Update 22.06.2020
This spring, I discovered that most, if not all, of the water was diverted into the downspout although my barrel was empty. Because the sieve was clogged. After cleaning the sieve, everything worked agian - only to stop working again a couple of months later. I didn't disassemble the setup agein (after all, that's 4 screws to remove!), but instead redesigned the collector with an inspection/cleaning cover.
After printing, the cover and the body need a little rework with file and knife to fit. I glued in a couple of magnets (5x2 mm) to keep the lid closed, although a rubber band should work as well.
The new files are called collector_III_body and collector_III_cap - yes, there was a collector_II, but it didn't make it.
Welcome to my greenhouse rainwater collection system, which I made to top up the water barrel I use as reservoir for a simple automatic drip irrigation system.
There are lots of rainwater collectors on Thingiverse - unfortunately, all of them are for grown-up tubes, and none for the toy tube (32 and a bit mm outer dia, a tad over 28 mm inner dia). So I had to do my own. Many thanks to all the other rainwater collectors here which showed me what should work.
These parts are for a belgian made "Euro-Serre" greenhouse, which is sold under various names in Europe (and supposedly other continents). They may or, more likely, may not fit to other greenhouses with different dimensions to the extruded parts.
Ok, the parts:
- endcap: this is the simplest part, to shut off the gutter at the rear of the greenhouse. Didn't make a picture, as the plants around the greenhouse have been growing very well :-)
- front_right: right side front, connects the built-in gutter wirh an aluminium U-profile 25x25x2 mm that connects the right and left gutters
- front_left: connects the U-profile, left gutter and downspout (btw - I hope I got all those terms rÃght, I'm not a native speaker). Includes a socket for the PV panel for the drip irrigation system. If you want to fix that socket on the connector, you'll need to drill & countersink a couple of holes and put in a couple of self-tapping stainless screws 3.2x19 mm or so
- distance_plate: simple but effective: supports the middle of the U-profile so that it doesn't sag. Like all other connections, glued in place with a silicone glue.
- tube_holder: clamps the downspout in place. Requires another two of these 3.2x19 stainless self tapping screws, and a couple of holes in the greenhouse profile (more if you mess it up and need to reposition the clamp...)
- collector: well, the actual rainwater collector. Self-cleaning filter, and it should be frost safe. Connection for a 3/4" (19 mm inner dia) garden hose. Print it standing up with supports on baseplate only (for the outlet tube), i.e. rotated by 180° from the default orientation shown here for the .stl file. The thin membrane on the bottom/down tube should suppress placing of supports there, the inner structure is designed to work without supports as long as your printer can work with a 45° angle and ~15 mm bridges. I hope I don't need to mention that you should remove that membrane before installation.
- DragonFish: the piéce de résistance. A remix of maxxkao's Dragon Fish, https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:523558 . Of course, a simple 90° bend or even nothing would work as well, but where would be the fun in that? Requires quite a bit of support, no matter which way you turn it, and that stuff is a pain to get out of the inside of the tube.
- disc (2x), nut (2x), thread_bottom and thread_top: the parts for the feedthroughs (both barrel and greenhouse wall) for the sensor cable and water tube for the drip irrigation system
Print settings: pretty much straightforward. Most parts will require some support, no matter which way you turn them, and I'd recommend a healthy wall thickness. Like I said above, print the collector standing upright, and remove the support blocker membrane on the bottom afterwards. Since this is an outdoors thing, I'd suggest you use soem resistant material like PETG. I printed this in PETG "burnt copper" from Das Filament.
Ashnak
