Bee Feeder Waterer- Rev4 Final

Why another new design:  I couldn't find a Bee Waterer that fit any bottle properly. Don't worry though, you don't need a $1400 printer to make this. Even a $190 Creality prints this beautifully using the stock default files and directions below. This will mate with any PCO-1810 or PCO-1881 water bottle.

But wait, There's more!

1. This Bee Watering Station also includes all of the FreeCAD editable files.

2. The Printable also includes a test receptacle to dial in your bottle thread clearances to your own specific printer and bottle choice.

3. What else is different about this design is that I have included channels in the base to fill the honeycomb grid. This allows a much cleaner grid print, especially in PETG, by eliminating 1000s of retractions if the grid sat on 100 or more legs.

4. The files are parametric, being driven from one spreadsheet.

How to print:

This station (two parts: base and grid) printed on my Creality V3 SE works perfectly a scale of 103% on X & Y and 100% on Z for filament shrinkage and mechanical clearance. If you have not set any slicer values for shrinkage, just scale the two bodies in the slicer to 103%, slice and print! Maybe do this first with the little "bottle-thread-test-publish-Body.stl" at 103% first to be sure.

How to use this:  Snap/press the grid into the base reservoir. Fill your bottle, hold it upright and screw on the assembled base onto the bottle. Be careful not to cross-thread them!!  Set the Bee Waterer down on a flat surface and let it fill from the bottle. Just screw the bottle down fully but not tight. The threads end above the water exist ports. From here just let physics take over. If the basin fills too slowly give the bottle a squeeze!

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How to alter this design for a different bottle neck or fine-tune:

Your V3SE may be different, but my stock V3SE requires much more allowance for clearance of mating parts and scaling X & Y to 103% in your slicer should be great. For a more capable and accurate printer like my Voron I did not scale X or Y and added a total of 1.5% for a combined filament shrinkage and thread clearance, so in Orcaslicer I set the shrinkage allowance to 98.5% ( 1% for shrinkage and another 0.5% for clearance).  The bottle spins on freely and you can feel the bottle reach the end of the threads. Also, the bottle lands on a step that will limit how far it can screw into the base.  This is how either a PCO-1810 or PCO-1881 threaded commercial bottle neck can work with this Bee Feeder/Waterer. 

So much depends on the speed and build of your printer.  Do check using the test thread piece, it's only a 20 minute print on an Ender V3SE or much faster on a Voron.  

This is very much an exercise in the relationship of meniscus height to the surface tension of water. Altering the values for the thread shouldn't change the resting water level. Altering the height of the step, or the dimensions of the water ports will impact the final water level. If you do decide to adjust the helix for a different bottle size, just go into the "bottle-test-thread-publish.FCStd" and change the values in the internal spreadsheet for the thread profile and the ID that defines the hole. I think the default base should work for the PCO-1810 at a scale of 103% for X & Y set in your slicer if you don't compensate for shrinkage in your slicer. If 103% scale of the test is too loose or tight, +/- 0.5% should do it. This will fit on a Creality V3SE bed.

Please don't forget that if you have values for shrinkage already set in your slicer  you'll only need to make adjustments for clearances!

The FreeCAD file "beefeeder-base-rev4-SprdSht-use.fcstd" has the last two features unsuppressed in the model tree. If you suppress them you can revert to the full-size hex basin. I have designed the threaded receiver for either the PCO-1810 or PCO-1881 bottle neck. Enjoy!  

For a different bottle neck:

The helix thread groove is easy to edit.  First though, I would just try to rescale X and Y in the slicing software. The helical sketch profile can be adjusted and I already have the pitch set to 3.18mm. Edit the Spreadsheet in the "bottle-test-thread-publish.FCStd" file to fine tune the fit.  If your bottle is different- have at it!

This is how the fit works printed on my V3SE with the settings above:  https://photos.app.goo.gl/iYMn6gG6Qt9hHRCj6 

The bottle that I designed this for is a 700 ml water bottle that uses a PCO-1810 thread. A PCO-1881 neck should also fit.  I have revised (Dec 25th, 2025) the grid slightly for a closer fit to the base edges and the base thread profile. If you have a textured build surface, flip the grid over so the texture is imprinted on the top face for a nice finish.

This feeder displayed in the photo section is just the finished design in white PETG for the base and some old red ABS for the grid. As Bees apparently can't see red very well??, my grid versions for the garden will be printed in purple or blue and in PETG or ASA for better resistance to the elements.

I have included my Orcaslicer settings for my V3SE as a reference.

You may also be interested in my other Voron Trident mods shown here or at https://www.printables.com/@JimChristian_3198049  &  https://www.printables.com/@JimChristian_3198049/models  They work well  :-)

Also, if you find value in this, please give it a like. Thanks. 

This was designed on FreeCAD that I compiled yesterday on my Chromebook in a Linux container:

OS: Debian GNU/Linux 13 (trixie) (X-Generic/xwayland)

Architecture: x86_64

Version: 1.2.0dev.44767 (Git)

Build date: 2025/12/22 23:07:37

Build type: Unknown

Branch: main

Hash: d2daf0fc20a18bc0901cac19ca2313cf2bf6649c

Python 3.11.13, Qt 6.8.3, Coin 4.0.3, Vtk 9.3.1, boost 1_86, Eigen3 3.4.0, PySide 6.8.3

shiboken 6.8.3, xerces-c 3.3.0, IfcOpenShell 0.8.2, OCC 7.8.1

Locale: English/United States (en_US)

Navigation Style/Orbit Style/Rotation Mode: Blender/Rounded Arcball/Window center

Stylesheet/Theme/QtStyle: Darker.qss/Darker/

Logical DPI/Physical DPI/Pixel Ratio: 96/96.237/1.25

Installed mods:

* OpenTheme 2025.5.20

* ProDarkThemePreferencePack 1.0.0

* freecad.gears 1.3.0

* FreeCAD-themes 2025.6.4