The Build Process

The STL’s for the 3D printed parts of this project can be found on Printables.com

This write up really isn’t meant to be a “How to” but just what I went through to build this.

The main feeder is made from a Zevro Dry Food Dispenser.

Dispenser = https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00579XVBY

I wanted to run the motor in the rear of the dispenser to keep everything looking nice and to make room for a camera up front. So to start I had to hog out the front hole of the canister a bit with a file so the rubber blade ball would fit in backwards.

The next thing I had to do was mark the area in the top part of the stand where the shaft would fit through to the rear.

The geared motor I chose will be mounted with a 3d printed mount to the rear of the feeder. The motor mounts to the printed mount using (4) M3x(I forget the length) flat head screws.

5V 9RPM Worm Gear Motor = https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N56RTQQ

The motor/shaft assembly was then inserted into the stand and the shaft into the rubber blade ball to make sure everything is aligned correctly.

The mount for the camera is also 3d Printed and the camera mounts to it with (2) 2-56″ x 1/8″ button head screws.

Camera = https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B012V1HEP4

Clearance for the camera ribbon cable are rough cut (I’ll clean them up later) into the top piece of the stand…..

….and along the side and back into the riser.

The ribbon cable is feed along these cutouts back down into the riser stand.

Cable = https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00M4DAQH8

I originally planned on using a Adafruit DC & Stepper Motor HAT show here to run the motor but it seemed like a waste to use that hat just to spin a single motor for a few seconds a few times a day so I switched to a relay board instead. (not show)

Relay Board = https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0057OC6D8

The Pi and Relay board will be mounted to a 3D printed mount that will fit inside the riser stand. (This was printed in two pieces and then glued together.)

Here the boards have been mounted to the mount using 2-56″ button head screws and the basic wiring has been done. The only thing left to connect is the motor leads. The red led just indicates power is plugged in and the green led will indicate the program is running. The red switch is the manual button for the motor while the black switch triggers the shut down sequence for the Pi so it can be safely unplugged.

Final testing before I try to shove all this crap into the riser housing. (I should note that in this picture I’m only using one of the relays on the board. I am just using the NC connections of the other ones terminal block to connect the two negative leads of the motor together.)

It’s a tight fit but it should work out.

I played around with a few different base ideas. This one clamps on to a stand in my kitchen where the cat normally eats.

In the end I went with a stand alone base so the feeder could be used in any location around the house I needed. Unfortunately that is all the documentation I did along the way. The feeder works but I still might need to play around with the code a bit as sometimes the times are off the next day if left running.

Insert code — here.

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