengh wise the filiment printers win hands down depending on the type of filiment you use, but yes the resin printers are very cool for print quality out of the box.

The artcles I read did not talk about strength but they did the other downsides I mentioned.. I think I'm getting a Filament type.

One other thing.. Filament types. the print nozzles can clog
Resin types.. DO NOT HAVE a print nozzle. Still See my last paragraph.