Pool Noodle Safety Seat

thingiverse

These are T connectors to make a safety seat using two pool noodles. One noodle goes vertically under the occupant while the second forms a belt around reducing the risk of falling out. The combination is self righting in waves. The locking T grips the ends of the horizontal noodle belt to hold them securely. The sliding T is intended to be easily installed in the middle of the horizontal noodle belt. If the occupant needs a belt of more than 1 noodle in diameter print two of the locking T pieces instead of one locking and one sliding. Most occupants will need a locking T and a sliding T. On July 11th I updated both design files to add slots where velcro cable ties can be used to lock the pool noodles in place. The vertical noodle sockets are locking connectors. My experience is that it is easiest to place the occupant on the vertical noodle passing between the legs then assemble the remaining sections around the occupant. I recommend printing from PETG both for flexibility and to handle sun exposure. I printed with a 0.4 nozzle with three solid layers top and bottom, two perimeter shells and 20% infill. The flat side should be down on the print bed. Supports should not be needed. The locking T required 170 grams of filament and 8 hours to print at 60mm/s. The sliding T required 140 grams of filament and 6.5 hours. This was designed for 75mm, 3 inch, diameter pool noodles. Larger 80mm pool noodles will compact to fit but are more likely to tear when disassembling. I recommend scaling up to 106% is you plan to use 80mm noodles. If you are using smaller noodles scale down to an appropriate size. The largest dimension is less than 6 inches so these should print on a wide variety of printers.