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3DPrinting
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I'm very interested in seeing more details and what you learned and came up with. The bushings and seals are of particular interest to me.
Hey, thanks for your interest! I edited the post to add an 'exploded' view of the parts. This is prototype #2 and still has some significant issues that I'm working on (and would love community input on!)
My strategy for a watertight print is as follows:
This has actually worked extremely well. The pump has leaks but none of them are from the 3d prints or mating surfaces. What I'm struggling with is preventing water from going out the shaft tunnel. This is a major issue because I'm currently using a chrome-steel bearing at the top for shaft concentricity, which will rust out almost instantly. I made the challenge harder for myself by using a hexagonal drive shaft so I can't rely on tight tolerances there to keep out the water. I need to sort out a strategy for packing / sealing and/or switch drive shafts + use some kind of off-the-shelf option.
I've also been looking into an alternate bearing solution e.g. ceramic. If I can find a good sealed bearing that won't rust I might be able to just use a tight TPU seal between hex shaft and bearing ID to give it a watertight seal.
The original design had several chrome steel bearings in it (newbie mistake) which I had to replace at the last minute with the nylon bushings. I'm working on a better solution.
edit: see video I just added in the post as well
Are you printing gaskets in tpu or just laying filament and compressing that?
I usually go to a trick I picked up someplace off the Internet using silicone caulk squeezed into an appropriate diameter of fish tank airline tubing. (Or for much larger seals, flexible pc liquid cooling tubes.)
The trick is using an air compressor to blow it out of the tubing. (You can also make hollow seals by blowing the tube before the silicone is set.) then, just glue the ends with a dab of leftover caulk.