scuba mask strap + clip

For some mysterious reason my SCUBA masks strap got ripped - while not even being used! Just like someone's bitten off a part of it, while also stealing one of the foldback clips or whatever they're called.

So instead of buying a new one from some reputable diving gear shop, I rather opted for risking my life with yet another flimsy 3d printed SCUBA part.

To imitate the original strap's stretchability (which I'm pretty sure is a scientific term), I chose the stretchiest filament my extruder is able to handle, which is filaflex 82A. And I was surprised to find out that it's almost exactly as... stretchable as the original. Let's hope that it won't loose this property when getting in contact with salty water and UV light. So I didn't test this underwater yet but I'll update here when everything went well. And probably not if not.

The original strap (as can be seen on the pictures) has a wider center part which I decided to leave out in order to allow for a clean and support-free print. Don't know yet how this will affect wearing comfort in the long run, but it feels quite comfortable when I try it here in the open air.

I highly recommend printing it in vase mode and with a 0,5-0,6mm nozzle!

A few words for the foldback clips which actually aren't clips I guess: Print them in some harder material like PETG or nylon; I made them in PCTPE just for testing reasons but this is almost too soft.

Disclaimer: I made the replacement for a specific model. It's the SEAC X Frame and I'm not sure if this strap will also fit other masks.

edit: As announced, I've uploaded a picture of another printed belt with freshly dried filament. You can see on the close-up that the layers look much better but still it got worse the longer the print was taking. So roughly 1 hour (@ ~50% Rh) is enough for the filament to take up enough moisture to visibly affect print quality... that's worse than any nylon, ultem, peek, etc... I think I never had such a hygroscopic filament yet.

editedit: Just a small update on the design (#21; picture soon to come). I increased the teeth-thickness and added some wavy pattern to increase springyness (which definitely is a technical term). Also I already tested the strap on a few shallow dives (~10m) and it's pretty ok. Not exactly as comfy as the wide original strap TBH but definitely better than none at all.

editeditedit: Another update. There's a sports university which is kind enough to informally test my straps on some of their students on diving lessons and probably teaching them memorable lessons on equipment failure. New pictures of the transparent ones with a logo of that university show the current iteration. The one I've uploaded here is unbranded though.

editediteditedit: I increased the meander to make it more stretchy. Seems to work perfect with a 0,4mm nozzle at 0,5mm line width and double-walled vase-mode print. New one is the picture with the “Josef” caption. Uploaded one is blank again.

editediteditedit…: Too stretchy!! I decreased that meander again by a bit.

Feedback until now is: 0 students were harmed yet. And they didn't disintegrate yet (the mask straps, not the students). I'm curious on the long-term development of the disintegration aspect though: it's being tested in indoor pools, so some chlorine could cause problems with the TPU. Also some creeping is to be expected.

Print Settings

Printer Brand:

Wanhao

Printer: 

Duplicator9

Rafts:

No

Supports: 

No

Resolution:

0,3mm

Infill: 

0%

Filament: Recreus Filaflex 82A blue/transparent

Notes:

As already mentioned: print the strap in spiral mode with a line width of about 0,6mm (0,5-0,6mm nozzle recommended)! Also try to keep temperatures high and fans disabled to max out layer adhesion.

As you can see on my pictures, the single layers don't look good at all which is actually how almost all filaflex prints look up close when you search for filaflex print pics on google.

However there's one easy solution for that: just properly dry the filament. After I took it out of the oven, roughly 12h have passed (for another print) until I started this print - that was enough time for the material to absorb moisture from air which cause this foamy mess. So I'm going to repeat this print with freshly dried filament before testing it on a dive. For safety reasons.

How I Designed This

One might ask: why did you design this for printing in vertical position? It's a belt which is perfectly 2D and you could also have easily realized the wider center part that way!

The answers to this question (which no one would ever ask in the first place) is as follows:

• I wanted to make it printable also on smaller printers (by curling it up)
• I intended to make it printable in vase mode
• ...and therefore reduce one of the major issues with soft TPU: stringing and general bad quality
• The latches might operate smoother