Heating System for VW T6.1 California Ocean

So my dad asked me to design something to bring the hot air from the bottom heating exhaust of his California Ocean to the pop-top roof bed more efficiently. While I found several heating adapters for the bottom exhaust where you can attach a exhaust air hose on Thingiverse, I didn't find any that attach said hose to the pop-top. Therefore I remixed one of the bottom adapters and designed a mounting system for the top. The top part is adjustable in angle (between straight up and 45 degrees) and rotation (360 degrees) and a fan is also attachable to guide the airflow to your liking. The fruits of my labour are now presented here, and if you like my work, you would make my day if you would buy me a coffee :) 

I uploaded the gcodes as well as .3mf, .stl and .stp files  for every part. The heating system was designed for a T6.1, but according to a comment the bottom exhaust adapter also fits for the T5.

What you need

• 1x Every 3D-printable part (if you want a larger adjustable angle range you can print the center piece more than once. It adds 22.5 degrees); Edit: There is a V2 now for the bottom exhaust vent adapter that fits a lot more firmly (there were some reports of the old version being too loose) and a top exhaust part without fan mounting option (in our experience the fan doesn't help much with airflow … maybe even not at all). The top exhaust part is so far untested and therefore doesn't have .3mf or .gcode files jet
• 2x M8 screws (thumb screws like you can see in the picture are recommended)
• 2x M8 nuts (similar ones to the ones in the picture recommended for ease of use)
• 1x 100mm exhaust air hose (see pictures)
• 2x hose clamps (zip ties might also work)
• optional: 1x 120mm USB powered fan

Print Instructions

Use PETG or a more heat resistant material since PLA deforms from the heat even at low heating settings.

I printed at least the mechanism (where the top parts click together) at 0.15mm layer height and used 0.2mm for everything else and used otherwise standard settings. To support the overhangs I used paint-on supports as shown in the picture: 

You can also look at the .3mf files for my precise settings. 

For the bottom adapter 0.2mm layer height is sufficient. Where the adapter clamps into the heating exhaust I raised the infill density to 50% for more stability (Edit: I used 0.25mm for the V2 and 3 perimeters for stability). Again look at the .3mf file for reference or use them and change the settings according to your printer. Also I can't recommend “repairing” the models in PrusaSlicer, some models might turn unusable that way.

Assembly and Mounting

Assembly should be relatively self-explanatory but here is some guidance. Assemble everything as shown in the following pictures:

Closeup of the top assembly (pay close attention to the right orientation of the clamping parts):

Mount the bottom adapter as shown in the picture:

Mount the top adapter to the rail in the top of the vehicle (in front of the roof top bed) as shown in the pictures:

Usage notes

I wouldn't recommend using the heating system at heating level 5 (VW T6.1) or above for an extended period of time if printed in PETG (other more temperature resistant materials might work though). It is normal that the heating adapter gets a little bit soft while in use. That also means that I recommend to attach and detach the adapter while the heating is off and cooled down, since the adapter might deform significantly otherwise.

Model Origins

I remixed this heating adapter from Thingiverse (originally published under the Creative Commons - Attribution license by klotzoklotz) to have a little bit more space to mount the air-hose and have a 1mm lip to prevent the hose from slipping off easily. I also changed the clamping mechanism in the V2 for a firmer fit.

For the rotation mechanism I took inspiration from this Thingiverse model (originally published under the Creative Commons - Attribution - Non-Commercial license by XeonDesigns). But I didn't like that it can spin freely so I made it such that it snaps into place every 10 degrees. I think that it is still adjustable well enough that way and can't de-adjust itself.

Everything else is by my own design.

I added a little bit more space to the heating adapter to mount the air-hose and a 1mm lip to prevent the hose from slipping off easily. Also changed the clamping mechanism for a firmer fit.

I took inspiration from the exhaust header fabrication kit for my rotation mechanism. But I didn't like that it can spin freely so I made it such that it snaps into place every 10 degrees.