3D Printing – Anything Distilling Related

[Salt Must Flow]

I enlarged this thing to 1.5" diameter and screwed them in place on rolling bases for my fermenters and my stripping boiler. They make it east to center them and stay centered especially when empty. I printed them in PETG.

[Steve Broady]

I wanted a way to ventilate and dry both an 8 gallon carboy and my still after use. Bought a cheap battery powered fan, and made this for it.

It fits on 1.5” tri clamp fittings..

.. and screws nice and tight onto the neck of the carboy, with vents to let air back out around the perimeter.

[Wildcats]

I like it. Should work well for you.Good jon man.

[Salt Must Flow]

Steve Broady, that is pretty cool and I'd bet it works well. Quite a while ago I printed one of these Carboy stands. You would think one of these should work pretty good, but they really don't. All they do is help carboys to drain, but they don't appear to make them dry any quicker.

[Steve Broady]

Carboy stands. You would think one of these should work pretty good, but they really don't. All they do is help carboys to drain, but they don't appear to make them dry any quicker.

I thought about something similar, but I realized that I needed some air flow to get it to dry faster. I already had the fan on hand, so I figured why not try it? Took a couple rounds to get the details worked out, but I’m happy with the result.

[Yummyrum]

Nice work Steve .

Just wondering what 3d design software you are all using ?
Fusion 360 looks good but its a steep learning curve for a couple of one offs ….. and bloody expensive.

I used Tinkercad as suggested by bluc . It’s quite functional for its simpleness . The design plate form is only 200mm but if you scale in slicer , you can effectively get bigger

[Wildcats]

Nice work man. I'd be hard pressed to use a 3f printer. Hell I can barely get a regular printer to work. Nice man.

[Steve Broady]

Nice work Steve .

Just wondering what 3d design software you are all using ?
Fusion 360 looks good but its a steep learning curve for a couple of one offs ….. and bloody expensive.

I used Tinkercad as suggested by bluc . It’s quite functional for its simpleness . The design plate form is only 200mm but if you scale in slicer , you can effectively get bigger

I’m sorry, I just saw this today. I’m using the free hobby version of Fusion 360. I’ve been playing with 3D drafting and printing for several years, so it’s not too bad a job to go from idea to finished part in a few hours, but you’re right about the learning curve. One piece of advice I’ll give to anyone interested is to try to get themselves into the mindset of the software developer. If you can figure out how they were thinking about a problem, the solution usually becomes a lot more obvious. And of course, there are a number of excellent tutorials on YouTube.

[Salt Must Flow]

A relative of mine who 3D prints loves using Fusion 360. I tried using it a few times and I was totally lost. I mostly use TinkerCad for making basic alterations to existing 3D files (.STL files) that I download from Thingiverse, STLfinder, Thangs.com, etc... I don't draw 3D models from scratch unless it's shapes that are extremely basic. Even though I haven't studied up on Fusion 360 in order to make better use of my 3D printer, I still think a printer is well worthwhile and simple to use. I've printed so many useful things that I can't even remember, so many that I think it's paid for itself. Once I got on the kick of printing the loudest whistles I could find files for. I used them in training our dogs and now they come when you whistle even if they're out of sight.

[Bushman]

I used Rhino for my 2 and 3d then would convert to either the printer or CAD/CAM software for milling.

[Steve Broady]

I’ve also used Sketchup for quite a bit of model railroad related items. To be honest, I think I pushed it way past what it was intended to do, and crashed the computer more than once in the process. Sketchup is easier to learn, but Fusion is a lot easier to work with in the end. Being parametric has saved me hours of work by letting me adjust one dimension without having to redraw the whole part.

Edit: Probably the most difficult and most helpful thing for me to learn about fusion was that the primary concern is constraints rather than dimensions. Lines, objects, features, etc. are constrained relative to each other and relative to the axis, more so than defined by the dimensions. Once I really understood that, things started to make a lot more sense. Hopefully that will help, anyone else reading this who is trying to figure out fusion.

My time is somewhat limited, so I can’t make any promises, but I’d be willing to try to help out with an occasional question or problem or project for a member here.

[MooseMan]

Asked my nephew to print me some snap on clips to replace the metal binder clips on my gin pot.

These are the first iteration.

[Steve Broady]

Asked my nephew to print me some snap on clips to replace the metal binder clips on my gin pot.

What material are those clips, MooseMan? I’d be concerned about them softening in the heat, especially if they’re PLA. Let us know how they work out, please.

[MooseMan]

I'm not sure what they are printed from but I told him PLA would not be any good and why, so hopefully they hold up.

I'm going to trial them on my next gin run so yes, I'll update you on it.

[Wildcats]

Asked my nephew to print me some snap on clips to replace the metal binder clips on my gin pot.

These are the first iteration.

