Solving everyday challenges with 3D printing – Liquid bottle filler

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Sauces and challenges

I am a big fan of hot sauce, and from time to time, I bring homemade hot sauces to the office. Generally, the food I cook is well-received, as I always manage to get the balance right. It was no different with the hot sauce. Having tried several hot sauces currently available in the market, I felt they were either overhyped and generic or their taste was way off for a Sri Lankan palate. Most often, it was the latter.

In my quest to create something unique and not found in Sri Lanka, I decided to use Carolina Reaper in the sauce base for an extra kick. Together with my friend Malinda, I developed three distinctive flavors with varying notes, all tailored for the Sri Lankan palate.

While making the sauce was challenging, another issue became evident when I thought about filling the bottles: how to fill a few hundred bottles accurately, hygienically, and with one hand. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention, and I needed to come up with a solution within a week, as the bottles had to be filled the following weekend.

After working on Fusion360 for several hours, I came up with the first iteration of a device that could help me navigate this challenge with a single hand.

The device had to fulfill several requirements:

It must be heat-stable to withstand liquid temperatures of 100°C without degrading.
One person should be able to use it with a single hand to fill liquid into a bottle, stop the flow, and move to the next bottle.
When closed, the liquid inside the funnel must not leak out.
It must be easy to clean.

The device is 98% 3D-printed using ABS plastic to withstand high temperatures and allow sterilization to eliminate harmful bacteria.

The rest of the design was straightforward. A direct shaft was designed to block or open the passage. The bottom end of the shaft was uniquely shaped to ensure consistent orientation without rotation. The other end of the shaft, housed inside a chamber, contains a coil spring (salvaged from my glucose monitor). This spring pushes the shaft downward to keep the liquid passage closed. A lever at the top of the handle allows the user to move the shaft up or down. All of this can be operated with one hand, leaving the other hand free to handle bottles or fill the funnel.