Do you have a pet? Or do you want one? Everyone loves pets, for some it's more dogs, for others it's cats. However, owning a pet involves a number of responsibilities. Fortunately, most of us take very good care of them, but that doesn't mean we don't want to go away for the weekend and leave our cat alone for a day or two, for example. But nobody wants to leave their cat without food. So some people fill several bowls in the hope that the cats will manage the distribution of food correctly over 2 days. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case. I myself have 2 cats: Oslo and Misty, and I can assure you that they are particularly greedy. That's what prompted me to develop this adjustable automatic kibble dispenser.
I invite you to follow my Instructable, so that you can reproduce this project, which is very close to my heart.
We'll start by looking at the mechanical aspects of our distributor. It operates mainly through the rotation of a worm screw, which is driven by a motor. This is why the first step is to print all the parts of the dispenser in PLA. Personally, I printed the whole thing with 20% fill. I'd also advise you to print with tree-shaped supports, to make it easier for you when you have to remove the supports, particularly around the worm screw.
WARNING : Print the 'PipeConnector' only if you want to distribute to 2 cats/dogs. Print twice the 'Bracket'.
STL files are available in the Files tab
2
Create the Wood Structure
For the creation of the wooden structure, which is supposed to enclose the system, I think you'll probably have to adapt it according to your own constraints. For example, if you want the system to be lower for the bowls and so on.
However, I'll leave you with a sketch of my wooden structure from which you can draw inspiration.
3
Fixing the System to the Wooden Structure
Once you have the mechanical part of your system and the wooden structure, you can assemble the whole thing. To do this, place your bottle in the dedicated space, along with your 3D printed parts, as shown in the photo and in the sketch.
You can then mark out the markings and screw your parts onto the wooden board one by one. Avoid leaving too much play in the screw, as it could slip and no longer be in contact with the motor gear ('SmallestGear').
Then stick the worm gear to its start and the guide to the base using an adhesive such as ultraglue.
There are also 2 parts that need to be screwed to the load cell: ‘LoadCellBase’ and ‘TopPlate’. And then you can place the scales under one of the bowls.