Bird Feeder - Shell Spin

SHELL SPIN – Interactive Bird Feeder

SHELL SPIN is an interactive bird feeder toy designed to combine mental stimulation with a rewarding experience.

By rotating the food container, small amounts of birdseed are released and guided into the collection tray below. After each rotation, the container automatically returns to its original position, keeping the dispensing opening facing upward and preventing the remaining seeds from spilling out.

The goal of this design was to create an easy-to-use enrichment toy that encourages birds to actively forage for their food.

Biomimicry – Inspired by Nature

The design of the food container is inspired by the natural structure of a snail shell.

Snail shells are characterized by their compact, coiled geometry and nested internal structure. This geometric principle served as the inspiration for the internal design of the food container.

Instead of storing the seeds in a simple hollow chamber, they are guided through a nested internal structure. This increases the distance the seeds must travel before reaching the dispensing opening, helping to achieve a controlled, gradual release of food as the container rotates.

The biomimetic approach therefore goes beyond the external appearance. It focuses primarily on transferring the natural shell structure into a functional seed-guiding mechanism.

The original snail shell geometry was deliberately simplified and adapted to the requirements of FDM 3D printing. The goal was not to create an exact replica of a natural shell, but to apply a nature-inspired structural principle to a practical engineering solution.

Assembly Guide

You can find the assembly section in the video starting at 5:45.

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