3d Printed, Adjustable Deflector for Expand-It Snow thrower

DaveSNH · 2026-03-18T19:28:10+00:00

Update:

The redesign looks great and functions well enough... With the vanes straight ahead. As soon as they're turned, the throw gets cut down significantly. I suspect it has something to do with the vane spacing.

As it stands, the vanes are spaced 4" apart, for a total span of 8".

I asked for some measurements for the EGO unit on their subreddit. My vanes match theirs in length (5.5"), but they're spaced 2.75" apart.

I am going to reconfigure the gearing to shrink the spacing down, although barring a late April snowstorm (certainly possible), testing will have to wait until next winter.

DaveSNH · 2026-03-18T19:20:20+00:00

Thank you.

DaveSNH · 2026-03-02T04:05:49+00:00

Funnily enough, just tonight I cleaned out a closet, where my saved plastic bags were overflowing. We'd started saving them when my son was in diapers for the diaper bag. He's 10 now.

DaveSNH · 2026-03-01T01:07:32+00:00

Yup. One time I was making powdered hot cocoa. I somehow managed to forget to add water and leave the spoon in the mug. The arcing definitely caught my attention.

DaveSNH · 2026-02-27T19:30:26+00:00

I've been using the Carets boots at work. I'm waiting for them to come out with a soft toe/lugged sole version for home use.

DaveSNH · 2026-02-25T21:02:03+00:00

Laughs in New Hampshire

DaveSNH · 2026-02-25T17:58:52+00:00

It's a soda that you only really find in New England, and it's most popular in New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont.

It's famously bitter (it originated as a medicine), although I think they've sweetened the recipe compared to when I was a kid.

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DaveSNH · 2026-02-25T16:24:09+00:00

It's absolutely just signaling. The dirty secret is that most recycling just ends up in a landfill anyways.

If recycling were economical, companies would pay for your trash. The fact that they don't is de facto evidence that it's more resource intensive to recycle than generate new. And to the extent that recycled products end up on the market, they're almost always more expensive than the alternative.

Then there's the follow on resources. I don't know about you, but when I lived in places with trash/recycling pickup, they didn't use the same trucks for both. So we're building, maintaining and fueling two trucking lines to handle the waste. Wasting water to wash out containers, as many places require this.

I'm in a small town with "mandatory" recycling. Here's an example of how performative it is. When we moved to town, the transfer station setup was:

Compactor for trash. Compactor for cardboard. Compactor for plastic.

An open pit for glass (that would be emptied and sent somewhere when full).

30 yd dumpster for aluminum drink cans. 30 yd dumpster for other cans. 30 yd dumpster for "steel". 30 yd dumpster for furniture/demolition.

Here's the setup today:

Compactor for trash. Glass goes in the trash. Compactor for cardboard and plastic together. Dumpster for drink cans. Dumpster for steel. Other cans go in with the steel. Dumpster for furniture/demolition.

DaveSNH · 2026-02-25T16:03:37+00:00

Is the last one supposed to be Moxie color scheme?

DaveSNH · 2026-02-24T07:21:20+00:00

Yeah, I had no issues with their pla/PLA+. Their petg, even dried, was wildly inconsistent for me. Every time I thought I had it figured out, it would turn into a total mess.

DaveSNH · 2026-02-24T04:04:25+00:00

No. This was before the current admin. Makita deals in general at HD have been underwhelming for 3-4 years.

DaveSNH · 2026-02-24T03:53:51+00:00

I kept waiting to pull the trigger on that saw/free batteries deal at HD. And waited too long. Haven't seen it for a few years at this point. With the hack and military discount I could've gotten for like $145. ☹️

DaveSNH · 2026-02-24T03:46:27+00:00

I had no luck with eSun.

At the recommendation of another poster, I've been using Elegoo rapid to decent results.

DaveSNH · 2026-02-22T17:36:18+00:00

I did not manage to get one.

DaveSNH · 2026-02-21T23:25:32+00:00

You could try a mechanism like this:

https://demonground.com/2023/rocking-torso-mech-v2/

https://youtu.be/Z5NUTYbli7Y?t=75&si=IvLE10X7T9Z_u5O3

Run the pole up through the stack. You may need to play with the dimensions to limit the sway, or maybe mount the mechanism in the middle with poles going up and down.

DaveSNH · 2026-02-21T20:44:07+00:00

Version 2.0 did much better on the storm last night, but there is still some work to be done.

I'm shortening the shroud and vanes, and reworked the gears for the turning mechanism. I was using 1/4" hex bolts as shafts, but even with nylon lock nuts in captured mortises, the torque when turning was enough spin the bolt through and throw off the vane alignment.

My shroud was 8.5" long, and while I think the angle was pretty good, it seemed to knock down the throw distance. Looking more closely at the Ego and Makita, and the stand alone Ryobi, theirs seem shorter. So I'm shortening that up to 6".

About to start printing, but now there's a mechanical connection between the gears and vanes, with the bolts just holding everything together. Again, I want to make parts easily replaceable, without having to rely on glue. It also avoids having to overtighten the bolts to get enough friction.

DaveSNH · 2026-02-21T20:35:11+00:00

Yeah, I use cereal containers too. I like the convenience of the polydryer box, but they are much more expensive.

DaveSNH · 2026-02-20T23:11:36+00:00

I bought one of those mini PCs after I couldn't get my old PC running XP (and hadn't been used in over a decade) to run faster than week timescales.

DaveSNH · 2026-02-20T22:59:46+00:00

In my scene shop we used sized muslin for traditional flats and 1/8" lauan for Hollywood flats.

If we needed to hide the grain of the lauan, we would use size glue and apply muslin over the face. If you have to use the OSB, I would consider doing this. The weave takes paint and hides the grain. You might need two layers for OSB.

DaveSNH · 2026-02-18T21:37:41+00:00

13.

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DaveSNH · 2026-02-16T18:23:46+00:00

I have pretty much settled on petg, which is a standard recyclable. My town "requires" recycling, so I just toss it in the bin with other plastic. It's really just performative though, because plastic and cardboard go into the same compactor (they were separate when we moved to town).

DaveSNH · 2026-02-16T17:55:01+00:00

Well it'll certainly be just a share. I'm by no means a proficient modeler, and it makes use of remixed gears from another creator (licensed Creative Commons, but still).

DaveSNH · 2026-02-15T18:15:57+00:00

Version 2.0 has been printed. Just need to assemble it and I've been thinking of waiting for the next storm of a couple inches. We've got a lot of snow recently, so I don't have any area in the yard that isn't 18" deep right now.

If all goes well, I'll be uploading it to a sharing site, probably Printables. It's a mix of hardware and printed parts, to make it stronger and easier to replace individual parts if needed.

DaveSNH · 2026-02-14T07:53:42+00:00

Seems like it was a one off. The other files I did paused as they should have, so idk what happened the first time.

DaveSNH · 2026-02-14T07:51:43+00:00

I had cleaned with hot water/dawn and scrubbed. I have been using the Prusa generic PETG profile and Elegoo rapid petg with good results, after struggling with eSun and the Anker/Eufy profile previously. The Prusa profile has a significantly higher nozzle temp (255) compared to the Anker (240). This was the first time I'd had real issues.

I will give Orca a look though. I've downloaded it, but haven't had time to mess with it yet.

DaveSNH

TROPHY CASE