Vacuum Seal Clip

thingiverse

We keep an inventory of dozens of spools of filament that we want to keep in good condition (various materials, colors, etc). To that end, we keep them in vacuum packed bags with silica gel packs (to ensure they stay free of any moisture). Getting the filaments out and repacking them using the hand pump became quite a hassle, so we bought an electric pump, but it didn't really fit the bags port and is too bulky to keep a good seal while pumping (because the bag sucks in when there isn't much filament left on the spool).Solution: I designed this little clip attachment that can be placed on the end of the electric sealer and reach into the bag port several inches so it can keep sucking out air easily even when the bag is sucked into the spool.These are the bags we use: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09G5KVN11This is the pump we use: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GVPTY5BNo parts need supports. Print the clip parts however you like (probably using PLA at like 20% infill). Print the tpuVacTube part with TPU and 100% infill. This is the tube channel between the pump and the bag, so it needs to be air-tight and handle the pressure of a partial-vacuum. After printing the parts, use some hot glue to make a ring around the bag-port end of the tpuVacTube, then quickly press it against some parchment paper (or equivalent) to make a nice flat, thin, rubbery gasket. This makes it much easier to get a good seal on the bag. The other end should be perfectly sized for the end of the electric pump to fit snuggly into without modification."Creative Commons - Attribution" license: feel free to mod it, feel free to sell prints of it, feel free to do whatever you like with it. :) Please link to kelsam.net for credit/attribution and note if it was changed.