Are you tired of seeing your trees and fruits being eaten by ants? This project creates a structural barrier that blocks ants from reaching your harvest. It uses a clever "one-two-three combo punch" design: first, a mechanical ledge that defeats an ant's climbing biomechanics, followed by a field of spikey needles, and ultimately a moat for total protection.

How it Works

1. The Cliffhanger: As ants climb up, they first hit a 100° downward-facing internal hook. Navigating this sharp, inverted edge is extremely difficult for ants; most will lose their grip and fall before they even see what's on the other side.
2. The Spiked valley: If they mange to do the impossible and conquer the cliffhanger, they must face the piked valley. Ants have difficulty navigating on spiked surfaces and the sight of it tells them “it's time to turn around and go home".
3. The Moat: If they manage to reach here, they now must do the most impossible - learn how to swim. Any ant "hero" that manages to bypass the Cliffhanger and the Spiked valley will find themselves facing a deep water (or oil) moat, providing a final, impassable barrier.
4. Snap-Fit Design: The funnel prints in two halves and has connectors with standard M sized screw holes (use screws and bolts). You can also glue it if you prefer.

Customizable for Your Needs! 

This model is fully parametric. Use the "Customize" button to:

• Resize the Neck: Adjust the diameter to fit perfectly around different tree trunks, branches, or bottle necks.
• Change the Height: Make the cone taller or shorter depending on your space.
• Adjust Strength: Change the wall thickness.
• Configure your challenges: How big are the ants attacking your tree? It doesn't matter. Here you can configure the size of the Cliffhanger, the piked valley and the moat according to your adversaries. 

I also added sealing connector plates that can be glued on the moat connections to prevent any leaks. 

They come out of the parametrization and should fit perfectly your print.

Attention: For the best print of the spikes I recommend printing the piece with the smaller end at the bottom of the plate (as it comes out form the parametric model maker). You must enable Support (on base plate only).

Let me know if you have any feedback, and boost this if it helped!