Design of the Week: Bottle Tap

By on March 30th, 2015 in Design

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This week’s selection is YouMagine contributor TimeLapse21’s simple Bottle Tap. 

The design is simply a horizontal pipe that can be screwed onto any common plastic drink bottle. The idea is that you can jam it into a nearby sugar maple tree and collect that sweet sap. 

TimeLapse21 says:

A clever tree tap that lets you screw a water bottle on! Fresh maple sap is actually quite delicious, especially if you add a little bit of lemon juice. Put the bottle on at the beginning of the day, and enjoy some sap later. 

The item is provided in two parts, a bottle cap and a tap line. You’ll simply print both items and then epoxy them together. That’s it for the printing part, as the rest of the process involves drilling a small hole in a sugar maple tree, but that’s all explained in detail in the included instructions. 

If you’re wondering why sap “runs”, you might want to read this for a technical explanation of what’s happening inside the tree during this time of year. 

It is indeed the time of year for maple sap, if you happen to have a forest of sugar maple trees nearby. If so, you might want to try out this simple print. 

Via YouMagine

By Kerry Stevenson

Kerry Stevenson, aka "General Fabb" has written over 8,000 stories on 3D printing at Fabbaloo since he launched the venture in 2007, with an intention to promote and grow the incredible technology of 3D printing across the world. So far, it seems to be working!