(Re)creating a plastic a/c part from scratch?
August 17, 2020 11:56 AM Subscribe
I'm trying to duplicate a plastic part for my air conditioner that isn't made any more and apparently not available throughout the known universe. Help!
My portable a/c unit (Danby DPAC120068) has two of these plastic collars that connect the exhaust hoses to the unit. One has disappeared. I can't find a replacement part, so it looks like I'll have to have one made or make it myself.
I have no experience with the first option. Is this something that could be 3-D printed for a reasonable price, like under $50?
Or could I make one myself, maybe with some kind of epoxy resin? I'm reasonably handy, and by this point, quite personally invested.
My portable a/c unit (Danby DPAC120068) has two of these plastic collars that connect the exhaust hoses to the unit. One has disappeared. I can't find a replacement part, so it looks like I'll have to have one made or make it myself.
I have no experience with the first option. Is this something that could be 3-D printed for a reasonable price, like under $50?
Or could I make one myself, maybe with some kind of epoxy resin? I'm reasonably handy, and by this point, quite personally invested.
If you have a local techshop/makerspace, you might visit and ask the folks there for help. That part has a lot of features that would need to be modeled before you could even think of 3d-printing it, and that takes time and expertise. Is this part as simple as possible, or could it be replaced by simply two cylinders of those two major sizes, and maybe duct tape? Like could you cut up a coffee can with tin snips and make it? Or is there a plumbing/sewage attachment at your local hardware store that's close enough? Size adapting things like that are common parts.
posted by fritley at 12:06 PM on August 17, 2020
posted by fritley at 12:06 PM on August 17, 2020
Best answer: If you want quick and cheap, I would go to someplace like Home Depot and find the closest thing in PVC fittings or duct fittings. Then finish off the attachment with foil duct tape. It ain't rocket science.
What are the exact outside diameters of the two fittings and which attaches to the hose?
posted by JackFlash at 12:16 PM on August 17, 2020 [5 favorites]
What are the exact outside diameters of the two fittings and which attaches to the hose?
posted by JackFlash at 12:16 PM on August 17, 2020 [5 favorites]
If you want to go the 3D printing route, and you can't find an existing model, creating one from scratch is totally a viable option. Fusion 360 is great for this kind of thing: it's free, quite powerful and reasonably easy to learn, which has resulted in it becoming quite popular among 3D printing enthusiasts. If you go for this approach, I recommend spending $20 or so on some cheap digital calipers to take accurate measurements.
As aramaic said, commercial 3D printing services are likely to charge you an arm and a leg. Most of what you're paying for is the time spent using the printer, and a part this large will take hours. But if you can get access to a printer through something like a makerspace or library, the actual cost of the materials will only be a few dollars at most.
Finally, if this part is going to be exposed to hot air and/or direct sunlight, make sure you use appropriate materials. PLA filament is a common default choice for 3D printing, but it starts to soften and lose its strength around 140°F; ABS or PETG would be a better.
posted by teraflop at 12:59 PM on August 17, 2020
As aramaic said, commercial 3D printing services are likely to charge you an arm and a leg. Most of what you're paying for is the time spent using the printer, and a part this large will take hours. But if you can get access to a printer through something like a makerspace or library, the actual cost of the materials will only be a few dollars at most.
Finally, if this part is going to be exposed to hot air and/or direct sunlight, make sure you use appropriate materials. PLA filament is a common default choice for 3D printing, but it starts to soften and lose its strength around 140°F; ABS or PETG would be a better.
posted by teraflop at 12:59 PM on August 17, 2020
And if it is that size (someone in the comments says a 6" hose), it's totally within the print volume of common home 3d printers, so it doesn't require esoteric large volume printing. Rough back of the envelope material cost on that is probably on the order of $2 or $3?
If you go to shapeways, it's $57-ish to print in their versatile plastic, although I have no idea what the thermal limits are there.
You can also get it printed in steel for slightly more than the air conditioner is probably worth.
posted by Kyol at 2:22 PM on August 17, 2020
If you go to shapeways, it's $57-ish to print in their versatile plastic, although I have no idea what the thermal limits are there.
