Titmouse Feeder - A Suet Cake Container for Feeding Birds

thingiverse

Recently my husband asked me if I had any idea how to keep crows from stealing the suet cakes his wife hangs in trees for titmice and small birds during winter. So, our goal was to design a container for suet cakes or fat balls that titmice and other small birds could eat through winter safely without larger birds like crows taking the whole thing. The feeder consists of four sides printed separately with tongues on the left of each side clicking into the neighboring one's slots in the same way you'd assemble something. Before closing the last side by hooking it into the first, the socket on the base plate fits right in between and won't fall out because of its conical shape. A cord attached to two hooks above hangs off a tree branch easily, but can be pulled down with your fingers along a loop hanging down for refilling. Eaten fat balls get smaller while still being fed by the birds below; once small enough, they fall right out of the feeder through the hole at the bottom of the conical grid mesh. A file with 3D computer-aided design software is available here to be easily changed by you in order to meet your exact requirements and can print all you need to feed those little titmice in no time. For our project, you'll just have to print out one base plate, two without the top hooks for sides that won't hang on a tree branch plus two with hooks and one cover. Print Settings: Rafts Doesn't matter Supports No Notes: I made these objects using ABS filament at 0.4 millimeters nozzle width printing in layers that are .25 millimeter thick, but you might find different results with the machine you have at home if settings aren't quite exactly same and clean my print bed very thoroughly so your prints stick really well. I actually do not recommend that kind of thing since acetone fumes smell kinda strong.