Bird Feeder

Due to COVID-19 quarantine, I was unable to participate in one of my favorite activities: enjoying the outdoors! As such, and noticing the activities of a small flock of Western Scrub Jays that tended to congregate in my yard, I decided to design and 3D print a bird feeder using my Ender 5 Plus.

For my first iteration, I made the initial shape and design using Solidworks. Next, I utilized the latticing tools of nTopology to lightweight the structure and create feeding holes for the birds while simultaneously creating an aesthetically appealing design, before returning the file to Solidworks in order to put the final details together. I printed it using black PLA (non-toxic!) over the course of 28 hours. Unfortunately, while my first iteration had some successes, the overall structure was too delicate and not well optimized for usage as a feeder. This, plus an attack by some overzealous squirrels, resulted in the first birdfeeder being ruined.

I decided to re-examine my birdfeeder design a number of months later once the weather re-encouraged bird feeding. Having developed a stronger understanding of nTopology and taking the lessons of my first iteration to heart, I redesigned the feeder to make it more robust and better suited for actual bird feeding. I’m happy to report that iteration 2 is currently up and running, and the new flock of birds I’ve cultivated since moving houses is happily munching away-though we do get the occasional squirrelly visitor too.