EMT Wetsuit Hanger

TL;DR

It’s a wetsuit hanger, so you can hang your wetsuit folded over at the waist instead of on a traditional shoulder hanger.

The Problem

Wetsuits are relatively fragile, and also relatively heavy. If you hang one up on a traditional clothes hanger, the weight of the suit pulling the shoulders over the thin plastic causes a sharp fold. The stress concentration can wear the neoprene over time, and cause premature wear on the suit.

Also, we’re at a serious premium for full-length closet space in my household. Wet suits are bulky, and difficult to sneak in and out of places, so having a hanging solution for folding them in half in the closet would be ideal.

The Solution

Luckily, the Hang Pro Slide already exists! But why spend $24 just to hang a wetsuit when you could spend a few hours in CAD, cutting and sanding metal pipe, and iterating prints, not to mention about $12 in carbon fiber nylon filament? (It was out of stock when I started the project – notably not by the next day when I finished).

I had some EMT (galvanized steel conduit) laying around in the garage that seemed just about perfect to stick together with some 3D prints to achieve just what I was after.

I’ve also been playing around lately with printing nylon filament, and in particular carbon fiber nylon (which is easier!) and thought it’d be cool to try out its strength on a project like this.

Of course, it turns out my design itself is WAY overbuilt for the actual force involved, and thus the application of CF nylon is also way overkill. But it was fun getting used to printing parts in that.

As it stands, I’ve now got one printed in Galaxy Black PLA, and one in CF nylon, and by the feel of things, both will last quite a long time.

If you want to build one yourself, grab the files over on PrusaPrinters, The 1/2″ conduit pieces are 12.25 and 18″, sized for my large scuba wetsuit. My triathlon wetsuit requires a few inches less length.