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Dive gear

Posted: Sun Jul 13, 2014 7:55 pm
by Captain Starfish
I have a project underway (still working on the electronics) which needs a low pressure connection to a SCUBA cylinder and a special housing.

Decided to test the DIN thread model I had yesterday. Waste not, want not and so on, so I topped the thread off with a hollow and capped cylinder riddled with 1mm holes. Et voila, a cylinder dump silencer!

This thing screws into the tank and allows me to drain it - when I need to refill it with something else or service the valve - without the God-awful howl of 3500 PSI tearing out of the 2.5mm valve orifice as fast as it can. So far so good but I haven't been game to open it wide. That'll be today's mission: see if I can blow the thing up with full pressure. :)

Forgive the crappy photo, silly iPhone focussed on the background instead of the all important thing in front of it.

[img]http://www.simonlockwood.net/linky/3dp/dumpmuzzle.jpg[/img]

Went back to Slic3r for this one after using MatterSlice for the latest while, because I wanted the 0.07mm layer height for the thread and didn't want to wait a week for the rest of the part to print so fine. And Slic3r has that layer height override feature, so I used it. I'd forgotten how athletic Slic3r's g-code can be, jumping all over the place with a fairly average finish. Have asked MatterHackers to add the feature to their own wishlist because I'd like to have a go at making this slightly prettier.

Re: Dive gear

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 4:03 am
by McSlappy
Is Matterslice a decent slicer? I've not tried it but I'm curious.

Re: Dive gear

Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 4:47 am
by Captain Starfish
It's young, they admit that themselves. There's very limited bridge support and a fairly sparse range of settings to tweak. No hex or concentric fill styles which I miss. But apparently a lot of this stuff is coming.

On the upside? The printer loves the output: smooth, clean, the only slicer whose support structures I've been able to just pull off at the end of the print. Development and support are extremely active and new shiny comes out every couple months which is great. The slicer is fast and doesn't hang up like slic3r on a Mac, and its integration into their MatterControl host software is spot on as you'd expect.

To me, it was one of those new things I installed to play with, didn't like it, but saw a new version and haven't gone back until now and only for one specific feature.

Very, very slick IMO.

Re: Dive gear

Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 11:58 am
by teoman
Do Tell us more about your project.

Once I get my printer up and running I hope to start printing diving stuff as well. first on my list is a goodman handle for my ultra powerful cheap LED light.

pm if you are interested in make and model.

Re: Dive gear

Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 7:23 pm
by Captain Starfish
The project will have to wait until I've got a few more things ironed out, it could be one of the few commercialisable ones I'll have and I'd like to explore that (briefly) before throwing it out to the wild.

So far I've done this dump muzzle, brackets for my rebreather's scrubber canister, test caps for over/underpressure checks on my rebreather loop and a few assorted little odds and sods. My Goodman handle is a piece of 1" PVC pipe which has been heated, flattened and curved around a gloved hand. Yes, I should probably upgrade that but I'm also looking at a new head which will change all the dimensions.

Re: Dive gear

Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 9:31 pm
by Mac The Knife
Dump muzzle,,,, I'll bet your varmint hunting friend looked at it as another possible accessory for his rifle. For hearing protection.

Re: Dive gear

Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2014 11:43 pm
by Captain Starfish
Lol yep, he was making some noises about it which I shut down pretty fast.
1. Muzzle pressure as the projectile exits is probably a lot higher than what I'm subjecting my thing to.
2. Temperature and plastic. Hmmmm.
3. I don't want to go to jail.

Re: Dive gear

Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 5:32 am
by McSlappy
Interesting, perhaps I'll try Matterslice again... Actually am testing Craftware at the moment...

Yes a silencer is a great way to get unwanted attention.... :/

Re: Dive gear

Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 2:15 pm
by Demolishun
You can use a plastic soda bottle as a single use silencer. You can also use a car oil filter for a multiuse silencer.

Make sure you cover your tank silencer if you are going full bore. That will probably throw some good shrapnel if it blows. Also, you might be able to calculate the PSI versus the orifice size on your holes. I am not up on the math, but I know it can be done. Then if you know the tensile strength of your material you may be able to size the holes of the material thickness to give yourself some safety margin.

Re: Dive gear

Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 6:57 pm
by Captain Starfish
Yeah, I draped an old tea towel over the top of it just in case and will continue to do so. I probably could calculate the pressure but I'm going to stick with empirical results for this one: how many goes til it flies apart? :)

Re: Dive gear

Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 7:30 pm
by teoman
Haha. Now make one with a whistle end :)

Re: Dive gear

Posted: Wed Jul 16, 2014 9:51 pm
by barry99705
Heh, put one of these on the end!

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:59580

Would have to modify the housing so the air would come up through the impeller and out the sides. That'd wake the neighbors! :lol: