My goal was to create a cat water fountain with a carbon filter which can be left unattended for a few days when you are on a trip. We have a commercial one, but a power outage would leave the cat without access to water. For this purpose I designed the white fountain, which is mounted on a bowl. It has an inexpensive water pump and a carbon filter, so the water is circulating and filtered either on continuous mode or on intermittence mode using a timer socket. Pets always have access to drinking water even if the pump is not running.
I also made a conventional cat fountain using the same design (blue fountain). This model may be more complicated, since getting 3d-printed parts watertight can be challenging. If you are interested on this topic, take a look at https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4921885 and the tips below. Note that this fountain cannot be used if the pump is not working.
To test these models I printed them in PLA+, but for a continuous use PETG would be better because PLA shows poor long-term water resistance.*
Prints are straight: no supports or rafts are required. Pieces fit together without glue.
Working fountains: https://youtu.be/fT9rXM3BbvY
*Note: after 2 months of use PLA+ shows good water resistance.
MATERIALS
In addition to the included 3D printed pieces you would need:
TIPS
Some general tips to achieve watertightness for the lower part of the blue fountain:
-PETG Filament
-Do not use supports
-Layer height/resolution: 0.2mm
-Extrusion width: 0.45mm (for 0.4mm nozzle)
-Avoid infill, solid base and perimeter work best
Blue_bottom.stl | 652.3KB | |
Blue_top.stl | 1.5MB | |
Tap.stl | 479.9KB | |
White_bottom.stl | 253.1KB | |
White_top.stl | 1.3MB |