Fatball holder

Tis the season! A lot of birds have already flown south for the winter, but, like us with our energy issues, birds have a tough time every winter. A little extra help is a good thing, and most birds are quite pretty. We have robins and wrens and tits lots of little ones all year round, but I like the robins in the wintertime.

Supplied here are a few options for printing fatball holders so that smaller birds can get enough food throughout the winter. they can chain together so you can hang them off places.

We also have squirrels, but, they are not the greatest of bamboo climbers so there is a bamboo stick topper to help with mounting in the middle of your garden as well.

There are ‘regular’ and ‘sturdy’ hooked options, as well as options for a more open hook allowing attachment to branches in trees etc… possibly.

You will need a hook 0 for one side, a joiner, and then a hook 2 if you want to chain them, or a hook 1 to terminate the chain.

Printing will need support, unfortunately, but only the top bit, use a 30mm cylindrical support enforcer. There is a 3mf project file for this. There are “short” options to remove this, but you may find your balls falling out when they get smaller.

Print in PETG or PLA, and extra perimeter wouldn't be a bad thing. The round hook should probably be printed solid by increasing the perimeter count - it's way quicker that way.

Fatball recipes? Well there are a lot on the net, but I have a stash from last Christmas that are still good. They are about 60mm.