How to retrofit your IcePlate® Curve with the new One-Way Valve

How to retrofit your IcePlate® Curve with the new One-Way Valve

The following article is by one of our long time customers, Gunnar Anderson. As a regular contributor to our IceAge Insights blog, we invited Gunnar to the beta test of our new One-Way Valve Retrofit Kit for IcePlate® Curve. The article below is entirely his, but we felt it would be helpful to others using the kit. Enjoy!

- Justin 

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Items needed:

  • 3D printer
  • 3/16” drill bit
  • Power drill
  • IcePlate® Curve (this retrofit will not work with the IcePlate® Classic)
  • One-way valve

 How to install IcePlate Curve One Way Valve

STEP 1:  Decide which side of your IcePlate® Curve you’re going to install the one-way valve and download the corresponding STL file. My 3D printer is a Prusa i3 MK3S+ and uses Prusa Slic3r software.  As you might expect from a device and software made in the Czech Republic, they use the metric system.  When I loaded the jig file, the software detected that the file was created using  inches and asked if I wanted to convert the file.  I clicked “yes,” and Slic3r made the necessary changes for me.  If your software doesn’t do this for you, I know Qore Performance® has STL files in both metric (millimeters) and imperial (inches).

How to install IcePlate Curve One Way Valve

Rotate the object 180 degrees so that the largest portion is facing down.  There’s no need for a brim or supports.

How to install IcePlate Curve One Way Valve

How to install IcePlate Curve One Way Valve

How to install IcePlate Curve One Way Valve

You’re now ready to print the one-way valve jig.  I used PLA since it was already loaded in my 3D printer.

How to install IcePlate Curve One Way Valve

STEP 2:  Put the jig on the side you’ve chosen to insert the one-way valve.  There’s no need to tape the jig to the IcePlate® Curve - the tolerances are such that friction will firmly hold the jig to the IcePlate®.  Mark your drill bit at 1.5" with a piece of painters tape. Using a 3/16” drill bit, drill the hole.  This takes all of five seconds.

Drill out a hole in the IcePlate® Curve using the jig as a guide. Stop at your tape mark to avoid drilling TWO holes in your IcePlate® Curve.

How to install IcePlate Curve One Way Valve

STEP 3:  Insert the one-way valve.  Because of the tolerances between the size of the hole and the size of the one-way valve, this step required a bit of finesse.  I licked the one-way valve, pressed it into the hole, and moved it in small circles while pressing down until it went all the way in.  (Insert bad Michael Scott joke here.)

How to install IcePlate Curve One Way Valve

How to install IcePlate Curve One Way Valve

STEP 4 (optional):  Fill the IcePlate® Curve with a little water, swirl it around, and empty it out to make sure that any stray plastic shavings have been cleaned out of the inside.  Repeat this step as necessary.

COMMENTS:  This project was much easier than I expected.  As much as I’d like to take credit for being exceptionally handy, Qore Performance® made this process nearly idiot-proof.  (I use the word “nearly” because we all know there’s an idiot out there ready to accept this as a challenge and somehow screw this up.)  Qore Performance® didn’t provide a paper template to use or just tell their customers to use a 3/16” drill bit.  Instead, they did something that you would only expect of a high-end company - they designed jigs that you could 3D print at home.  Each jig is marked with either “LEFT” or “RIGHT” and indicates to use a 3/16” drill bit.

If you don’t own a 3D printer, I’m sure you know someone who does - a friend, a coworker, your school-aged child, etc.

 This is a project that anyone with an ounce of common sense can do with no more than a link to the STL file and a couple of common tools.  But if you needed to read this article for a little reassurance before you drill into your $80 IcePlate® Curve, I hope it helped.

Gunnar Anderson is a former prosecutor and now trains and advises both law enforcement and emergency management.

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