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Uncloggable Drippers and Sprayers for Gardens: 3D-Printed DIY Solution
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I have a problem where my drip lines and sprayers get clogged, and my plants dry out and die. We use pressured secondary irrigation water that is from a nearby dirty lake. The water is murky and filled with debris, and it plugs up the holes on traditional drip sprayers
We have filters on our neighborhood weir, however, this only blocks the large debris. The filter on our main pressurized line allows smaller debris to get in and clog up drippers. Water with high mineral content can also clog drippers and sprayers over time.
I realized that the problem with traditional drippers is that their spray holes are too small, and are easily clogged with debris.
To solve this problem I decided to design my own drip sprayer.
My solution was to create a small sprayer with a single large hole, and allow the resulting jet to hit an upper surface which would fan it out in all directions. I’ve been trying different designs over the last 3 years.
For my first design, I copied the barbed design of traditional drippers, which turned out to be a mistake. The inner orifice was too small, and would still get clogged, and for a 3D-printed part, the barb was too brittle and would easily break when inserting it into a drip tube.
On my second design I eliminated this problem by connecting it to the outside of the tube quarter inch tube. The difference between piping and tubing, is that tubing has a consistent outer diameter, whereas piping has a consistent inner diameter. Since the outer diameter is guaranteed to be the same, these drippers work for all quarter inch tubing.
The dripper press fits over the tubing, and since drip systems are lower pressure, I’ve never had a problem of them blowing off. An added benefit is that the central orifice diameter is maximized, making it hard to clog.
This design worked great, but after using it for a season, I realized I could optimize it by using less plastic. This is my final design.
I’ve also printed hose stakes to keep the sprayers up right.
Depending on the pressure, the sprayer can also be used as a dripper. In my vegetable garden the lines have low pressure, and so these act as drippers rather than sprayers.
In high pressure lines, I’ve created a flow adjuster that pinches the hose, to lower the pressure, and turn the sprayers into drippers.
I tried out various materials. PLA has too low of a melting point, and so many of my drip line stakes melted. ABS becomes brittle in the sun from UV exposure, and is difficult to print. I settled on PETG which has a high melting point and decent UV resistance.
LINKS TO 3D-PRINTABLE FILES AND FREE SAMPLES
We have filters on our neighborhood weir, however, this only blocks the large debris. The filter on our main pressurized line allows smaller debris to get in and clog up drippers. Water with high mineral content can also clog drippers and sprayers over time.
I realized that the problem with traditional drippers is that their spray holes are too small, and are easily clogged with debris.
To solve this problem I decided to design my own drip sprayer.
My solution was to create a small sprayer with a single large hole, and allow the resulting jet to hit an upper surface which would fan it out in all directions. I’ve been trying different designs over the last 3 years.
For my first design, I copied the barbed design of traditional drippers, which turned out to be a mistake. The inner orifice was too small, and would still get clogged, and for a 3D-printed part, the barb was too brittle and would easily break when inserting it into a drip tube.
On my second design I eliminated this problem by connecting it to the outside of the tube quarter inch tube. The difference between piping and tubing, is that tubing has a consistent outer diameter, whereas piping has a consistent inner diameter. Since the outer diameter is guaranteed to be the same, these drippers work for all quarter inch tubing.
The dripper press fits over the tubing, and since drip systems are lower pressure, I’ve never had a problem of them blowing off. An added benefit is that the central orifice diameter is maximized, making it hard to clog.
This design worked great, but after using it for a season, I realized I could optimize it by using less plastic. This is my final design.
I’ve also printed hose stakes to keep the sprayers up right.
Depending on the pressure, the sprayer can also be used as a dripper. In my vegetable garden the lines have low pressure, and so these act as drippers rather than sprayers.
In high pressure lines, I’ve created a flow adjuster that pinches the hose, to lower the pressure, and turn the sprayers into drippers.
I tried out various materials. PLA has too low of a melting point, and so many of my drip line stakes melted. ABS becomes brittle in the sun from UV exposure, and is difficult to print. I settled on PETG which has a high melting point and decent UV resistance.
LINKS TO 3D-PRINTABLE FILES AND FREE SAMPLES
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