34 replies to this topic

[drtrmiller]

Wanted: One good idea, on a paper napkin or otherwise submitted here.

Reward: Your choice of $100 cash to a PayPal account (delivered immediately upon design approval) OR a GlassBox formicarium and foraging area bundle, when product is released.

For Consideration: Use the requirements below and submit your design illustration (and accompanying text, if any) in this thread. Designs must be made public, and if two people submit a design with high similarity, the earlier design submitted will take precedent. If a feature (i.e. partial design) is used from multiple design submissions, the reward may be split among those who submitted. Submission does not obligate me to use your design in any way. If your design is similar to one I have already ideated, as described below, it will not be considered for a reward. User must have a PayPal account to receive cash reward, or a shipping address for mailing the formicarium. Entries/rewards void where prohibited.

To qualify for a reward, the idea must be complete, including all relevant mechanical design either in an illustration, or in text accompanying an illustration. Ask yourself: "How will this fit to the existing components/subassemblies? Where is a hole required in the foraging area? Does the foraging area floor need to be raised or lowered? Is this one piece, or multiple pieces that connect together? Is this a slotted design, or is there an alternative connecting mechanism?"

Anyone can help, but to qualify for a reward, illustrations of your idea, however crude, are required. The reason for this is because words may inspire an idea, but only pictures can prove whether your idea was used in the final design.

Project Brief:

I need a special connector that I'm 3D printing/laser cutting to join two assemblies together. I have made several designs, myself, but after working on the whole assembly for months, I seem to be lacking the creativity and fresh perspective to settle on a final design, so I need your help to start from scratch and see if it can be done differently.

Being designed, is a habitat for ants. The habitat, or formicarium, as it is called, consists of a 4x4 inch square nest, with a special connector designed to fit into a grooved slot. This design is fixed.


The nest module, described above, connects to a foraging area, which is an interlocking slot/tab acrylic box, with the floor elevated from the surface on which the box lies. These two parts, the nest and the foraging area, are to be mated together with a custom connector that you will design. Ants will travel between the nest and foraging area.

For clarity, the floor of the foraging area may be raised or lowered. Holes may be put in the foraging area floor, or the foraging area sidewall. The starting height of the tunnel, as well as other elements of the nest module, however, are fixed.

• Your design must utilize both FDM 3D printing and laser cutting fabrication technology
• Your design must allow unimpaired visibility of the ants as they travel between the nest and the foraging area
• Your design must be mechanically sound with reasonable tolerances that, when evaluated, do not appear to allow small ants to escape, and to hold together securely with the other parts of the assembly
• Your design must minimize any vertical climbing, utilizing only ramps or a horizontal path from assembly to assembly, and MUST NOT USE TUBING
• Your design may be one part, or it may be two separate parts (i.e. connector on both the foraging area assembly and the nest assembly that meet in the middle)
• Your design may interface with the foraging area assembly either through the bottom floor, or through the sidewall of the foraging area

I'm paying for an idea. You can draw it on a napkin and send me a picture if you like. There is no need to model the idea yourself, although you are free to do so. This job should be simple-either you have the idea, or you don't. The best ideas usually come quickly, so work fast and post here for feedback.

***Designs I have considered and modeled, myself, include a 3D printed base connector with a tunnel running through the middle with clear acrylic on top and on one side, allowing the ants to be seen from various viewing angles. I won't consider this idea, but you may view it IF you absolutely must, by clicking here. I don't recommend viewing it, because I want you to think fresh and consider designs I haven't considered.***

If you model your design in CAD, I do not care what program you use, but I do prefer free software like ONSHAPE.

Please let me know if you have any questions, and thanks for taking the time to review my work requirements.

Edited by drtrmiller, April 3 2024 - 8:40 AM.

[BugFinder]

Good luck with that.  I wish I could help.

[Etherwulf]

 

 

The design in itself is essentially a plastic frame in the form of a half hexagon. This is to allow for good visibility from 3 angles as opposed to just one if a single acrylic panel was used. This is somewhat similar to the grotube outworld design. Manufacturing this can be somewhat tricky so if the top plastic half of the connector could be injection molded, it would be best as it could then be just snapped on to the 3d printed bottom. This would remove the need for a 3d printed  frame to hold it in place.

 

I forgot what the pre-existing female slot looked like so I didn't get the male connector right.

 

As for the connection to the outworld itself, a rubber gasket is used for an airtight seal. Magnets could be used solely but this would result in higher costs and not nearly as tight of a seal. If you don't think it's sturdy enough, you can opt to combine magnets with the gasket into the design do that it latches on to the side of the outworld and forms an airtight seal at the same time. 

 

The mechanism works the same way the airtight container below does. This effectively prevents even the tiniest ants from escaping.

 

 

 

Plus, no ramps are needed so the ants can freely transport food and garbage back and forth. Combined with the half-hexagon plastic top, there are many great photography opportunities of ants transporting food.

 

Also, I'm thinking of adding a sensor below the deck of the connector to measure weight. The connector would then be backlit in different colors depending on the weight of ants and food on it. This would be excellent for identifying "hotspots" in large network.

Edited by Etherwulf, March 18 2015 - 6:13 AM.

[drtrmiller]

Wow I never thought of translating my GroTube work to this. Rectangular acrylic reduces manufacturing costs because machine cutting is less expensive—laser machining is only required for non-rectangular shapes, which aren't found in your design, which is a major plus.

I think you have a snap fit plastic piece connecting from the inside sidewall of the foraging area to the connector tunnel, with a rubber gasket between them.  I doubt a rubber gasket will be needed, because I can make some pretty tight parts.

