Garden bed watering manifolds / hose junctions, hose inner diameter is 12 mm
Description
I made these for a friend that has gardening beds for vegetables. Today he is using a big manifold that is used for RV-drinking water. Not sure if it is for RV internal distribution or for more than one RV. But expensive and now he do not want to buy one more when expanding... So here is the most over-engineered T-coupler I could do. Update: Added a 10mm inlet. Not tested so I do not know if it is to thin-walled. The intended use is for water from a rain collector that is gravity feeding the system. Using one of the T-couplers as a tap for each bed. So the 9 mm interface is used as an inlet. then a smaller connects to the drip hose in the bed and a 9 mm or smaller is used as an outlet to the next bed... The last gets a plug in the outlet (so that the system can be expanded later if needed... This usage is then flow not pressure so and I do not know if this can handle normal tap water pressure. If you test please leave a comment. You might need a hose clamp to get a good seal but it is plastic so use care not to crush the interface. I have divided the part into body and interface so that I can have different interfaces where I need them. Also it makes for an easier print. The body is printed with the big flat surface down and the interfaces "standing up" so that the circles are all in the XY plane and therefor more precise. The tolerances are as snug as I could make them and it seem to be nice for me... The interfaces snaps into place and I have no play in any direction. Since I assume that you will not have that "out-of the box" I suggest you print the top and bottom and then ONE 9 mm interface stopping the print 1 mm into the lower barb. Then add an O-ring and test the fit. To loose scale up a little, to big scale down... Once you find you perfect fit then print the interfaces of choice. I use support for the screw holes and the hose barbs. But the only critical surface is where the interface mounts to the body. I have designed this for a O-ring with inner diameter of 11 mm and a outer of 16 mm. Thickness is 2.5 mm. Screws is M3 12 mm with a nyloc nut. To get the nut in I used a longer screw to draw it in in slowly making sure the sides align with the hole. Snug fit... The "top" flat surface of the body parts might need to be slightly sanded to help in sealing but just knock down the ridges from the top layer, try not to change the thickness... If sanded to much the holes will be less round and fit the interfaces worse... In final assembly I'll use some sort of silicone sealant on the flat top surface on the top and bottom to ensure good seal where I do not have an o-ring. DISCLAIMER: NOT INTENDED FOR INDOOR USE!! Make sure that a leakage is NOT going to cause you any major problems other than loss of water... MIGHT add some things after we tested the system out and or if there is comments here. I plan to paint this to protect from UV degradation of the plastic. Do no know how UV resistant PETG is but see no reason to take a chance on it...
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