Water dispenser and bath for birds

cults3d

Birds strive to find food during winter. Bird feeders are great for that. But birds are also thirsty all year long and finding water to drink or bathe can be challenging for them. So that's my version of a water dispenser. You can find plenty on .stl sharing sites or YouTube. This one is inspired by many initiatives I saw. The system is designed so that water automatically fills the cup without spilling over. And the bottle re-fills the cup automatically when needed. My design offsets the bottle's cap close to the border of the cup so that there is plenty of space for birds to enjoy; small species can even bathe inside. How to make it: Get a San Pellegrino® sparkling water bottle. You just need to get rid of the "collar" that's initially attached to the cap. Get rid of the stickers (soak the bottle in warm water for a few minutes). Punch or drill three holes as shown on the picture. Make them about 3mm in diameter. Don't make them too large or it won't work (water will flow out in an uncontrolled manner). Fill the bottle with water, screw the bottle's cap and insert it upside down in the circular slot of the cup. No need for glue, push it down and it should be nicely secured. You will be able to pull it out to fill it again as many times as you want. Please test the flow before enlarging the holes. The water flow should be very slow and generate bubbles in the bottle as small gasps of air enter in exchange. The upper hole can be a bit wider than the two lower ones. What to expect: If you made your holes correctly, once the bottle is inserted in the circular slot, water will fill the cup and stop flowing when the two lower holes are submerged. Water will flow again when the holes are above the level of the water. Meaning that, as birds drink the water or should it evaporate, the cup will automatically be re-filled until the bottle is empty. Attention: Please use PETG and not PLA. PLA is not food-safe and won't resist well in extreme outdoor conditions. Nota: if water flows continuously and spills over the cup, your holes are probably too large or not set at he right height from the bottom of the cup. The system relies on water tension. It's quite easy to achieve though; try and learn. Nota2: the three "legs" can be used to attach the cup to any surface with screws or nails. I may explore a way to use these to make a suspended version of the dispenser. Nota3: don't mind the colors. I ran out of black PETG during the print and had to switch to white. In the end it's not that bad.