A bubble fountain is a fountain that creates a bubble of flowing water around it. Sometime it looks like that water is stationary as it is flowing through the same position.
Water source pipe is inserted from the bottom part. The water flows from the bottom and strikes the conical end of the top part and gets spread. then it comes out from the circular gap that is in between the two parts and flows in the shape of a bubble.
It can be placed in a garder, pond etc. A water pump has to be used to give it a continuous water supply.
Parts of a Bubble Fountain
There are two main parts, top and bottom part. The top part has a conical point at its lower end. It is printed in upside down position.
In the picture below, you can see the bottom part of the fountain. There are two views, first is isometric view which is a 3d view and the second is top view which is a 2d view. In the isometric view you can see the cylindrical body of this part with a groove. In top view there are three fins, these fins are internally build so that the pipe can get stuck in between them.
When we join these two parts we get the fountain. To join these we need to insert the top part inside the bottom part from above. You don’t have to glue them. It works fine even without the parts are glued together. You can see in the picture below.
I have to make an additional part, a connector between fountain and water pipe because the water pipe that I have is a bit wider that the fountain where it has to be pluged. So, I called it part as pipe connector. I made this part on an online CAD software and printed it. Below is its picture.
It gets perfectly attached to the bottom of the fountain.
Design
The design of this fountain is made by niegenugzeit on thingiverse. He called it as cicular fountain head but it creates a bubble around it so I call it a bubble fountain. You can make it as big as you want. You just have to scale it.
I designed the pipe connector on onshape which is an online CAD software.
Slicing Software: I used Cura for slicing.
Print Settings
Pay attention to the orientation when printing as both parts has to be inverted as he flat surface it at the top. It took 45 minutes to print the bottom part and 30 minutes to print the top part.
I used 20% infill as it do not require much strength. It works good even with 20% infill.
| Printer | Ender 5 Pro |
| Printer Type | FDM Printer |
| Rafts | No |
| Brim | No |
| Supports | No |
| Resolution | 0.2 mm |
| Infill Percentage | 20% |
| Time to Print – Top Part | 45 minutes |
| Time to Print – Bottom Part | 30 minutes |
| Time to Print – Pipe Connector | 21 minutes |
FAQ’s
Is 3d printed PLA water proof?
PLA is not affected by water. It behaves just like plastic. But 3d printed PLA may not be water proof as it contains tiny gaps in it through water can leak.
How much time it will take to 3d print bubble fountain?
It took around 1hr 30 minutes to print this bubble fountain.
What filament can I use to make fountain?
You can use PLA, PETG, HIPS etc filaments to print a fountain.
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