Abstract

I finished the new design of the 24-bottle water sampler which will be fabricated within the next week before the electronics PCB gets here. The new design is made entirely out of 4040 (a 40 mm x 40 mm profile) extruded aluminum, common store-bought joints, and 3D printed components.

Objective

This redesign solves several issues with the original foam enclosure:

1. The 4040 frame does not require a laser cutter to manufacture

2. The frame is rigid

3. Mounting objects rigidly to the frame is very easy

Materials and Methods

This design uses 2 primary materials at the moment: 4040 extruded aluminum, and 3D printed ABS plastic. All of the printed parts could be replaced with machined mounts and brackets in the absence of a 3D printer. 4040 was chosen for the frame material because of its ease of use and because we have tons of it here at the lab, but future designs will most likely use slimmer extrusions like 2020 to save cost and weight.

Explanation of the Design

Four long extrusions make up the outer corners of the frame. They are 600mm long, roughly corresponding to the 24 inch length of the original design. The short outer-frame pieces are all 210 mm long to provide enough space for the bags to hang. A 600mm length piece of 4040 runs across the top and provides channels to mount the valves, pumps, and electronics. Two 520mm lengths of 4040 across the sides, offset from the top by a few centimeters, provide the channels for the bag caps which the sample bags hang from.

The orange brackets are 3D printed and connect the central channel perpendicularly to to the frame. Other brackets are store-bought and aren’t included in the design. All mounting is done using t-nuts and/or t-bolts that slide in to the 4040 channel to limit the amount of machining required to assemble the sampler. A thin sheet of PETG plastic will cover the top of the assembly and protect the device from rain but could easily be replaced with a large trash bag or tarp.