12 replies to this topic

[Subverted]

Been working on these little feeders that are similar to the pyramids that Drew made but are a little (lot) less square. Could probably use a bit more refinement but I'm not too concerned about aesthetics.

I have printed up about 10 of these at 0.25mm layers and 0% fill and have not had any leaks so far. Your individual results may vary - I'm not sure how consistent 3d printers are. Right now I am using strands of nylon twine as a wick but kevlar seems to be the gold standard for long term use.

Download the stl file but please pay attention to how I have licensed this as a noncommercial work: https://drive.google...iew?usp=sharing




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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

[FSTP]

The madonna feeder.

[Subverted]

The madonna feeder.

What do you expect when Zapp Brannigan is feeding me designs?

[klawfran3]

 

The madonna feeder.

What do you expect when Zapp Brannigan is feeding me designs?

 

 

 

The madonna feeder.

What do you expect when Zapp Brannigan is feeding me designs?

 

 

I like the design of both yours and Drew's, how much can yours hold? My University is getting some 3d printers in eventually and it would be so rad if i could use them to print off ant nests haha

[Spamdy]

Have a friend who owns one, can't wait to try it out! I will give feedback later! Thanks!

[Spamdy]

oh and is camponotus spp able to drink from this?

Edited by Spamdy, May 1 2017 - 1:21 PM.

[klawfran3]

oh and is camponotus spp able to drink from this?

I'd say definitely. There's nothing for them to fit their heads into so they'll be able to drink from the exposed cotton.

[Subverted]

I like the design of both yours and Drew's, how much can yours hold?

These hold right around 3ml of liquid without any spilling out when the lid is put on. I'm not sure how that compares to Drew's pyramids.

[Kevin]

There has to be a better way of doing this, I will be thinking of a good design for personal use  that doesnt use so much material, maybe even wick free.

[Subverted]

There has to be a better way of doing this, I will be thinking of a good design for personal use  that doesnt use so much material, maybe even wick free.

I experimented a bit with capillary tubes but didn't get results that were appreciably better than wicks. Wicks avoid a lot of problems that are seen in vacuum based feeders (temperature/pressure variations).

How much material would you like a feeder to use? My quick math says these use about 11 cents of filament each...

Edit:
Updated math because I forgot to write down the filament length used...

1.1831m of filament per feeder.

Lets call it 1200mm and assume I pay $18 per kg of filament (I think it was $35 for the two spools I bought).

Feed those numbers into this website: https://consumables....ost-calculator/

That gives you a cost of 6 cents of filament per feeder.

Edited by Subverted, May 1 2017 - 4:28 PM.

[Antsinmycloset]

How well do wick feeders work for nectar/sugar water, anyway? My smaller ants send suicidal explorers to my feeders more often than I'd like.

[Subverted]

Did some more testing and I think I have decided that optimal printing parameters are 0% fill, 1 shell, and 0.25mm layers. Increasing the layer height decreased the print time a bit more but the caps start to get a little messed up.

Finally got myself some clear filament yesterday and have been making sure those settings worked with that filament too - everything looks good. Here are some of the ones I was leak testing, all of these are full of liquid and one has dyed nectar mix:

[FSTP]