Pet Feeder

thingiverse

Update 2/24/2022 Redesigned the drive shaft to be a little heavier duty and paddle to fit. Wanted an automatic feeder for the dog. The screw type feeders would jamb and the cereal dispenser type were too small. So I designed a cereal type that uses 2" PVC fittings. This feeder is for a dog but will work with most pet foods. Besides the printed parts you'll need a 2" PVC Tee (and not the kind for DWV) The Tee has to be straight without a swoop. A stepper, power supply, stepper driver, Arduino Nano, RTC module, piezo buzzer, a momentary button and a buck converter. Also nuts and bolts to mount the stepper and a 608 bearing. All pieces are PLA except the the feeder paddle. Make it out of TPU. After printing the feeder paddle, cut the paddles at the disc base about half way down. This will free the ends to flex and not jamb on the food. Insert the 608 bearing into the bearing support. This is glued to the round end of the 2"PVC coupling. Mount the feeder paddle to the drive shaft square end. Insert shaft through bearing. Align shaft to stepper and push home. The shaft may be longer than you need. Trim the square end first as needed. The stepper is attached to the stepper mount. This is then attached to the 2"PVC coupling The 2" PVC coupling is inserted in the side of the tee. The fit is snug. When assembled the feeder paddle should just be touching the other side of the tee. The box is big enough for the electronics with a hole at the bottom for the power supply and a hole at the top for the button. Food is dispensed by pushing the button or by the times set in the sketch I've include the sketch that is set up for 4 feeding times. You can adjust times and amount dispensed. As is it dispenses about 1 cup of food. This will vary depending on your food. Appreciate any comments to improve. Code works but has some extraneous lines that have been commented out.