Bucket Grit Guard - Configurable

This is a ‘grit guard’ that will stop your car wash sponge picking up grit from the bottom of your bucket.  It uses a hexagonal mesh because Hexagons are the Bestagons!

Two STLs are included (flat mesh and deep mesh) but you can use the included OpenSCAD script to adapt them for your own needs.

• The flat mesh STL is for a grit guard that will suit a 12 litre bucket, and has a 200mm outside diameter with a 180mm base ring that's 20mm tall.
• The deep mesh STL is for a guard that has deep hexagonal dirt trapping holes.  The base ring is a little deeper than the flat mesh version (30mm) to allow space for the 15mm deep dirt traps.  The diameter is a little bigger at 185mm, but it still fits the same 12 litre bucket.

The included OpenSCAD script will allow you to configure any of the dimensions to suit your bucket size, as well as the size and spacing of the hexagons in the mesh, the thickness of the mesh and the taper of the holes.  The flat mesh in the included STL is 2mm thick, and this makes quite a rigid mesh.

PETG is recommended.  PETG and PLA are denser than ABS, so the grit guard should stay at the bottom of the bucket if printed without air voids.  If printed in ABS the guard will tend to float, although it would still prevent the sponge from reaching the bottom of the bucket.

Update 11APR2025: I've added an STL of a deep mesh version that has triangular air holes between the corners of the hexagonal dirt traps.  This is so that the grit guard will more easily drop to the bottom of the bucket without trapping air or shampoo foam underneath it.  This is something I've been meaning to do for a while.  It has the regrettable side effect that the hexagons are no longer hexagons!  They're now dodecagons!  The OpenSCAD script has been updated with the if_air_holes boolean option.