This is a functional and fully printable (no fasteners or hardware required) dispensing mechanism. It is designed for Kirkland Dog Biscuits sold through Costco but could be used in many other dog biscuits and other applications. I have also included a small printable box that can be printed in quantity and filled with candy or treats for kids or other uses.
Available on Thangs, click here.
I have so much I want to say about this project…. Firstly, I started thinking about the old Pez dispensers. Super fun and simple but after a lot of time I allowed myself to veer away from that idea. Despite that, it still has a few throwback elements from the Pez dispenser concept. Secondly, and more importantly, when I started focusing on 3D printable designs many years ago, I dreamt of a day when I might feel the confidence to design functional machines. And, while this one is not epic in nature, it really marks a moment in time for me where I have switched to thinking about and being able to design more complex machines. The implementation of gears combined with my new love for compliant mechanisms opens the door to creating more interesting (and challenging) projects. Third, I feel this is a good educational project because it does incorporate a lot of mechanical design elements. It can be assembled and disassembled, allowing anyone who wants to to really play with the design and study how it works. Great for young ones to get their hands on and hopefully get inspired.
While everyone might not need a dog treat dispenser (or candy dispenser) I hope most people will appreciate the complexity of the design and its capacity to help us dream bigger with our 3d printers. This project has about 30 parts to it. That also makes it my most complex operating design (I say that because I have designed puzzles with more parts, but that does not really count).
Here are some of the design features incorporated into this project:
- Compliant compression and leaf springs
- Full and partial double helical gears
- Cam-driven gate
- Double helical rack and pinion
- Adaptive hook design on the delivery system
- Removable crumb tray
- Loading cartridge
I originally designed it for the Costco Kirkland Signature Chicken and Rice Formula Dog Biscuits (6.79 kg). These dog biscuits come in a large cardboard box and, therefore, are not that convenient to have handy. So I thought about creating a dispenser for them, and even the idea of making it a design the dogs could self-serve from (when given permission). I think that could work.
The biscuits are held in a Pez-like loader, which I can modify for other biscuits, treats or object sizes. The loader is the only part that needs to be modified for dispensing things in a range of sizes as long as it is smaller than the original biscuit size. I have included a simple box container that can be used to hold smaller items to dispense as well. The included dispensible box has a volume of 102 x 43 x 14 mm
Print Settings
Functional designs (such as this one) generally require more strength than non-functional designs and more strength than the typical default slicer settings provide, so please review your slicer settings carefully.
This product was designed for a 0.4mm nozzle, a 0.2mm layer height. For best results, I suggest the following:
- Material = PLA for everything except the compression springs. I recommend PETG for the compression springs.
- Line Width = 0.4mm
- Wall Count = 4 (1.6mm)
- Top and Bottom Layer Count = 5
- Detect Thin Walls = ON
- Wall Generator = Arachne
- Infill = 40% (Cubic)
- Support = No, all required support is incorporated into the design. Please see the included image for specific support removal.
- Print orientation = As per the STL/3MF files.
Please refer to the linked video for assembly instructions.
Assembly Notes
Please follow the video below to assemble the dispenser.
Operation
Loading and operation of the dispenser is described in the following images.
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