Spiral Tower Extension for Leafcutters

Greetings everyone,

Here's another version of my spiral tower, this time not intended to bridge heights but purely as an extended foraging trail.

The entrance and exit are at the same height, and the spiral consists of two offset spirals. When assembled correctly, ants must ascend one spiral and then descend the offset spiral from the top to traverse from one side to the other. This variant is designed for leafcutter ants, as the spiral incline is steeper, providing more space between the spirals. The entrance and exit diameter is also larger. For species that don't carry such bulky "prey," another version in my profile may be more suitable.

You will need 50mm acrylic tubing to assemble the tower:

https://www.acrylic-store.de/acrylglas-rohr-xt-flc-50mm-wl.html

The entrance and exit are designed for a 32mm pipe/hose.

The spirals are always 10cm long and can be connected arbitrarily; therefore, the height is virtually unlimited.

Print all parts once (bottom cap, top cap, at least one 10cm spiral, one end cap spiral, and one base).

When assembling the parts, ensure, as shown in the following images, that no gaps are created; otherwise, the ants could circumvent the spiral.

You can glue the spirals together, but a well-aligned assembly should hold without adhesive.

Now, have fun printing. Please reach out if you have any questions.

I would appreciate seeing pictures of your printed versions.

PS: I've added another print profile with slightly narrower spirals, as some 50mm pipes apparently have varying internal dimensions.