Pond Pump Filter

thingiverse

I've got a small outdoor waterfall that sometimes gets hit with massive algae blooms, turning it into a thick, hair-like substance that instantly clogs the pump inlet. The inlet is basically a tiny disc with a few slots in it, but it's just not cutting it. So, I came up with a plan to create a much larger inlet cover with many more slots, hoping this will still let water flow in while keeping debris out and saving me from constantly fixing it. As you can see in one of the photos, there's a slight air gap in the print that could easily be fixed with some glue or I'd use a 3D print pen to add more plastic. I initially printed this in ABS, but it felt brittle, so I decided to try PLA for the white version shown in the photos and it seems much stiffer. I've left the original 123D design file intact if you want to modify it to your liking. My goal is to have small mesh holes instead of the slits I originally made, but I'm not sure how to create mesh designs using the program I used yet.