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Nice work man. I like it. Think they should work well.

[Salt Must Flow]

I'm not sure what they are printed from but I told him PLA would not be any good and why, so hopefully they hold up.

I'm going to trial them on my next gin run so yes, I'll update you on it.

If it isn't PLA, it's probably PETG which should be good up to 195F or so.

[MooseMan]

Yeah it feels like PET so that's what I'm guessing he used, I'll find out if they are up to the temps, and if they are even a good fit, on Friday.

If they cope with the temp I'm going to ask him to print some fan mounts for me as well, so I can have a push/pull fan arrangement across the fins on my air cooling.

[Stump Lake]

I use my foreshots and early heads as cleaner around the shop. It's the best cleaner I've ever used. Even compared to store bought cleaners.

Another use for it is I give it to my son. He's into 3D printing. He wipes it over his 3D prints and it soothes out the surface and gives it a better appearance.

[GNBrews]

Fores and heads are great pesticide as well; kills flys and wasps after a short period.

[Steve Broady]

I needed an extra large funnel to make filling the carboy a bit easier and less messy. Of course it needed some kind of ventilation to let the air out, and some way to hold it stable. And then I realized that I already had the design 95% done, with the fan shroud above. So I modified that design and printed this beauty up.

It even fits on the boiler, as well.

[Deplorable]

Not 3D printed, but I've been cutting patterns to build stands for my BadMo barrels with my laser cutter.
I'm just using old fence board wood for these.

[Steve Broady]

I like that a lot, Deplorable!

[Salt Must Flow]

I downloaded this .stl file on Thingiverse for a 2" pipe clamp. I stretched it to fit 3" pipe using TinkerCad, but left the height at 1/2". After printing it with PETG filament, I tossed it into a pot of very hot water to soften it up a bit. I then snapped it over my 3" pipe. Heating it up relaxes the plastic, forms it exactly to the shape and fit you want. I cooled it with cold water. I screw this clamp to a wood truss in my garage and I snap my 3" reflux condenser into the clamp. I use the clamp to secure the top of the reflux condenser to ensure that the tall column cannot fall over if someone trips on a hose or something like that. I feel a LOT better knowing the column is secured.

I recently upgraded to a 4" VM so I needed to print some of these and resize them for 4" pipe. I stretched the model using TinkerCad and stretched the height to 3/4". I softened it up in hot water, cooled it and it worked out perfectly.

3" and 4" clamp:

4" clamp installed:

[Salt Must Flow]

Just for fun, I printed two more of these clips and screwed them to the truss. These will be used to secure my reflux condenser.

[Salt Must Flow]

I downloaded this 'Tubing Holder' .stl. It's sized for 1/4" OD tubing, but I need it for 3/8" OD tubing. In the slicer I scaled it to 150%. It fit just a bit too tight so I scaled it to 153% and now it works great.

I printed it in PETG and screwed it to a truss in my garage. I use this tubing clip/holder to secure my condenser's cooling lines while I assemble/disassemble the still. It's helpful because it holds all the cooling lines like a '3rd hand' and reduces my trips up & down the ladder. Also since it secures the water lines up high, they self-drain at ground level. Without this holder, the water lines would typically fall on the floor and water leaks out. After draining, to take the water lines down, I just give them a little pull.

[MooseMan]

Very handy, I'll get my nephew to print me a few of those!

[Salt Must Flow]

Very handy, I'll get my nephew to print me a few of those!

After sizing up 153% to hold 3/8" tubing, it does take some effort to press the tube until it snaps in. That can probably be made easier using a file. What's cool is that the tube slides in easily. Overall it holds the tubing very well. I've been lazy with my PETG filament and haven't dried it in a log time so my prints have been kinda stringy. I found that a 3/8" drill bit cleans the holes out well and very easily

[Salt Must Flow]

Quick update. That 'Tubing Holder' didn't work out well with PETG filament. I had a couple of them snap/break on me. I thought it was due to my filament needing dried, but drying it didn't solve it. I'm printing it again, but using TPU (flexible filament). That will fix the issue for sure.

[Salt Must Flow]

I downloaded this knob for a 3/8" bolt and printed it in PETG. I like this knob more than other options because it is approx 1.5" in diameter. Most all other knobs are nearly 2" diameter.

After printing, I glued the bolt head with epoxy. That's a Furniture Flange Coupling.

I drilled a hole in the underside of a truss and installed the Furniture Flange Coupling. This allows me to screw in the 3/8" bolt and and secure the column so it can't fall over for any reason.

Previously I showed using 3D printed pipe clamps to secure the column, but if/when I remove and cap the reflux condenser (in stripping configuration) the clamp cannot be used. This bolt will secure the column with or without the use of the pipe clamp and easily tolerate any heat.

[Yummyrum]

Clever