Gutter Downspout Drip / Rain Dampener

We have a downspout right outside of the second story of our house (above our garage). It works but it's right outside of a window and couch where we often sleep or nap. When it rains (frequently in the Pacific Northwest), we get a lovely ping, ping, ping, ping sound every second or so. It's enough to drive one crazy. After several attemped solutions using various household items, I realized a custom build was necessary. So I designed this dampener to disperse the water as it falls to reduce the noise. It's basically silent now and has restored our sanity!

The included model is for 3" round gutters. If someone wants to send me the exact outer dimensions of a 4" round, I could probably adjust for that. And if there is a need for a rectangular version, let me know and I can try to tweak for that as well. I do have a gutter on our gazebo in the back so I could probably modify for that pretty easily.

Printing

You need to print all 4 build plates to construct the final product. I chose to print in 2 different colors to make assembly easier and to use up spare filament that I had on hand.

Side note: if you haven't tried Overture Rapid TPU, try it. It's a game changer. Cuts print times down dramatically! 

Assembly Instructions

Note after you print that there are grooves in the Shaft and a notch in each Bristle. The key is to stagger the Default and Offset Bristles used in each layer in order to cover a larger portion of the surface area to block as much water as possible.

1. Take the Shaft from the first plate (keep in the same orientation as the Print Profile with the fatter section near the bottom) and add the Bottom Support on to the shaft by aligning the pin / notch in one of the slots on the shaft.
2. Add a Spacer
3. Add either a Default or Offset Bristle to the Shaft
4. Add a second Bristle but use the style you did not use in Step 3. So if you used a Default, add on an Offset.
5. Add another Spacer.
6. Repeat Steps 3-5 until you use up all of the Bristles. Just be sure to use the same order of Bristles each time.
7. After the last Bristle is added, use another Spacer.
8. Add the top cap (just push into place and it should hold firmly)

I probably should have taken additional pictures of the assembly steps but I didn't think about it before adding to my downspout. And now I'd have to get out my big ladder to get it down and I don't feel like doing so. :)

But the assemble part should look like this:

• Pointed Cap
• Spacer
• Offset Bristle
• Default Bristle
• Spacer
• Offset Bristle
• Default Bristle
• …Repeat Spacers and Bristles until gone…
• Spacer
• Bottom Support

When complete, simply slide the new part in with the Support at the bottom. It should slide with just a small amount of resistance when going in which should help keep it in place once it's in the right position. I pushed it in just past the curve section and it sits at the base of the straight drop (see photo of position).

We don't have a lot of debris coming down our downspout because we don't have any trees taller than our house. But depending on your situation, you will probably want to clean this out every now and then by pulling it out of the downspout, rinsing / cleaning the debris, and then adding it back. Easy stuff!

And as I said earlier, just let me know if anyone would like a version to fit a different downspout type / size.