Tropical Fish Forums

[corrado33]

I've found the perfect DIY at home air hose connectors. I know people have used pen caps before, but honestly the perfect connector is the inside (and outside) of mechanical pencils. If you take a mechanical pencil, and take it apart, you can pretty much use EVERY piece as a connector of some sort. Here's my quick walkthrough.


Pencil in question.

Take the front part off (easiest with pliers.)

Front part off.

Break the black part off of the very front (the piece that holds the lead), then pull out the middle piece.


Now break off the remaining part of the lead holding part, to end up with something like this.


Now you're pretty much done. You can use the connectors in these ways.

Hose fits perfectly to the front of the inside piece.


Also fits perfectly in the back of the outside piece.


Also fits inside and outside of the front cap piece. Like so.



I've used this method to make a couple of these caps. It works perfectly because the inside pieces have a slight taper to them. They get thicker from one end to the other, so if you put it in a tight hole, and push it to the end, it'll be very tight. Probably air tight if you do it well enough. I added sealant cause my hole was slightly too big. (It was my first one.) Also, you have to add a piece of duck tape to the middle of these inside pieces as they have holes around the middle.


I used this dremel attachment to cut the holes. If you push this piece about half way in to whatever you're making a hole in to, it'll be a perfect size.


All in all, 30 second air connectors. For use with DIY home projects, and emergency repairs. Enjoy!



EDIT: You can also make a hose coupler in a couple of different ways. Number one, attach the front piece you took off in step one to the outside piece, and you can attach a hose to both ends.

Or a slightly harder way would be to cut the front off of the outside piece, and the back off of the inside piece, so that they fit together and you can attach a hose to both ends.

[Caton]

Nice! I think I may have to try that!
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