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IoT cat feeder

A mostly 3D printed automated cat feeder (part of my SCADA)

stefanschnitzerstefan.schnitzer
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Update: Since the feeder is still working fine, I took some time to clean up the 3D model.

This build is based on the grand design of Thomas Krichbaumer (https://www.thingiverse.com/der_stihl/designs)
I changed the bowl support (to use a glass bowl), the case, and the lid.

It's an automated cat feeder for dry food. The load cell (HX711) below the bowl constantly reports how much food is left. When it's feeding time, the built-in Arduino gets a trigger signal from my smart home (via Modbus TCP), and the bowl gets refilled if needed. The Arduino controls the dosing process itself.

The auger is driven by a Nema23 stepper motor which a TMC2208 driver controls.

Please see also my smarthome SCADA project: https://hackaday.io/project/14862-diy-scada-smart-home

The final test run:

Button, status LED, Data connection and supply voltage:

A bit messy but it fits... 

The supply for the glass bowl.

final testrun.gif

Graphics Interchange Format - 15.62 MB - 10/01/2019 at 05:54

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  • 1 × Arduino Mega 2650
  • 1 × Arduino Ethernet Shield
  • 1 × Nema 23 Stepper
  • 1 × TMC2208 Stepper Motor Driver
  • 1 × 230VAC to 12VDC power supply

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View all 7 project logs

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Clay Graham wrote 12/25/2019 at 14:49 • point

Wow. Super impressed by this project.

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Dan Maloney wrote 10/01/2019 at 15:03 • point

Been meaning to build one of these for our cat, who likes to wake me up at 4:00 AM to remind me that he hasn't eaten EVER and needs to be fed right away. But then I realized that I could use something similar for my chickens. Might have to think about ways to build a larger, weatherproof version.

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stefan.schnitzer wrote 10/02/2019 at 06:26 • point

That's why my feeding timer is set to 4:01 AM.

  Are you sure? yes | no

Mike Szczys wrote 10/07/2019 at 22:20 • point

We've built a cozy home for our cats in the basement and close off the cat door after about 10:30 at night. They'd also like to wake up the house at 4am.

Nice work on the printed auger, that's always the part that stopped me on a multi-dose feed, all I've ever managed are 1-shot feeders.

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