Designing and 3D printing feeders & accessories

[DonyaQuick]

I read through the first and last two pages of this thread and it was very interesting.

Could someone please explain in the simplest terms possible how 3D printing works?

Is this how they make all the plastic objects in the store?

Thank you in advance!

There are different kinds of 3D printing that work in very different ways; this thread is about filament deposition modeling (FDM) printing. A filament extruder head moves around, melts plastic coming into it, and draws up a shape one 2D layer at a time by extruding the melted plastic. Each 2D layer is basically “drawn” with lots of melted filament lines. It’s very different from how most store bought plastic things are made. Most of those are going to be something like either injection molding or the method where plastic film is heated and stretched over a shape (I forget what that one’s called just now unfortunately).

 

[Evadig]

There are different kinds of 3D printing that work in very different ways; this thread is about filament deposition modeling (FDM) printing. A filament extruder head moves around, melts plastic coming into it, and draws up a shape one 2D layer at a time by extruding the melted plastic. Each 2D layer is basically “drawn” with lots of melted filament lines. It’s very different from how most store bought plastic things are made. Most of those are going to be something like either injection molding or the method where plastic film is heated and stretched over a shape (I forget what that one’s called just now unfortunately).

Thanks! Where do you get the plastic?

 

[DonyaQuick]

Thanks! Where do you get the plastic?

It comes in big reels/spools like a giant thread spool. So far I've been ordering all my filament online from amazon. It's still a niche enough market that I've yet to see filament reels in physical stores anyhwere around me. Almost everything in this thread is made from PLA filament (polylactic acid).

 

[Evadig]

It comes in big reels/spools like a giant thread spool. So far I've been ordering all my filament online from amazon. It's still a niche enough market that I've yet to see filament reels in physical stores anyhwere around me. Almost everything in this thread is made from PLA filament (polylactic acid).

Thank you!

 

[NameIwish]

I read through the first and last two pages of this thread and it was very interesting.

Could someone please explain in the simplest terms possible how 3D printing works?

Is this how they make all the plastic objects in the store?

Thank you in advance!

By melting plastic and depositing it following a pattern/program.

Search for "How does 3D printing work." If there is a community college or high school in your area, call them and ask if they have a 3D printer class open to the public - might also check with your county library.

Search for Maker Spaces in your area, many offer an Open House hoping to attract members.

Also watch YouTube videos o see it in action - many 3d Printer Vendors publish videos to demonstrate their wares.

Assuming you know how an ordinary InkJet printer works, image it uses thicker ink that hardens as it cools. Wait! Have you got a Hot Melt Glue Gun?

You can APPROXIMATE 3D printing by depositing the glue in a pattern, try a circle. Deposit one layer, then another and another until you've got a tube - in Three Dimensions (H x W x H) There, you're a 3D printer!

 

[NameIwish]

". . . the pet carriers I sometimes have to use with chickens (usually for hospital purposes). "

You take chickens to the hospital? You have multiple pet carriers for the purpose. Chickens, really. Whatever for?

 

[DonyaQuick]

You take chickens to the hospital? You have multiple pet carriers for the purpose. Chickens, really. Whatever for?

Hospital or isolation crates is what those are. Not a transport to a hospital. No vets in easy driving range of me will see chickens anyway. If I find a bird in my flock some dire condition (injury or other problem) I typically need a place to put it where it is safe and contained. Most recent case of use: a hen that decided to hard molt and be mostly naked and was showing mild hypothermia issues in already cold temps with much more serious polar winds coming the next day. Had to move her someplace warmer. She still needed food/water and the containers I had were not ideal, so I have now made my own.

 

[NameIwish]

Hospital or isolation crates is what those are.

Isolation crates, I'll give you that one. Pet carriers is what they look like to me. I assume lots of places might use them to isolate an animal for whatever reason. And a Vet would be likely to have one or two of them as do the ASPCA Spay and Neuter Programs.

"Hospital" just took me by surprise.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Well, I will now be stepping up my 3D printing game a bit. I decided to make use of time-of-year sales and go for a higher-end, enclosed bed-dropper. Although over a relatively short time, I have progressed to having that original bed-slinger in use on an almost daily basis prototyping things and now use 3D-printed objects as part of my daily life - both in the chicken world and outside that. Precision is starting to matter more and more for the things I'm building and I'm really pushing the limits of my original printer. Precision probably matters a little less for chickeny things, but still it opens doors for me as far as what's permissible in a design.

I have to say, this device prints wickedly good right out of the box...not without some kinks I still need to iron out in the slicer setings, but the smoothness is amazing compared to what I'm used to. Definitely looking forward to revisiting the whole PETG filament debacle with this thing to see if the bed-slinging and lack of environmental control is really what was destroying that for me before.

However, amazing as the first few prints are, this new device definitely left me contemplating my life choices right after unboxing it - and not because of the lack of monetary efficienty in this progression. Rather, it's that the packaged weight for this beast was supposed to be 70lbs. That's certainly quite heavy compared to my original bed-slinger, which I think is around 30lbs. I had the following thoughts to convince myself that 70lbs was workable:

• Two 40lb bags of wood pellets is heavier, I've seen my husband do that.
• My dog is also bit heavier. My husband can lift her and so can I if I need to.
• If I can move a 200lb coop with my husband, we can surely move this,, right?
• I can lift the 30lb bed-slinger printer with one arm. So, like, one of those per arm - how bad could an additional 5lbs per arm be?

Oh how wrong I was with that optimism! That box may have been the hardest thing I have ever had to move - worse than the 200lb coop honestly, since the coop didn't have to go up a snowy hill and then up a flight of stairs. And 70lbs my foot! According to the UPS sticker I eventually found, it was actually 113lbs of slippy no-handles mess. There were a non-trivial number of Wile E Coyote events in the process of moving that box. So I am now both sore and covered in bruises LOL.

 

[DonyaQuick]

One more silly thing I'm more pleased with than I should be given how tiny/simple it is: clips that will hopefully replace my use of zipties for holding my hanging printed feeders (like the grit holder). The way this works is you rotate it forward to snap the back nib over a HWC wire, then rotate back upright and slide down. The lower prong will overlap the next wire down on 1/2in HWC. Combined with the width of the design being nearly 1/2in, that keeps the clip in an upright position instead of letting it rock forward. Once the feeder is hanging on them, the extra weight stops them lifting so they can't come un-clipped. The back snap-on bit may be thin but it's not what's holding the weight; the thicker portion is where that force is distributed.

Now to see how these fare against my smarter chickens that like to disassemble stuff and undo latches...since the part that actually holds the feeder is gravity-only so they could potentially be devious and completely unseat the item hanging from these clips. If I come out and find grit holders on the ground with my smartypants flock then a redesign will be in order lol.