My automatic dog feeders work great but only hold enough food for a few days so I designed and printed a funneling system and a resovoir to hold the entire bag so all I have to do is fill the resovoir when I get a new bag. Works great.

Edit: don’t know why the photo uploaded sideways. Sorry about that.

    • canthidium@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      11·
      11 months ago

      LMAO, i seriously thought about doing some kind of crazy rube goldberg setup for it. I’m still contemplating running a water line to the water dispenser so it’s always topped off too.

      • FigMcLargeHuge@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        3·
        11 months ago

        You should. My best friend hates adding water to his keurig machine. So he designed a float and such, mailed me the tank lid and components with a diagram of how they should fit. I designed and built the rack that fits on the lid and mailed it all back to him. Works like a charm.

        • canthidium@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
          3·
          11 months ago

          Nice. I just might give it a go. The fridge is just on the other side of that wall so it would be easy to tap into the water line and run it through the wall. Thanks!

      • ArtisinalBS@lemm.eeEnglish
        2·
        11 months ago

        You should make this into a smart appliance , responding to posts on mastodon or lemmy , this way it’s fedderated feeder feeding fluffy dudes’ food.

  • Tony N@lemmy.mlEnglish
    8·
    11 months ago

    I love it! It looks like a robot with legs. You should put some googly eyes on the bucket 😁

  • charles@lemmy.caEnglish
    6·
    11 months ago

    What brand is that water reservoir/bowl? I haven’t gotten one yet because I don’t like how the ones I’d seen all just look like a cheap plastic box but I really like the look of the one you have.

  • Schwim Dandy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    61·
    11 months ago

    How do those bowls work for slowing down their chow time? We’ve got one dog that eats so quickly, he throws it back up sometimes.

    • canthidium@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      4·
      11 months ago

      They’re on a timer and I can set how much food is dispensed. I feed them twice a day different amounts for each dog and they know (most of the time) which bowl is theirs and don’t touch the other one.

      EDIT: I realized you might be talking about the puzzle bowls specifically. The food fills the crevices and it’s harder to get the food out so it slows them down some.

    • chowder@lemmy.oneEnglish
      3·
      11 months ago

      Great as long as they don’t figure out how to knock the bowl over and eat off of the floor. Went from about 5-10 seconds to around 30-45.

      • canthidium@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
        7·
        11 months ago

        You can’t see it in the picture, but I have these braces I printed that holds the bowls in place. They can spin but they don’t come out.

    • gibmiser@lemmy.worldEnglish
      63·
      11 months ago

      What’s the problem? I assume your dog just eats it’s vomit like a good pepper right?

  • rambos@lemm.eeEnglish
    4·
    11 months ago

    Awesome, well done. Im sure your dogs are happy to have you as owner.

    Not sure what parts are printed, but Im guessing

    • canthidium@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      3·
      11 months ago

      Thanks so much! That’s makes me happy. It’s just me and my buddies and they are my world.

      So the container at the top and the shelf are bought. I cut a hole in the bottom of the container and printed a funnel to go in there. The tubes and the gray covers to the feeders are printed. I also printed the colored feet under the feeders to lift them, the chute so the food makes it into the bowl, and you can’t see it but there’s a brace connected to the frames holding the bowls in place.

  • aksose@lemmy.worldEnglish
    4·
    11 months ago

    Nicely done! One of the most satisfying parts of having a 3D printer is being able to conjure up a solution out of nothingness.

  • stalfoss@lemm.eeEnglish
    4·
    11 months ago

    How often do you clean it? Seems like that would be more hassle than refilling the feeders lol

  • Wren@sopuli.xyzEnglish
    2·
    11 months ago

    This is glorious. I really can’t wait to get a 3d printer, love this kind of problem solving

    • canthidium@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      2·
      11 months ago

      Thanks! Problem solving is honestly my favorite thing to do with my printers. I am constantly looking around the house for things that I can make better with prints.

  • HeyJoe@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    11 months ago

    You have inspired me… I only have 1 dog so it should be a bit easier. I even have thr same food container you have, Costco special. It would be nice to just fill the container and forget about it.

    • canthidium@lemmy.worldOPEnglish
      2·
      11 months ago

      It wasn’t a huge hassle to fill their feeders, but of course, that’s what 3d printing is all about. Not necessarily fixing a problem, but making things more efficient and convenient. And it’s super nice to just have my dog food (which is on a subscription to be delivered monthly) show up and just fill the container and I don’t have to worry about them being fed because my schedule can be all over the place at time. I even have an automatic sliding door so I can let them out remotely if need be. At home, I just tell Alexa to open the door to let them out.

  • aebrer@kbin.social
    2·
    11 months ago

    I’ve got a wopet feeder for my cat and would kill for the STLs for the legs and chute lol (but please ofc don’t feel obligated to share them free or otherwise). Same reason as you, so I can have it dump into a puzzle feeder.

    Anyway, amazing work, any chance a guy can obtain some of your STL files?