What to measure
Metric copper tube is named by its outside diameter, so 22 mm tube measures 22 mm, and it is drawn to a much closer tolerance than plastic pipe. Still put a caliper on it: paint, lagging residue or a plastic coating adds a few tenths. Measure on bare straight tube, away from soldered or compression fittings, which are several millimetres wider and are not what the clip should grip.
Clearance, wall and material
Because copper is round and consistent, this page uses a clearance of 0.2 mm, giving a bore of 22.2 mm, and narrows the opening to 95 degrees so the arms wrap a little further around the tube. If your printer tends to make holes small, go back to 0.3 mm. Material matters more here than on a conduit clip. PLA starts to soften at around 60 degrees C and creeps under constant load well below that, so a PLA clip on a hot water or heating pipe slowly opens and lets go. Use PETG for cold and lukewarm pipes. For pipes that run hot, a printed clip of either material is not a dependable choice and a metal or purpose-made clip is the safer one.
Printing
Lay the clip on one of its flat C-shaped faces, so the two tabs point sideways across the bed and the layers follow the curve of the arms. No supports are required. Use a 0.2 mm layer height with four perimeters; that makes the 2.4 mm wall and both 3 mm tabs solid. PETG strings between the two arms as the nozzle crosses the opening, so enable retraction and trim any whiskers from inside the bore, where they would hold the pipe off the wall of the clip.
Fixing it
With two tabs the clip is 59 mm wide and each tab carries a 4.2 mm hole for a 4 mm screw. Two screws stop the clip from twisting when the pipe is pushed in, which is the reason to choose this version for rigid tube. Leave a slight gap rather than clamping hard at every clip, so the tube can lengthen as it warms.
Outline drawing
Schematic, not to scale. The clip is 16 mm wide along the pipe and about 23 mm high.
Parameters the generator will use
| Setting | Link parameter | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Model | model | pipe_clip |
| Pipe diameter | diameter | 22 |
| Fit clearance | fit_clearance | 0.2 |
| Clip wall thickness | wall | 2.4 |
| Clip width along the pipe | width | 16 |
| Opening angle, degrees | opening | 95 |
| Screw tab length | tab_length | 16 |
| Screw tab thickness | tab_thickness | 3 |
| Screw hole diameter | screw_diameter | 4.2 |
| Number of screw tabs | tabs | 2 |
All lengths are in millimetres. Outer size from these values: about 59 x 16 x 23 mm.
Open the generator with these values
This model needs the $7 licence key: one payment, one key, and it opens all five paid models. Get a licence key on Gumroad ($7)
The pipe and cable clip needs a licence key: without one the generator shows the model locked, lists the values from this link and fills them in as soon as you unlock. The fitted drawer organiser bin is the free model and downloads with no key.