Cat Slow Feeder

Feeder for a small pet intended to force them to slow down their eating habits.
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updated August 13, 2022

Description

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This is an update to a great design I found on Thingiverse, https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4460669. I was unable to locate this part here on Printables.com, so it is not marked as a remix.

Printing

Bowl

The most important thing to consider when printing this design is to slice both parts of the bowl using PrusaSlicer. I do not expect it to slice properly in other slicers due to my usage of modifiers. The modifiers were added to create the screw holes. The other models may be sliced with any slicer application.

Print one bowl top and one bowl bottom. You'll need M3 screws, 50mm length, quantity 5. 45mm length may work, 40mm is likely too short.

Locks and Endcap

You'll need to print two locks and one endcap. A .3mf file is included in this project with these three components. The endcap has a custom support built into it that can be easily popped out, usually with just your fingers. If it gives you trouble, it is easy to grasp with needle nose pliers.

Food Toob

Select a food tube and print it. Each provided file mentions a size. This size is the opening for the kibble to fall out. My cat's food consists of pretty small sized kibble and I'm using the 8mm tube for him. Now that he has the hang of it, I can probably go down to the 7mm size, but I suspect the 6mm will be too small.

Like the end cap, there's a custom support that is easily removed after printing.

Updates From Original Design

There were several issues I had printing and using the original design. Those changes are detailed below.

Bowl

The original bowl design requires extensive supports to print in a single piece. An alternate option provided by jactre, the original creator of this design, was to split the bowl into two parts; top and bottom. 

  • This split was done, in my opinion, too high up. There was a section of fillet left behind that extended out horizontally and may sag if printed without supports.
  • Nuts were added to the top of the bowl to allow the parts to be screwed together. It was suggested to use superglue to hold the nuts in place so that they don't pull out. I'm concerned that if the glue breaks and the nut pulls out, there may be nothing to keep the top from separating from the bottom.

I've updated the bowl to move the split to a lower spot on the design, eliminating the possibility of sagging. 

The bottom bowl print will pause at a height of 5mm for you to add some weights to the design to help keep your kitty from knocking it over. The weights you use, if any, must be no greater than 4mm in height. I added four large fender washers with a diameter of 58mm and a thickness of 4mm. Feel free to adjust the “weights” modifier before slicing in PrusaSlicer.

If you do not wish to add weights, use the bowl bottom no weights instead.

Food Toob

The food tube fins were adjusted to add a 45° angle to them, eliminating the need for supports. Additionally, the fine pitch threads were removed so that they don't get filled with bits of food which may lead to the threads getting jammed. 

The endcap no longer threads in and is just popped into the food tube. It is a loose fit, but will not fall out when the locks are put into place.

Toob Locks

The fins on the tube locks were also updated to add 45° angles to them, eliminating the need for supports. They might have printed OK without supports in the original model, but I suspect they'd likely need to be cleaned up.

I found the original locks were pretty tight when trying to insert them into the bowl. I found it difficult to rotate them and difficult to remove them. To make them easier to turn, I've reduced the diameter by about half a millimeter and also added protrusions around the perimeter to have something to press against.

Tags



Model origin

The author remixed this model.

Cat Slow Feeder
by jactre (thingiverse.com)

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