Designing and 3D printing feeders & accessories

[NameIwish]

This is terrific! I am very impressed.

I have a technical background and am pretty handy with Windows PCs, but have never owned a 3D printer. What would you recommend I buy (hardware + software) in order to do something similar?

Did your printer ship with compatible 3D-modeling software, did you use some off-the-shelf model, or did you have to create the model yourself with a third-party application?

See if you can find a club or group in your area - check with the local middle, high school or college and look for community college introductory classes.


That way, you get to play with the printers and learn from folks who have owned one or two, Any investment in classes is likely to save you more than teh cost of your first machine - esp if you don't buy the 'right one' first.

 

[cundare]

@namelwish
Unfortunately, I live on a small tropical island, so no clubs. We do have lots of chickens walking around everywhere, though!

 

[DonyaQuick]

Swapped out the right port's back-end for the newer angled version. I know it doesn't look like it from the picture, but the angled right port actually has more vertical space than the one on the left now. The original open-topped feeder has remained in and with feed in it, but the hens at least are now preferring the port feeder. Those two roos still won't let me watch them eat out of it, but I assume they must be eating from it too based on the lack of feed consumption from the open-topped feeder today. Also no trouble with condensation so far. Ignore the feed on the lip - that was my doing from rocking it around to replace the port part. The hens haven't been getting feed onto the ground so far.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Well I was able to get that frustrating white filament to behave. It needed a 10 degree temperature increase above what was stated on the reel and I needed to let the printer sit preheated for a couple minutes before starting the print. Switching slicer software also helped; I moved to using Prusa Slicer (previously was using Anycubic's slicer). Prusa Slicer is definitely not a lets-just-get-going-and-print type of program but the increased control is nice for finicky filament situations.

Because of how this particular white filament tends to break (long sharp splinters vs 90-degree-blunt), I still don't trust it for use in direct contact with chickens, but I'm currently using it to print a hopefully helpful item the chickens won't come into contact with that will sit on the outside of the run.

...And I was able to print some chickens to test settings lol.

(Variable layer height on left and "fuzzy skin" texture enabled on the right)

 

[DonyaQuick]

Aaaaand the 3D ports feeder is officially THE one and only feeder for my main flock. Took a while but I eventually saw all birds eating from it enthusiastically at one time or another, including both roos, and they were starting to ignore the scraps left in the open-topped one. Two bricks of height is apparenty sufficient for my roos.

And this is the not-in-contact-with-chickens thing I'm using that white filament reel for: a little tray/holder thing to set stuff by the doors of my enclosures. Ultimately I want one by each run door. It's actually not really for the coffee cup - that's just an added plus. It's primarily for when my birds manage to pull something out of my pocket that I forgot was in there and that they shouldn't have, which means I have to get it outside fast and if I throw it on the ground half the time they just shoot out the door after it. You know that scene from the original Jurassic Park where they lower the cow into the raptor pit? That's what it's like if my birds realize I've got a tissue or snack wrapper somewhere on my person. So basically this keeps the cow in the air and on the other side of the fence LOL.

Next project I'm aiming for: some kind of modular, adjustable-leg-height feeder/waterer stand...because it's annoying not being able to keep anything level over time as my birds dig about and keep changing the topology of their enclosures.

 

[DonyaQuick]

This is where I'm at design-wise for a modular feeder/waterer stand. This is somewaht tougher than the feeder port design because of the weight bearing aspect and need for adjustability without introducing excessive wobble. I've already verified that I can 3D print very large diameter bolts/screws (like 1" or more) and the slots for them for the adjustable part of the leg. The design as-is here would need glue to hold the bars; might see if I can do friction-fit dovetails or something similar so that the whole thing can be glue-free - which would be useful if I want to move to PETG at some point.

 

[DonyaQuick]

Well, I daresay my idea of doing a 3D-printed, push-fit dovetail joint worked pretty well...pushed that little edge piece down flush pretty easily with my thumb, and boy it is is NOT coming out of there even if I want it to. I'd probably have to whack it pretty hard from the other side with a mallet to get it back out. Definitely no glue needed!

Kind of tempted to do a hybrid plastic-wood design for the long beam bits of a feeder stand to save on filament, but I've had such bad experiences with wood around feed in my climate (grain mites love it!) that I think I have to stick to 100% plastic whether I do fully 3D-printed beams or use PVC bits from the hardware store or something similar.

Meanwhile, the port feeder continues to do well. Some feed does get kicked out but it's very little compared to what was the case with the open-top feeder.