Automatic Bird Feeder

Story 

There are many automatic bird feeders around, but I found it as an enjoyable CAD project to design one of my own. I am very satisfied with the results, because my feeder became extremely popular among the birds in our garden. On a good day, there maybe be 5+ birds simultaneously plundering it, so I have to refill every once in 3-4 days.

How it works

The roof holds in place by two self tapping screws, which are not really taped, but rather work as mere pins. The entire body of the feeder is filled with peeled sunflower seeds. The seeds are dropping by gravity as the birds eat them. Inside the body there is a 45° cone, making sure there are no leftovers or jams. The seeds by default end up in the "bowl" at the bottom.

Improvements

My original design did not have any place for the birds to stand so it did not really work. I had to add half of the Prusament spool to the bottom (idea from another project here). Now the birds have a place to sit and also the hex pattern contains any seed spills, should there be any. For my improvement I used parts from my junk box. For you I added a model of simple wheel with a hole to help you attach the spool part to the feeder with 3,5mm or 4mm self tapping screw. This is not tested, but should work just fine. The spool part should be mounted the nice part up, protrusion down. It is not obvious at first, but the spool looks nicer from the outside and also the dips/holes help contain the seeds.

Important

This bird feeder is designed to be hanged on a string. According to the Internet wisdom, this is the preffered way to prevent cats from interfering with the birds.

My print settings

This is what I used, you can try your own settings. PLA may not be perfect for outdoors, but makes removing supports easy.

• 0.20mm QUALITY
• Prusament PLA
• In-fill 15%
• Supports everywhere