February 5, 2023
Description
UPDATE: 5 Feb 2023 - added optional TPU gaskets and better photos.
I wanted to feed my printer straight from my dry box, but couldn't find a PTFE tube connector design I liked that had an airtight cap, so I made this. The cap seems to be pretty air tight based on my preliminary testing, put a temp/humidity sensor on the underside of the lid of my dry box, dried it to 10% with silica, removed the silica and it held at a steady 10% for several days with 4 of these installed and capped. The port for the PTFE tube is slightly tapered to accommodate small variations in OD from different manufacturers. It's designed for the standard 2mm ID x 4mm OD tubing used for 1.75mm filament.
Either print a pair of the gaskets out of TPU, or use a pair of #10 o-rings to seal the connection. If using TPU gaskets, either use something softer than the standard 95 shore hardness, or really tighten them down to make sure you have a good seal.
Recommended to print in PETG, I used a 0.4mm nozzle and 0.16mm layer height, but have tested with 0.2mm layer height and with PLA and PLA+ without any major issues. No support is required. I recommend using an infill pattern that doesn't run into itself for the bolt (e.g. gyroid). My printer is calibrated to be pretty dimensionally accurate and I designed it to be a relatively tight fit on the threads, so the fit may be too tight if you have any over-extrusion.
License:
Creative Commons — Attribution
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