September 11, 2023
Description
The nozzle at the end of the windshield washer fluid pump broke on my Trabant. This is were the hose connects to the pump to send the fluid to the sprayers and spray the windshield. The pump still works just fine, but with no hose attached to it it was just pumping fluid back into the reservoir.
For those not familiar with these cars, the Trabant 601, there were a car made in the now defunct state of East Germany and were made with very few design changes from 1963 until 1990. When Germany was reunified, they car were seen as obsolete next to now available western cars which were technologically superior, cheaper and better built, and the cars quickly because unwanted and nearly worthless. Decades later and with some nostalgia the Trabant is remembered fondly as the car that put East Germans on the road, and are lovingly preserved by collectors and modified by enthusiasts.
Surprisingly almost every part for these cars is still available today, and while the parts themselves are not expensive the cost of shipping to the US from Germany can make it not cost effect to order just a single part. Also I would have to order a complete washer pump, they do no sell just this nozzle at the end. So 3D printing to the rescue.
I printed at 0.1mm layer height out of white ASA because it will be sitting in fluid and ASA is not hydroscopic, and was printed in the orientation it sits on the pump, with the smaller cylinder on the print bed and the larger cylinder above it with supports below it around the smaller circle. This resulted in not the cleanest print on the nozzle tip but was necessary to avoid deformation of the circular shape as it a snap to fit part on the end of the pump. You could try printing it in an orientation with the nozzle end pointing up but you may have fitment issues attaching it to the pump.
Print at 0.1mm layer height 85% infil
License:
Creative Commons — Attribution
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