3D printed shower adapter


shower adaptor


While on holiday recently I found the shower in our self catering apartment did not have a holder / attachment at head height. This made washing my hair a bit awkward as you have to hold the shower with one hand and it also ment you could not enjoy just standing fully under the shower. I have had the problem before while travelling around Europe and in Asia. So I decided I would 3D print an adapter that I could take travelling with me. The result (I hope) is a versatile and lightweight travel shower adapter. If you own a 3D printer it will only cost you few 10's pence in filament.

Description
The adapter consists of two 3D printed parts:

1) A wall mounting base or upright bracket:
This is basically a long thin ca. 3 cm x 15 cm x 4 mm thick flat plate that has two slots to take suckers at each end. Rising off the plate, off center is a fixing post which holds the shower holder (see below). This has a M4 bolt hole through the middle.

2) the shower holder:
This is a cylindrical piece about 4cm diameter and about 5 cm high. There is a M4 bolt hole going through the middle (countersunk inside to take the bolt head). The top of this cylinder has the characteristic shower head cut-out that allows the lower part of shaft of the shower head (just above the flexible tube) to slot in. The shape of this slot bracket is generated in the code by 'removing' a tapered cylinder from this region. A M4 bolt with washer and butterfly nut keeps the two 3D printed parts together and allows you to rotate and then secure the holder to get the correct angle for the shower head when in use.

The 4mm base plate (1) is a little thick to take the top of the suckers so I countersunk the slots so that they can slide in easily but securely. The suckers are a standard item, two can often be brought from a hardware store for less than a pound. I made the fixing post on the main bracket offset (i.e. not in the center of the base) in case I don't want to use suckers but instead want to mount the whole thing on a shelf (if the shower has one). You could then use a bull dog clip or even tape to hold it in place. Being offset you can chose the long or short part to clip onto the shelf depending on the space available.

Note: although I planned this device for travelling around, its quite useful at home. My own shower hose lead is a little short to allow the head to lie on the bottom of the bath. In this case I can use my shower adapter to hold the shower head at the side of the bath if for example, you are not having a shower but washing your hair kneeling beside the bath. The files for the two parts are available below in various formats that you can use (or modify etc.). I used OpenScad to design the two parts and then converted the design file to an STL and .g file for printing on my 3D printer.

3D base .stl file
3D base .g file
3D base .scad file
3D holder .stl file
3D holder .g file
3D holder .scad file
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THE CREATIVE SCIENCE CENTRE


Dr Jonathan Hare, The University of Sussex
Brighton, East Sussex. BN1 9QJ.

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