Transfer Funnel & Adapter System

It is always slow to drain the last bit of thick liquid stuff from its container. This presents a small challenge when trying to save it. I found my wife using funnels and clamps and trying to balance them for a transfer to the new container.

This solution is two funnels that screw onto the containers and magnets to hold them in place for the transfer. I added a window on the upper one so you can monitor the progress.

Update

This is a total system of funnels. It now fits many more bottles. It works on several brands without any adapter - and many more with an adapter.

This model supersedes both of my earlier transfer funnels:

• Transfer Funnels 
• Transfer Funnels (for Eucerin products) 

Bottles Tested

• Funnel with no adapter (32mm) 
  • Parkay® Squeeze
  • Log Cabin® Syrup
  • Hershey's® Syrup
  • Kraft salad dressings
  • Heinz® catsup
  • Equate™ hand soap
  • Aveeno® body wash

• Adapter D (28mm)
  • Dawn® dishwashing soap
  • Parent's Choice™ Baby Shampoo
  • Propel® flavored water
  • Most soda and water bottles (.5 & 1 Liter)
  • Heinz® Worsteshire
  • Equate™ Soy Sauce
  • Equate™ generic spray bottle
  • Equate™ Intense Therapy
  • SafeSpray generic spray bottle

• Adapter S (24mm)
  • Sarna® lotion
  • Dermarest® shampoo
  • Bath& Body Works™ hand sanitizer
  • Equate™ generic flip top bottle
  • iGo® generic flip top bottle

• Adapter E (steep double spiral)
  • Eucerin® products

Design Notes

I designed it in Fusion 360 (included). I set it for 8x3 magnets, but it will work with a range of 6x1 to 12x3.

The thread size of the funnel (without adapter) works for many bottles.

The adapters screw into the funnel on one end, and a different bottle on the other end.

Update Note: I improved the threads on the funnel, but if you have already printed the original Transfer Funnel, it should still work with the new adapters.

Printing

All parts may be printed with any material. No support required. Brim is optional and may help with bed sticking.

The layer height is not critical. Since each part has threads, I would normally recommend .20; however, these are larger threads with loose tolerance, so I used .32 with no problem.

As all parts are round, the seam position will generally cause a problem – aligned, nearest, or rear will all likely cause thread interference – and random makes ugly bumps everywhere. I used the scarf joint feature of PrusaSlicer which worked very well – virtually invisible seam. 

Usage

I would recommend these steps:

• Ensure the destination bottle has enough room to hold the source contents.
• Choose the correct bottle adapters.
  • It is OK to use different size bottles
• Screw the adapters to the funnels.
• Screw the bottom funnel (the one with no cutout) onto the destination bottle.
• Screw the top funnel onto the source bottle.
• Carefully and slowly start tilting the source bottle – with the cutout side up – over the destination bottle.
• When you are sure you have the bottles positioned so the contents will remain in the funnels, shift the top funnel as needed for magnet alignment.
• When both are aligned and the first magnet is set for contact, finish tilting the source bottle until all 3 magnets snap.
• Watch the start of the transfer to make sure it will not overflow before leaving it unattended.

Notes

• Note: This is meant for slow, thick fluids that take a while to transfer.
  • For thin, fast flowing fluids, I would recommend using just the bottom funnel with a holder and hand pour.
  • You may also use a regular funnel and not leaving it unattended. See my Funnel with Fins model for a possible solution.
• Note: If this solution still does not offer the correct thread size for you bottles, you may want to consider my Bottle-to-Bottle Funnel.
• Note: This solution will solve the actual transfer, but you may still have a tall unstable conglomeration that needs to be propped up to prevent it from falling over. Consider these solutions:
  • Ratcheting Light Duty Vise/Holder
  • Adjustable Holder