Bösingen – a suburb of the munic­i­pality of Pfalz­grafen­weiler – has some 1,000 inhabitants. In addi­tion to its historic bake­house and the ruins of Mandel­burg Castle, it is also home to an old pumping station.

The Bösinger Wasser­häusle is a former pumping station that was used to trans­port fresh water from a spring in the Waldach valley via cast iron pipes to the village of Bösingen – located 1.4 km away and 140 meters higher. The Bösingen pumping station, with a weir and a 300-meter-long mill­stream, a water wheel and a 5–7 hp plunger pumping station, was built in 1893 by the Maschi­nen­fabrik Esslingen engi­neering works.

To enable the pumps to continue working even when the water level of the Waldach was low, in 1911 the pumping station was fitted with an 8-horse­power gaso­line engine. In 1948, it was connected to the power grid, allowing an elec­tric motor to be subse­quently used as a substi­tute drive. The entire facility, including the weir, mill­stream and pumping station, has been protected as a cultural and histor­ical indus­trial monu­ment since 2000. However, the town’s own water supply was taken out of service in 1991 due to cont­a­m­i­na­tion of the drinking water.

But what does our 3D printer at KOCH have to do with the ‘Wasser­häusle’?

Any old and historic system like this is bound to have parts that get worn and that need to be restored on a regular basis. And this was the case in June 2021 when a worn plain bearing started making very loud and creaking running noises. But re-manu­fac­turing the white metal bearing shells is very expen­sive – as is producing new bearing shells made entirely of red brass due to the amount of mate­rial needed. Since the old main bearing of the connecting shaft was partic­u­larly affected, the idea came about to manu­fac­ture these bearing shells as a 3D printed part – a perfect oppor­tu­nity to test this 3D printing process on a long-term basis. And what a success it turned out to be!

After the bearing shells were soaked in oil for some time to improve their sliding prop­er­ties during the running-in phase, the parts were put into service. After 4 months of contin­uous oper­a­tion, the bearing has adapted to the shaft and the 3D bearing can at this stage be consid­ered a total success. If you’d like to learn more about the Bösinger Wasser­häusle, why not take a walk through the woods and visit it your­self? It’s defi­nitely worth it. A big thanks from us to the 3D printing team for this fantastic success!