Automatic Chain Fish Feeder

thingiverse

I've always been passionate about my aquarium, currently boasting a thriving community of fish in my 125-gallon freshwater setup. To keep them happy, I feed them twice daily with a tablespoon of carefully mixed dried foods. However, this routine creates a problem: how can I travel out of town while consistently feeding them each meal? I've never trusted those rotary type feeders and sought something better than the slow dissolve feeders. After acquiring my CR10S Pro, I decided it was time to learn how to design my own feeder using Blender! The completed design file is included as a .blend file, with each part exported into .stl files. To assemble, simply refer to the numbers in parentheses for quantities needed. For the drive motor, I recommend using a 1/30RPM motor available on Amazon: Fleck 5600 Replacement Timer & Piston Drive Motor - Genuine Fleck Part# 18743 (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B004I0N028). To complete the build, you'll need bearings measuring 8 x 22 x 7 mm (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FGVFN6F) and a programmable 7-day timer (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MVF16JG). Install the motor with two small screws, then wire it to the timer using a small AC plug connector. Hot-glue the timer in place on the frame and plug it into an extension cord for power. With the timer set to 15 minutes, you'll get one-eighth of a turn on the drive gear, which will release one box of food into the aquarium. Fill the top half of the chain, which can hold 14 boxes worth, enough for two weeks if feeding once daily or one week if feeding twice daily. I put this feeder to the test on my recent vacation and it performed flawlessly! My fish were well-fed and I didn't have to worry about a thing.