Hector 9000

In the past we mentioned that about 20% of our printed bottleplugs were not completely tight for gas and liquids. Because we could not fix the problem (in short time) with slight modifications in the design files or adjusting the printing parameters, we decided to create a new plug.

It works very well but, it is not completely 3D printed, you will need some brass tube in addition.

To build it, you need two pices of brass tubing with an outer diameter of 6mm (15mm and 67mm long), the 3D printed body and the soft seal which was also used in the other plug design. We strongly recommend to use a pipe cutter to cut the brass tubes. Press the brass tubes into the 3D printed part by using a soft hammer, shop press, vise or something similar.

You will find the new .stl in the misc folder.
      

We mentioned that some of the .stl-files were broken. We must apologize for this. The fixed files are online now.

If you still have any problems with the files please contact us.

The lenght of the hoses inside the bottles depends on the size of the bottles and, because we use soft rubber plugs, it also depends on the inner diameter of the bottleneck. So if you want to cut the hose to the right lenght for a bottle, you have to measure the lenght from the opening of the bottle to the bottom of the bottle and subtract the lenght of the plug that goes into the bottle.

This can be tricky if you have bottles with special bottoms or bottles from non opaque materials like blinded glass or aluminium.

Because we like special purpose tools and designing things, we created a Schlauchlängenlehrendingsbums (sorry, no english translation available. Perhaps it is something like hoselenghtgaugethingamajig?): 

The cork on the end of the brass rod is just to protect eyes.

To determine the right lenght of the hose push the plug firmly into the bottle, lower the rod until it reaches the bottom of the bottle and fasten the bolt. After removing the Schlauchlängenlehrendingsbums you can use it to to cut the hose.

We will add the .stl-files for the tool in the near future.

We would like to share our work and experience with this project in real life.

So we decided to bring Hector to 35C3 and hope that we will meet some nice people there to discuss, tinker and developing new ideas for insane software and hardware extensions.

At the moment we are preparing Hector for the transport from Ruhrpott to Leipzig. To get Hector there in one piece, we built a flight case:

To use the volume of the case as efficient as possible, we also made two additional cases for accessories and tools.

The cases have small holes in the bottom which are fitting to wooden pins in the lid of the big case. After the cases are positioned in the lid, they are fastened with straps.

By the way, to get an idea of the size: Hectors dimensions are about 100cm x 45cm x 70cm; the weight (without case) is about 16kg.

We are looking forward to see you at the 35C3! 

After nearly one year of work, we are proud to announce the initial release of the Hector 9000 project homepage. 

We still have  to do a lot of work. In the near future we will add some additional pictures and videos to the project page and update the software and documentation.

Pleae notice: The software in the GitHub repository is not fully functional at the moment. We will fix this as soon as possible. Feel free to contribute.