This is my entry for the Tinkercad summer fun challenge. It’s a sprinkler system made up of 3 animals: a rhino, a frog, and an elephant that are all 3D printed. The completed prints can be attached to a garden hose or a disposable water bottle. I also designed a gasket that helps create a watertight seal. You could also modify the threads in Tinkercad to screw onto threaded PVC pipe.

All of these are designed to be printed on a Monoprice Select Mini V2 (maximum print size 120mm x 120mm x 120mm). I printed the elephant using “bubble gum pink” PETG from Makergeeks. The rhino and frog were printed with “vivid teal” Raptor Series food safe PLA, also from Makergeeks and had to be annealed in boiling water (you could use an oven). You could use any filament to print the animals, but a sturdy filament (such as PETG) is ideal. The gasket was printed with white flexible filament from Solutech. Please note that flexible filament often is difficult to print and you could also use a gasket from something else, though this one is custom designed for the print. The gasket has to be pushed down into the threads and onto the shelf inside. It’s a tight fit, so you’ll have to push hard. Once the gasket is in place, simply and carefully screw the animal on. The animals are designed so you move them around and take them on and off your hose or water bottle (or whatever else you screw them onto)

I have designed 2 possible setups using PVC pipe that are pictured. Together the pieces to make them both cost about $40 at the hardware store. To build both setups I designed you need to buy a long piece of ¾ inch PVC (I bought a 10 foot piece and used additional scraps lying around the house) depending on how long you want to make various parts, 6 ¾ PVC elbows, 6 ¾ PVC T connectors, 8 ¾ PVC male threaded adapters, 2 threaded ¾ inch PVC cap (for when you don’t want to use all the animals at once, and an adapter that connects to the threaded PVC and your hose (this could vary based on your hose style and size). If you design your own setup be sure to use ¾ threaded PVC for the animals to screw onto.  The design includes use of the ISO Metric Thread shape generator, which can be adjusted as needed to screw onto different items.

Feedback and suggestions are welcome. Have fun using the sprinkler!  

#Tinkerfun

This object was made in Tinkercad. https://www.tinkercad.com/things/ffGI8aCaDgq