Starting to get serious...

One of my plans when I bought the 3D printer was to print a new base for our birdfeeder... I dropped the birdfeeder and the base broke and it's been "drooping" due to the broken base for a few years.

First stage: Design and print the part that will couple to the birdfeeder.

Design: I made a start on TinkerCad and quickly realized that was not the best tool for this project. I investigated several options, and OpenSCAD looked like the best option for me, so I'm giving it a try. The initial work is just for the area where the base matches up with the birdfeeder tube... no need to print out a whole base just to discover that it doesn't fit well...

I started modelling the whole bottom area at the full height of the original then realized that I only need to print a few millimetres above and below the ledge the tube sits on. Because of how I modeled it in OpenSCAD I could change the model by changing a few numbers to remove a lot of excess... and print a test piece...

The inner ring is just a bit too small - luckily the outer ring is not too small, which gives me a good limit on how much bigger the inner ring needs to be, they're only 3mm different. I could potentially create a piece with a number of steps at various diameters and figure out exactly which step was a perfect match, but that could take quite a bit of printing... I'll make a guess and hope I get it right.

I increased diameters by 1.5mm and... good fit! Now the really tricky part... creating the rest of the design may take a few days as I have some other projects taking precedence.

OK, two days later... lots of modelling and learning OpenSCAD... and I finished the model!

Unlike the original, this will be "solid"... to do it as a shell (like the original) printing would have required support material (that would get thrown away) and I saw no real downside to making it "solid"... here's how the slicing turned out...

Just started the 12 hour print...

Had some issues with the nut cut-out - had to clean it up afterwards...

Overall, it looks great, a few adjustments if I ever have to print it again... after tightening the nut, it spun just a bit, not sure if I should try and make that tolerance tighter or not. It looks like I calculated something wrong and it's not quite as high as it should be.

Assembling the birdfeeder... the key could be a bit taller, but overall it looks great.

Hmmm - need an overall picture...

Now I'm 3D printing an adapter for putting it back on the pole.

My old purchase of 5-minute epoxy had hardened, so I looked at the options and decided to give E6000 a try. I stuffed a piece of cotton ball in first so the nut and threaded rod won't get glued into place too permanently.