You can also get it printed in steel for slightly more than the air conditioner is probably worth.
posted by Kyol at 2:22 PM on August 17, 2020
Response by poster: Larger end (where the hose screws in) is 14cm outside, 13.6 cm inside. Small end (attaches to a/c unit) is 12.1 cm outside, 11.9 cm inside. Tricky part about the small end attachment is that it connects to a flush surface, so you need a collar with some kind of screw-in ridge (?) to hold it in place. Better view here.
I've been jury-rigging with duct tape so far, need to try some of that heat resistant tape.
posted by gottabefunky at 3:04 PM on August 17, 2020
I've been jury-rigging with duct tape so far, need to try some of that heat resistant tape.
posted by gottabefunky at 3:04 PM on August 17, 2020
I have sometimes just wrapped such a join in handfuls of soft- stage Shapelok. Sometimes I can even unscrew it afterward, but Shapelok being workable means I can also just cut it off and reuse the Shapelok. Soft at 140F, 150F? Hm, that might not be high enough for a hot summer. Do you know how hot the part gets?
posted by clew at 3:05 PM on August 17, 2020
posted by clew at 3:05 PM on August 17, 2020
That looks alot like a similar part for my Whynter AC. Maybe they are compatible, or there is something else that could be adapted.
posted by TDIpod at 5:55 PM on August 17, 2020
posted by TDIpod at 5:55 PM on August 17, 2020
12.1 cm is very close to 4 3/4 in.
This coupler for 4 1/2 in OD PVC pipe, probably has an outside diameter of close to 4 3/4 in (God only knows why they don't specify that or the length).
If you were to buy one of these, hopefully not from these ignorant people who are asking a weirdly high price, it would likely be very close to a friction fit for the exhaust port of your machine as is, and you could pretty easily either build up one end of it with a couple of wrappings of aluminum tape, or sand it down so that it was a friction fit.
Now since your hose screws inside a 13.6 cm ID fitting, the inner diameter of the hose must be quite a bit less than that, very possibly near enough to 4 3/4 in. for the other end of the coupler to fit into the hose quite snugly after not much foam wrapping, and then secured to the hose with a couple of cable ties. Then you could plug the hose plus coupler into the opening of your air conditioner and be ready to go.
You could even preserve the screw-in functionality of the original fitting by screwing several very short, small Phillips rounded head self-tapping screws into the coupler on a line angled like the ridge on the original coupling and of a similar length, and positioned so that when you screwed it in, it brought the end of the hose on the coupler up flush against the cabinet.
posted by jamjam at 6:55 PM on August 17, 2020
This coupler for 4 1/2 in OD PVC pipe, probably has an outside diameter of close to 4 3/4 in (God only knows why they don't specify that or the length).
If you were to buy one of these, hopefully not from these ignorant people who are asking a weirdly high price, it would likely be very close to a friction fit for the exhaust port of your machine as is, and you could pretty easily either build up one end of it with a couple of wrappings of aluminum tape, or sand it down so that it was a friction fit.
Now since your hose screws inside a 13.6 cm ID fitting, the inner diameter of the hose must be quite a bit less than that, very possibly near enough to 4 3/4 in. for the other end of the coupler to fit into the hose quite snugly after not much foam wrapping, and then secured to the hose with a couple of cable ties. Then you could plug the hose plus coupler into the opening of your air conditioner and be ready to go.
You could even preserve the screw-in functionality of the original fitting by screwing several very short, small Phillips rounded head self-tapping screws into the coupler on a line angled like the ridge on the original coupling and of a similar length, and positioned so that when you screwed it in, it brought the end of the hose on the coupler up flush against the cabinet.
posted by jamjam at 6:55 PM on August 17, 2020
Response by poster: I took JackFlash's advice and cobbled together a connector from a metal duct fitting, carefully trimmed, and foil duct tape. (Which, yea, lot different from the plastic stuff.) Thanks!
posted by gottabefunky at 12:08 PM on August 19, 2020
posted by gottabefunky at 12:08 PM on August 19, 2020
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...if it is, then the cheapest way to get one is to find a local hobbyist (maybe on Nextdoor or Facebook?) to run you off a copy. Using a 3D print-on-demand service will cost quite a bit more.
posted by aramaic at 12:02 PM on August 17, 2020 [2 favorites]