Air Flow Indicator

thingiverse

Air Flow Indicator using a thin wall cylinder with a 1.5° taper outwards towards the top. During printing, simply drop a 6mm airsoft bb down the middle through the cylinder. The holes are perfectly sized for 6mm OD PVC tubing, being undersized by just 0.2mm. To make insertion easier, apply some oil when seating the hose in the openings. With calibration possible, it can even be used to measure airflow accurately. It requires only printing with a transparent or translucent filament, and PLA works well in terms of clarity. For less transparent materials, consider printing the round version, which has only one wall making the bb easier to see clearly. For any given airflow within the measurable range, assuming consistency, the readouts on my test print were surprisingly consistent. The conical section is 60mm long, allowing for a fairly precise readout of air flow output. I used a 0.23 gram 6mm bb to measure the air output of a former A/C compressor with great success.