The Blyss dual-hose kit: how a missing part became our most-ordered print

Every summer, thousands of single-hose portable air conditioners work harder than they need to. Blowing hot air out of the window pulls warm air back into the room through every gap, so the unit fights itself. A second hose feeding the intake fixes that, but no shop sells one for the Blyss A018I.

A community designer, Jamie Turner, solved it with a printable hose adapter shared free on Printables. We did not design this part, and that is the point: the design already existed. What was missing was a way for people without a printer to get it made.

The demand found us

In late June, orders for the same adapter started arriving through our print-from-source tool from Worcester, Croydon and Exeter. Different people, same file, none of them owning a printer. UK air-con season plus a product gap equals steady demand for a part nobody sells.

Completing the kit

We had converted one of these units ourselves, so we knew the catch. The photo on the community model shows a full installation: hose collar, foil duct and a rear intake plate. The downloadable file is only the collar. Customers anchor on the photo and expect the whole assembly.

So we bundled the complete set of community-shared parts into one printable kit: the rear intake backing plate and the hose adapter together, priced as one job with a live price in four materials. For a part that lives in a hot window we steer people to PETG or ASA rather than PLA.

Order it as a product, not a print job

The kit now has its own page with a fixed from-price, material guidance and sizing help:

• Blyss A018I dual-hose conversion kit, from £34.50 printed and posted
• Different unit? We print air-con adapters for Midea, Meaco, Electrolux, Bosch, Trotec and more

Model credit: Jamie Turner, shared free to print on Printables. We print it for people who need the part, not the printer.