irrigation 1/4 (8mm) tube end plug

thingiverse

I have used “goof” plugs to plug the end of a ¼ (or 8mm) inch black distribution tubing. While these work well when plugging holes in a ½ inch polyethylene tube, at the end of a ¼ inch tube they are hard to install and tend to pop out. What created is a barbed end, much like the standard barbed end used with drippers and other ¼ inch parts that are longer and easier to install. My irrigation system has 15 zones. A number of zones had ¼ inch tubes with drippers at the end, but no plants. I also needed a way to keep track of which zone the ¼ inch tubes were connected to. When drippers are unused drippers I can figure which zone the dripper was in by just turning on the water and watch to see if the dripper was dripping. So, my solution was a plug that had numbers, so I could print out a plug with the number embedded in the plastic and use this plug to replace drippers in zone one (and so on). I found that the tab provided a good grip when putting the plug into a ¼ inch tube. I included a blank plug as well. I discovered that to get a good seal on the plug the edge of the barb must be printed as one continuous ring so the plugs are printed vertically. I had tried horizontally, with and without support, but found that nothing I could do would get the sides smooth enough to plug water. This part does not require any post-processing (and when I tried printing the part horizontally, no amount of post-processing would make the plug watertight). If you print more than one at a time use the special Cura mode that completed one module at a time. It's critical that there are no surface defects that might be caused by retraction in the barb area. I strongly recommend printing in PETG (or other plastic that is UV resistant). PLA with breaks down quickly (in the sun) and ABS just does not have the interlayer adhesion. The parts come in two types. You do not need to print ALL the parts, only the ones you may need. All of the barbed parts have a 40mm plate that needs to be trimmed before use. This plate ensures a very tight connection with the build plate. The parts I call “Comb xx.stl” are used to print the barb and the tab containing the number as one part. The barb part has a large surface area to ensure that the tab does not move (much) when it’s printed. I have printed this on the standard Ender Pro magnetic print surface, glass, and PEI. No supports, no infill (100 % in Cura). The second type separates the barbed part from the number tab. These parts are called “Just xx.stl” and “Just Base.stl” is just the barb part. You can print the barb without a number, or print numbers and stick them on. Critical; when you stick the number onto a barb part that you use glue that works by dissolving some PETG so the two parts merge. Any glue that does poorly in UV light should not be used. I also had a bit of fun printing the parts using different colors PETG, separate colors for each zone.