Replacing the Boston Whaler Drain Tube
Trey Ethridge
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu1t9phyGPQ
Trey explored the concept of 3D-printing of a special tool, which I would describe as a flange-and-ball tool, and he created a CAD program describing the tool, and actually had the parts made using a 3D printing company. The initial version was printed with a strong plastic or nylon material and only cost $14 in c.2023. Printing the parts in steel is also available for about $200. The nylon version lacked strength for repeated uses, but seemed to work reasonably well in a one-time use.
The topic of Boston Whaler brass drain replacement has been the focus of many presentations on youTube, but I am mentioning this particular presentation for several reasons:
- it shows the use of an air hammer,
- it shows modification to the inexpensive air hammer to increase its utility for flanging the brass tube by allowing the flange die to be fitted onto the air hammer,
- it shows annealing of the brass
- it shows a difficult situation where one end of the tube has to be cut to a non-90-degree angle
- it shows modification of the flanging dies to increase their utility
- it mentions sources for the flanging dies at much reduced prices compared to major boat retail sources;
- it show use of a flange-and-ball tool initially the invention of Tom C. Clark and constructed by a machine tool specialist, but here 3D printed for much less cost
- it shows a source for 3D printing files that can allow you to duplicate the flange-and-ball tool
- it mentions a source for 3D printing of a flange-and-ball tool ("S & L Printing"), that could print in steel, but never gives a URL for it.
All of the above are significant improvements compared to the many other recorded presentations on this topic.
As noted in the description section of the presentation:
The 3D-part files can be accessed from
https://cad.onshape.com/documents/4f8ecac852d5ca93ba5914af/w/656799ca0da08f728619ac83/e/404c34b617c9a3431828cd9d
I think you MAY have to first create a user-id on the onshore.com website to be able to download the files. I couldn't figure out how to accomplish that based on the instructions provided. Your outcome may vary.
The Ball and Flange Design
The concept of the ball-and-flange design is that it allows the flange die to be oriented at a significantly different angle from the threaded rod than just 90-degrees.