Hey Colin - a 3D printed nest box is totally feasible. You can define the 'infill' density of any solid piece of 3D printed material. So for example if you have a one-inch-thick box, the inside of the box can be at 20% density, and it'll be filled with a honeycomb pattern so the wall is filled with air cavities.
You can get a filament that is biodegradable so no worries about leaching plastic into the environment; it will probably be around the same degradation timeline as wood (probably longer).
One of my questions is, would it actually be warmer than wood with the air cavities? The plastic material may get colder.
Colin Cook36
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How to build a better nest box
I'm doing a lot of project work with nest boxes for small mammals (http://wildmelbourne.org/articles/finding-a-home-for-the-brush-tailed-phascogale-16-04-2018). We currently make boxes from marine ply or expanded PVC board, but the insulating performance of these is not very good (http://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/9/5/235).
I'm wondering if a nest box could be produced by 3D printing, especially being able to introduce air cavities into the material to provide good insulation properties and enable the box to be very light as well.
I'm wondering if a nest box could be produced by 3D printing, especially being able to introduce air cavities into the material to provide good insulation properties and enable the box to be very light as well.
by Tom Quigley
https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=nest+box&dwh=915b1eabcf00798
A quick search on Thingiverse (downloadable 3d printed files) shows a couple of hits for Nest Box, birdhouse might also be a good search term. May be a good start, but depends on the animal. I've used wooden boxes for sugar gliders before and they were pretty similar to a birdhouse.
A quick search on Thingiverse (downloadable 3d printed files) shows a couple of hits for Nest Box, birdhouse might also be a good search term. May be a good start, but depends on the animal. I've used wooden boxes for sugar gliders before and they were pretty similar to a birdhouse.
by Tom Quigley
Also, do you connect with other orgs in the area? If you build a nest box you could connect to makerspaces, conservation orgs, schools, after-school programs, and volunteer orgs, and it's as simple as sending them the file - they download and print, and you exponentially increase the amount of nest boxes in the area.
If someone doesn't have a 3D printer nearby, you could develop a design that flat-packs and get someone to grant-fund to send 100 of them to nearby groups. (Or put it up for sale on your website.)
If someone doesn't have a 3D printer nearby, you could develop a design that flat-packs and get someone to grant-fund to send 100 of them to nearby groups. (Or put it up for sale on your website.)
by Tom Quigley
@Lizzie Corke is the founder of Conservation Ecology Centre in Cape Otway and does awesome work with marsupials - may be a good contact for you!
by Tom Quigley
Hey @Colin Cook did you ever get anywhere with this?
by Tom Quigley
Tom sorry for the lack of resposne but I haven't been receiving email notifications that you had responded. I'll post something soon.
by Colin Cook
Tom, we are already working with a local school building standard nest boxes (https://vimeo.com/255516719). I'm also sharing info with a local researcher who has investigated the thermal properties of 3 types of nest hollow (Chainsaw-carved cavities better mimic the thermal properties of natural tree hollows than nest boxes and log hollows (2018) Griffiths, S.R., Lentini, P.E., Semmens, K., Watson, S.J., Lumsden, L.F., & Robert, K.A. Forests 9(5), 235. https://doi.org/10.3390/f9050235
http://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/9/5/235)
It seems that nest boxes made of ply don't provide much i the way of insulation. He is advocating carved hollos into the tree but that is not always feasible. Nest hollows can also be carved out of logs and then installed up the tree, but they weigh a lot. If we could make a lightweight nest box with good insulating properties, all the better for the animals.
http://www.mdpi.com/1999-4907/9/5/235)
It seems that nest boxes made of ply don't provide much i the way of insulation. He is advocating carved hollos into the tree but that is not always feasible. Nest hollows can also be carved out of logs and then installed up the tree, but they weigh a lot. If we could make a lightweight nest box with good insulating properties, all the better for the animals.
by Colin Cook
I'm also intending to get along to this group (https://ballarathackerspace.org.au/), mainly to pick up some guidance on using Raspberry Pi for a couple of ideas.
by Colin Cook