From the Loftsmith Workshop

Tote cat shelter door, 120-155 mm, screw-on ring

Turns a storage tote into a doorway for a cat shelter. A round hood pokes through the wall, and a flat ring with a little paw print screws on from the other side to hold it in place. Set the opening and the wall thickness to match your tote.

3 parts · 153 g · 368 × 184 × 205 mm

by Loftsmith Workshop

Square gray panel with a round orange hood through it, and a flat ring with a paw print beside it
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No adjustable sizes

Ask for the sizes you want to tweak, e.g. “make the width adjustable”.

Change it in the Studio

Parts

  • tunnel · PETG · Flange down, axis vertical

    170.6 mm across and 102.5 mm tall at the defaults, about 102 g and 143 min. Has the outside thread and the hood, whose lip sweeps from a 12 mm sill under the door up to a 55 mm brow on top. No supports.

  • lock-ring · PETG · Wall face down

    170.6 mm across and 16 mm tall, about 31 g and 44 min. Inside thread with 16 grip flutes. Its flat face covers the cut on the outside of the tote.

  • cutting-template · PETG · Flat

    A 2 mm ring with a cross and a paw-print hub, 152.6 mm across at the defaults (the tunnel's thread plus 1 mm all round), about 20 g and 30 min. Trace round the outside. Switch it off with the Cutting template toggle.

  • thread-gauge · PETG · Flat

    Optional, off by default (Thread fit gauge toggle): a 14 mm slice of the tunnel thread, about 20 g, for test-fitting the lock ring before printing the full tunnel.

Print settings

Layer height
0.2 mm
Walls
2 walls (the page figure); 3 recommended for outdoor use
Infill
15%
Supports
None. The thread flanks are 44.5° from vertical, so print the tunnel and ring with their axes vertical as listed.
Notes
PETG (or ASA) because the door lives outdoors in sun and frost, where PLA creeps and goes brittle. Defaults at 2 walls and 15% infill: about 158 g and 3 h 45 min for the tunnel, ring and template together. That is a big print, because a 140 mm doorway needs that much material. At 3 walls and 15% (re

Assembly

  1. Measure your tote wall and foam liner and set the Tote wall thickness and Foam liner thickness sliders. Set Door opening to your door size (140 mm is about 5.5 in).
  2. Print the lock ring first. If you are unsure of your printer's accuracy on a 150 mm thread, turn on the Thread fit gauge, print it and screw the ring onto it. If it binds, raise Thread clearance by 0.1 mm. If it rocks loosely, lower it.
  3. Hold the cutting template on the tote where the door goes, several inches above the floor. Trace round the outside and cut on the line. Cut the same hole through the foam liner, lined up with the first.
  4. From inside the shelter, push the tunnel through the liner and the tote wall with the long brow of the hood at the top, until the flange sits on the liner.
  5. From outside, slide the lock ring over the hood (flat face towards the tote) and screw it on by hand while holding the tunnel level, until it pinches the wall. The hood stays where you set it because the ring turns separately.
  6. To remove it, unscrew the ring about 1.7 turns, which frees it from the thread, then slide it off over the hood and pull the tunnel back inside.

Good to know

  • The engine checked the fit and clearances of the geometry. Nobody has printed it yet. Large printed threads vary by printer, so test-fit the ring (or the gauge) before you print the tunnel.
  • This only finishes the doorway. It does not insulate the shelter or keep a cat warm. Follow a rescue group's shelter guide for straw bedding, insulation and placement.
  • The tote needs a flat area at least as wide as the ring (170.6 mm at the default door, the door size plus 30.6 mm). Strongly curved or ribbed walls will not seal under the flange.
  • Water can still get in round the threads in driving rain. If that matters, run a bead of outdoor silicone under the ring face. The ring does not need it to hold.
  • The hood check assumes a 5 kg cat landing on the lip. It is not a step or a perch for heavier loads.
  • Hand-tighten only. On compressible foam the ring keeps full thread engagement if the real wall-plus-liner is up to 6 mm thicker than the sliders say, and at any thinner stack.
  • It is a long print: about 158 g and 3 h 45 min at the defaults, more at larger doors and thicker liners.
I printed this Remix

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