Small bird perch w/ chain toy for 1 x 0.5 (one by one half inch) wire, no hardware needed, multiple gauges

Last crawled date: 4 years, 2 months ago

An enrichment perch for small birds who are light chewers. This can be inserted from ~outside the wire~ so you don't need to risk escape or panic shy birds to install or remove cage furniture.
The perch has varying width to allow for different foot postures. This may help prevent foot sores that can occur due to always putting pressure on the same place.
If you have vertical wire openings, these print in place with ZERO support material needed! Requires a 9 x 5 inch bed, which can print up to two at a time.
To install the perch, first print out the three test head STL files, these will be the fitting tests for your wire. You may want to try printing them on fast and high-quality settings, to see if it changes the sizing. The six test prints will be a big time saver in the end.
If these are birds who don't get much observation, use the smallest head size that doesn't quite fit for installation. That way the mount will be semi-permanent until they chew up the perch or the plastic becomes brittle from weather. To do a semi-permanent mount, dip the head of the perch in steaming hot water (PLA) or boiling hot water (ABS) for 30 seconds while gently swirling it around, the material shouldbe softened so it bends to accept the wire, and the two plastic arms don't snap off. Then, slide the perch in, and using plier or finger (if you have big hands, use pliers) twist the perch into place as you see in the photo of the perch being tested on old wire.
Be aware of creating a toe pinch hazard, I would try to center the perch on the wire so if a bird sticks its tiny foot through, there won't be a pinch risk.
Be aware that printer settings that do not create well-bonded layers can create filament strings which are an entanglement hazard for birds! Make sure all fuzzies are snipped or melted off, and all layers are bonded. When in doubt, run it through the flame of a lighter for better surface bonding. You can also use a heat gun to smooth the surface of the middle of the perch.
These were NOT built for flimsy white wire cages from the pet store, but for 1 x 0.5 inch commercial welded wire. The mounting head will pop the little wire welds from pet or rectangular breeder cages, or the bendy wire will work its way out of the mounting head. This sucker is meant to be twisted onto a durable welded wire and left there until it is worn, then snapped off with pliers.
If you have horizontal wire openings, then you can print the horizontal model, which will require support material and clean up.