Espresso machine steam wand nut

thingiverse

This is a threaded nut designed specifically to secure the steam wand onto the shaft of a Via Venezia Espresso coffee machine. I must admit that I get frustrated when the nut splits apart, but now that I've created this design and tested it successfully, I can simply print another one if it fails. Print Settings Printer: 3DStuffmaker Prusa Explorer Rafts: No rafts are needed for this model. Supports: No supports are necessary to ensure proper printing. Resolution: The resolution is set at .4 millimeters for optimal detail. Infill: The infill percentage is set at 10% for a balance between weight and print time. Notes: I used orange PLA as the material for printing, so scale the X and Y axes by a few percent if you find it too tight to fit. Post-Printing This threaded nut was printed in orange PLA using Simplify3D to slice and print the design. It took approximately 9 minutes to complete each print job. How I Designed This I measured the diameter of the steam wand shaft, the top hole diameter, and the thread diameter before counting the threads along its length. Then, I made an educated guess based on my measurements. It turned out that this nut has a 12.44 mm shaft with 1mm threads running at approximately 5 threads per 6mm - roughly a 1.25H thread pitch. After four attempts and two redesigns, I finally succeeded in creating the perfect fit. The nut is likely around 12.6 mm in diameter and fits snugly onto the wand. I designed this threaded nut using 123D Design after watching Calvin Echols' "Create a Nut And Bolt in 123D Design for 3D Printing Tutorial" on YouTube.