The biggest challenge may be the taper to the grooved slot of the nest, and injection molding isn't an option yet. Let me see if I can design this for manufacturability with the few tools I have. I also like how big/wide the ant highway is, tapering to the nest entrance like a funnel. Ants could easily pile dirt right outside the nest entrance and it wouldn't hamper visibility.

I'll let you know more, shortly.  In the meantime, excellent work—just the fresh perspective I needed!

Edited by drtrmiller, March 18 2015 - 4:54 AM.

[drtrmiller]

Thank you to Crystals, who was kind enough to submit some ideas:

 

 

"Here is my chicken scratch diagram.  It is probably missing a few requirements, but it is all I can think of.

 

It can either be a dome top - with thicker plastic it will act like a magnifying glass.  Or you can do a rectangle and just add one of those semi-circle magnifying pieces on top - or even a jeweler's lens, then you could move it (what ant sits directly below the ideal viewing location?).

 

Look at some Intarsia wood puzzles.  That is what this is reminding me of."

Edited by drtrmiller, March 18 2015 - 6:30 AM.

[drtrmiller]

A Serbian freelancer who is not a member here sent me the following idea.  It's similar to my original idea which involved a ramp, and doesn't really illustrate how the pieces join together, as much as the middle viewing part:

 

 

"Relevant Experience and Qualifications:

Greetings! Thanks for consideration. I believe I am able to bring fresh ideas and solutions, but I am having trouble visualizing your setup. How long should be the distance between nest and box? Are they sitting on same surface as shown on images and easm? I am sending you an quick drawing... If you think it makes any sense for your application, I can refine it, or make something more suitable...

Approach to the Job:
if you have some time for short skype call, we can arrange one...
As you said... you are paying just if you get an good idea xD

I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Stojan"

[Ants4fun]

I am not able to see the last two pics? And I was thinking about entering a design, however I was wondering if you are capable of adding tiny bumps to the acrylic for traction?

[drtrmiller]

I am not able to see the last two pics? And I was thinking about entering a design, however I was wondering if you are capable of adding tiny bumps to the acrylic for traction?

 

You may need to view on an updated desktop browser to see some of the pictures.

 

But yes, texture is not an issue.  I look forward to seeing your design :~)

[Silvak]

 

I focused mostly on the connection to the outworld. It utilizes a separate piece I've mentally been referring to as a yoke. It slides in behind the male end and locks it in place. The top sketches are a general over view of the whole main piece. The cross section just shows the printed base with acrylic walls that slide into place with an acrylic top that spans the entire distance. Not fancy, but functional.

 

The middle sketches show how the yoke can be used in a horizontal setup with the corridor coming through the sidewall of the outworld/arena. Since the strongest connection would put the hole off the floor of the arena a ramp could be placed on the front of the yoke.

The bottom two sets of sketches were using the general concept but coming up from underneath the outworld. I personally like the first of those two, but it uses a vertical opening which you said you didn't prefer. I can just see it coming up in the middle of the outworld which I think is very similar to an ant mound in the wild. The second uses a ramp, and I used a rectangular opening in the sketch but I think an oval opening might be possible and would probably be the best of both underworld designs.

EDIT: Swapped the image for a color coded version.

Edited by Silvak, March 18 2015 - 9:02 AM.

[drtrmiller]

I focused mostly on the connection to the outworld. It utilizes a separate piece I've mentally been referring to as a yoke........which I only now noticed I didn't draw separately. I can draw it out if you need me to. 

 

Yes, I'm having some difficulty understanding the topmost drawings in the context of the whole assembly.

 

 

I've attached a cross section perspective view for you to doodle on, if you like.  Keep in mind the floor of the arena can be raised from this position, if needed.  Cuts can be made in either the floor or sidewall of the arena.

[Ants4fun]

Here is a simple idea. It has tiny bumps so that the ants can have more traction, as well as the ramp goes down so it simulates the ants environment where the go down into their nest. The outside is based off of the grotube foraging area. Sorry I didn't get the connectors right, I didn't see the design till after I scribbled it out. Sorry as well for my lack of artistic talent.

Edit: it seems my scribble is small and ninety degrees to the left. I hope I fixed this.

Attached Images

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Edited by Ants4fun, March 18 2015 - 8:45 AM.

[Ants4fun]

I will draw out a more complex diagram at my house, just wanted to get the idea out there.

[drtrmiller]

I will draw out a more complex diagram at my house, just wanted to get the idea out there.

 

Sounds good.  You may want to print out the side view and draw on top of it so I can see your drawing in the context of the assembly.  Otherwise, it's sometimes difficult to make out what goes where and how it fits.

[Silvak]

I've update my sketch and description, but I can't draw at an angle or perspective. It just ends up as a giant mess. I'm afraid that's as good as you get......sorry.

[drtrmiller]

I've update my sketch and description, but I can't draw at an angle or perspective. It just ends up as a giant mess. I'm afraid that's as good as you get......sorry.

 

Is "yoke" like a 3D printed piece that acts as an anthill?

[Silvak]

Yes, but more importantly it also locks the male end from pulling out of the arena. Sort of a reversed version that allows the nests to connect but still have tight, hard connections.

[Ants4fun]

Here's a better idea of what I am talking about.

[drtrmiller]

Here's a better idea of what I am talking about.hundred dollar idea.PNG

 

Ahh, I see! That is a much clearer illustration!

 

Thanks for your submission :~)

Edited by drtrmiller, March 18 2015 - 11:27 AM.

[Ants4fun]

Can there be multiple entries?

[drtrmiller]

Can there be multiple entries?

 

 Yes.