Make your own - No waste - 5 gallon (25# feed) bucket feeder for about $3

[hennible]

Very clever vehve

 

[kesca]

Great tutorial. I wish I had seen this earlier. Still may have to do this as mine love to make a mess and waste food with their current feeder.

 

[ebinion]

what is the best thing to cut the hole in the bucket with. I have a hard time cutting through the thick plastic

 

[vehve]

A hole saw that you connect to a drill.

 

[Concrete101]

I used a light weight bucket I had laying around and cut the hole with a sharp knife. The elbow fit tight.

 

[hennible]

Light weight bucket and a very sharp and sturdy exacto-knife

 

[tntchix]

That would be a disaster waiting to happen for me.

The hole saw was my best option since the drill bit bites and then the saw finishes the job. Free drawing with a knife is not my forte. Yikes.I wish it were. I have 3 of them I never use.

 

[perchie.girl]

for those who have problems with a holesaw.... Put a block of wood behind the work.... a two byfour temporarily screwed to a saw horse that would stick out far enough to slide the bucket on.... Now you have back up for cutting through thin material.

Getting the plastic out of the hole saw can be done with a duct tape grabber.....

Also working with thin material try drilling the pilot hole first then running the saw backwards.... Keeps the saw blades from catching too quickly on the plastic.

deb

 

[MadAngler]

One other trick...
I ran my drill in reverse direction. This allowed the saw to cut much slower and gave me better control. It still just took a few seconds to get through the bucket.

 

[MeepBeep]

for those who have problems with a holesaw....  Put a block of wood behind the work....  a two byfour temporarily screwed to a saw horse that would stick out far enough to slide the bucket on....   Now you have back up for cutting through thin material.

Getting the plastic out of the hole saw can be done with a duct tape  grabber.....

Also working with thin material try drilling the pilot hole first then running the saw backwards....  Keeps the saw blades from catching too quickly on the plastic.

Another 'add-on' to this is to screw the bucket to the board within the hole boundary, this way the piece doesn't get stuck in the hole saw and it also holds everything in place...