Straw Filter[edit | edit source]
Project developed by Michael Holt
Abstract[edit | edit source]
The Straw filter is an appropriate item that can be used all across the world for different tasks. I wanted to design a product purely from a 3-D print. The first idea was to use it for water purification in regions across the world that don't have access to filtered water. But, this was hard to fulfill with using only PLA plastics and a printer. It can be made into a good water filter device after adding gravel, sand, charcoal and cloth. In some places these materials are easy to find and cost close to nothing. The straw filter can also be used for less intensive applications such as filtering out coffee and tea grains, pulp and other large molecules from liquids. For water purification I stumbled upon a product call lifestraw which, with the help from fiber tecnology, is able to purify water up to 99.7% of pollutants. There are also a lot of different brands that use filtered straws exactly like this one to filter out tea and coffee grains.
Bill of Materials[edit | edit source]
Extra Parts
- For water filtration you need gravel, sand, charcoal and cloth.
- For Coffee, Tea and other large molecules no extra parts are needed.
Tools needed[edit | edit source]
- MOST Delta RepRap or similar RepRap 3-D printer
Technical Specifications and Assembly Instructions[edit | edit source]
- Download above STL file.
- Print Time: 1 hour 8 minutes
- Assembly Time: Same as Print time
- Cura Software Specifications: .25
- Layer Height (mm): 1.4
- Shell Thickness (mm): .25
- Fill Density (mm): 25
- Print Speed (mm/s): 70
- Print Temperature (C): 210
- Flow (%): 80
Cost savings[edit | edit source]
- Total cost to make: 50 grams @ $22.98/kg = $1.10 (Filament Cost)
- Commercial Cost: Coffee & Tea filter: $6.49 (on average)
- Savings: $5.39 (83%)
Gallery[edit | edit source]
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Fig 1: A Filter is Born
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Fig 1a: Filtering out the grains
