Fish Food Dispenser Using 3d Printed Parts Controlled With Wi-Fi and a Phone

Hey guys in this instructable I will show you how to make a phone controlled fish food dispenser project that can dispense food in very small quantities and also can be controlled from anywhere with a phone and wifi connection.

I will give you all the resources to build this project so you can build one for yourself or gift your loved ones who has fish.

I had an aquarium full of fishes and the major problem was feeding those fishes, With the busy schedule sometimes i never returned back home and during those days my fishes were starving and this is not good and i had to do something about this.

I made some time for myself and looked up online and i found few dispenser that were automatic and it was totally out of my budget and i was not really willing to pay such money for those overpriced devices.

Being a hobbyist i made lots of such useful project and after some serious thinking i though of putting up my plan into reality.

I made a list of components that are pocket friendly and in the other way it should also not compromise with the quality of working of this project.

I found that nodemcu or as few call it as esp8266 comes with an inbuilt Wi-Fi connection and it is the most required feature and since it is inexpensive compared to other alternative i chose this.

The dispenser part will need outmost care so that only required amount of food will be allowed through the device and fishes are not overly fed, For this reason i will be using stepper motor that are well known for its precise movements.

With this being said let me tell you one interesting feature, you can see all the statues on the OLED module whatever is happening, There is 0 to 360 division on the stepper motor and you can control one by one also. Just imagine how small movements you can achieve.

I will now gather all the components to build this project, All the best.

These are the components that you will need to build this project, Keep it handy so that we can have a quick build.

NodeMcu (Esp8266)

OLED Module

Stepper Motor with Driver

Breadboard small

Jumper Cables

Lithium ion battery

Battery holder

3D Printer

PLA filament

Arduino IDE

Slicing Software(any)

Fish Food

Phone

These are amazon affiliate links, and upon qualifying sales I will receive a small percentage of sales at no extra cost to you

I will begin this project by printing the most important part that is called the dispenser, The design is simple but it serves most in our project

It is divided into 13 slots and each slot will fold specific amount of fish food, You can even use a bigger container upon this and increase the quantity and use this to feed other pets also.

I will use Cura slicer to slice the model, You can simply see the setting that i will be using, There is no need of any rafts or supports at the time of printing since we don't have any overhang parts.

Simply use the files that is given below, You can also modify the size but if you use the same stepper that I'm using no need of making any changes just use as it is.

Second part is the base for this slot part and that is just a plane circle part with one small slot.

I will use PLA filament to print the parts and the choice of filament color is left to you.

If you don't have a 3d printer you can download this model, mark up the measurement on a paper and later cut the same on a cardboard sheet.

This design will serve best for fish food dispensing since we only need small quantities of food that should go into the water or the fish consumption.

Now after we print the two parts we can build the electronics that will help to control these hardware

I will upload the program to the nodemcu first, to do this all you have to do is connect USB cable to computer first and the then to the nodemcu board.

Open Arduino IDE and paste the below given code, Now you should see a code in the code you need to replace the Wi-Fi credentials of mine with yours.

Open the port and select proper port type and now the proper board name, Click on upload and now the board is ready and we can head over to building the circuit connections.

You can also replace the use of breadboard with direct connections, But i recommend not to do so.

OLED module connections

VCC to 3.3V power rail on Esp8266

GND of OLED to GND

SCL to D5 (GPIO14) pin on board

SDA to D6 (GPIO12) on Nodemcu

Stepper Connections

IN1 to D1 (GPIO5)

IN2 to D2 (GPIO4)

IN3 to D3 (GPIO0)

IN4 to D4 (GPIO2)

For power connection you will need a battery source to run the stepper motor

This was all about the circuit you can test this or proceed with the further steps

You also can replace this open circuit with a Simple small PCB with speed controller, Complete your electronic projects in the best way from PCBWay

Why them? They have provided me with the best PCB and The quality is just amazing compared to other providers in the market, They also have Color PCB printing check it out

Check Here for their Multicolor 3D printing service with this your project becomes more interesting

A revolutionary solution that combines the best of both rigid and flexible circuitry to elevate your electronic projects to new heights.

Don't miss to check their assembly offer here , For a Limited time only 29$ for 20pcs

PCBA & Online quote available with 24h delivery services

Their expertise in advanced manufacturing techniques offers a seamless integration of rigid and flexible components, ensuring enhanced reliability, durability, and space-saving benefits.

The base part needs to be glued first, Instead of using any screw type of fit that will take additional components i eliminated and replaced it with hot glue.

Pour some hot glue on the stepper motor surface and place the base plate and allow to dry completely.

Now we can add the top part(slider part) that moves and is connect to the stepper motor shaft, The design that i followed will allow stepper motor to be connected well to its shaft and does not need any glue or screws.

After this is complete we have the electromechanical components ready and pending thing is the base that will hold all of these components and a fish bowl and i will install ll these on them.

Refer to the last image of this step to see how i assembled all the components and the space management system.

Make sure that the jumper cables are away from the stepper motor mechanism part since if any overhangs are present, it may cause problems at the time of working and we are not expecting that.

This will complete the build phase of this project and now we can see how to use this fish food dispenser project.

There is one small step that you need to follow when you want to use this dispenser and i will tell you about that.

Follow this simple instruction and your device will work without any issues, start by connection USB cable to nodemcu board and later connect external battery to the stepper motor.

Then open the wifi setting on your phone and you will see nodemcu connected to your device, You will see the OLED showing the connection status when board is power to on and when it is connected it will also display IP address.

Note that address and open any browser on your phone, Type the address and click on ok you will see a panel that will enable you to control the stepper.

Try sliding the switch to highest first, lowest next and in between to check the stepper response and you should see the stepper working fine without any lags.

Now the device is ready for using, Fill up the slots with fish food and repeat the same steps, Note that the stepper wont work without any additional battery.

I have added few glimpses of the stepper motor mechanism working and it is so satisfying to watch, more you can watch in the description box below.

This was all about this project, I think you can build ond fish feeder for yourself! Thanks and have a great day.

I would strongly recommend everyone who made it till here to watch this video.

This video not only has the build instructions but also the working of this project, I have shown well how to connect your phone to this nodemcu board.

Make sure that the stepper is firm on the container that you are using since the aquariums are made up with glass and the challenging part is it is very difficult to couple something to the surface.

Use double sided adhesives if necessary, That was all about this project, If you still have any questions ask me in the comments and ill be ready to answer that.

Thank you for showing interest and see you in another cool instructables.