Duck Pond Redneckery
- Thread starter Duck
- Start date
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
He IS a dumbass though.
He can hold the bowl in his mouth and operate the sink with one of his rear paws and fill it himself. But he's too stupid to figure that out. So he just pushes the bowl over by the water pedal and starts whining.
Electric Chicken
Well-Known Member
I mean if you keep obliging I'd do the same, human sucker.He IS a dumbass though.
He can hold the bowl in his mouth and operate the sink with one of his rear paws and fill it himself. But he's too stupid to figure that out. So he just pushes the bowl over by the water pedal and starts whining.
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
I happen to be sitting in a chair right now, but this is where the dog ALWAYS has to be.
If I'm standing at the drill press, he curls up between my feet and gets metal shavings or sawdust on him.
If I'm standing at the vise working on something, he's curled up between my feet and if I need to shift my balance or something I end up stepping on his paws or his tail.
He's currently got green paint on his head between his ears, same reason.
If I'm standing at the drill press, he curls up between my feet and gets metal shavings or sawdust on him.
If I'm standing at the vise working on something, he's curled up between my feet and if I need to shift my balance or something I end up stepping on his paws or his tail.
He's currently got green paint on his head between his ears, same reason.
389 Hood
Well-Known Member
He definitely likes you over Sarah, or he'd be inside with her. He's a daddy's boy and wants to be with you. Getting between your legs while you are operating machinery is not a good thing.
He reminds me a lot of my dog. You teach him something, repeat it and he follows the training, then, "SQUIRREL", it's all out the window and you have to start over. No real memory retention. His mind is too busy.
He reminds me a lot of my dog. You teach him something, repeat it and he follows the training, then, "SQUIRREL", it's all out the window and you have to start over. No real memory retention. His mind is too busy.
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
Here's the door that's going in the mobile egg factory. The door between the enclosed part and the rest of the coop.
I'm not gonna want to have to go in there to open & close the little door for the chickens. So I'm making it electric, powered by a riding lawnmower battery that's kept charged with a solar panel.
But here's how it's gonna work.
Reversible 12v worm drive motor turns a 1" oak dowel on bearings. When it rotates it's default direction is going to wind up the rope that pulls the chicken door up, while unwinding the other end of the rope.
Reverse the polarity to the motor and the dowel turns the other way, pulling on the part of the rope that closes the door.
Door closed:
Door open:
I'm not gonna want to have to go in there to open & close the little door for the chickens. So I'm making it electric, powered by a riding lawnmower battery that's kept charged with a solar panel.
But here's how it's gonna work.
Reversible 12v worm drive motor turns a 1" oak dowel on bearings. When it rotates it's default direction is going to wind up the rope that pulls the chicken door up, while unwinding the other end of the rope.
Reverse the polarity to the motor and the dowel turns the other way, pulling on the part of the rope that closes the door.
Door closed:
Door open:
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
The gear reduction motor, unladen, turns at 30 RPM. But it barely has the power to work the mechanism. It's slow, like the kind of vertical sliding door that Indiana Jones would have time to herd himself & two other people through & still have time to reach back under & grab his hat.
So I've got a larger one in a UPS truck somewhere. Same 30 RPM but with a little more torque.
Some more pix just for @GAnthony
So I've got a larger one in a UPS truck somewhere. Same 30 RPM but with a little more torque.
Some more pix just for @GAnthony
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
The chicken door is a flattened panel from the shop furnace I recently replaced. It's got 1/4" thick strips of high density polyethylene on the edges, and the stationary tracks are just 3 strips of HDPE with the middle (white) one slightly thicker.
It looks like a tight fit but it slides easy enough when it's horizontal on the saw horses. It'll probably work better when it's vertical.
Like a guillotine.
It looks like a tight fit but it slides easy enough when it's horizontal on the saw horses. It'll probably work better when it's vertical.
Like a guillotine.
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Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
I like how the corner joints turned out.
There's no screws or nails. They're half-lapped and pinned with oak dowels, all glued. Router edge and sanded.
4 coats of oil based John Deere tractor paint, sanded between coats, then 2 top-coats of oil based gloss spar urethane.
The official term for a large chicken coop on wheels is "chicken tractor".
I don't know why, but since I'm building a "tractor" I figured I'd go with John Deere colors. But the yellow is from a rattle can.
There's no screws or nails. They're half-lapped and pinned with oak dowels, all glued. Router edge and sanded.
4 coats of oil based John Deere tractor paint, sanded between coats, then 2 top-coats of oil based gloss spar urethane.
The official term for a large chicken coop on wheels is "chicken tractor".
I don't know why, but since I'm building a "tractor" I figured I'd go with John Deere colors. But the yellow is from a rattle can.
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Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
Well this motor & belt drive system worked, but not well enough to expect it to work in the freezing cold.
So I disassembled it. Glued toothpicks in the screw holes, filled, sanded and painted it, then made new screw holes in it.
Bigger motor, direct drive.
Size difference.
Now it closes with enough force it could double as a guillotine when I want chicken for dinner.
So I disassembled it. Glued toothpicks in the screw holes, filled, sanded and painted it, then made new screw holes in it.
Bigger motor, direct drive.
Size difference.
Now it closes with enough force it could double as a guillotine when I want chicken for dinner.
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
I don't know how to do that. Any type of switch the door could hit as it reaches the end of it's stroke would render it incapable of reversing in the other direction,... unless it only momentarily interrupts the power to the motor, just long enough for you to let go of the button. I do have some zero-to-ten second timers but I think they're normally open. I'd need them to be normally closed.
Electric Chicken
Well-Known Member
You need some garage door lasers.I don't know how to do that. Any type of switch the door could hit as it reaches the end of it's stroke would render it incapable of reversing in the other direction,... unless it only momentarily interrupts the power to the motor, just long enough for you to let go of the button. I do have some zero-to-ten second timers but I think they're normally open. I'd need them to be normally closed.
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
I have garage door lasers.
Problem is there's a minimum distance. Too close & somehow even if you block the beam with an opaque object, it fails to detect. I don't understand it..
But I discovered you can get them to operate only 2 feet apart if I put a single layer of black electrical tape over the transmitter end.
No idea why that works. It just DOES.
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
I've come to the conclusion that paint, dissolved into mineral spirits, separates from the mineral spirits and solidifies in temperatures below 60°F.
For weeks I've been keeping these two cheap brushes in mineral spirits. I just take the brush to the door and blow it out with a blow gun and it's like new.
But now that it's getting colder I've been turning the heat down to 55 at night instead of 60. And this happens:
The yellow is how it normally looks. Except it was also separated. I'd just stirred it up and the paint quickly dissolved back into the mineral spirits.
I wonder if there is a practical application for this knowledge...
For weeks I've been keeping these two cheap brushes in mineral spirits. I just take the brush to the door and blow it out with a blow gun and it's like new.
But now that it's getting colder I've been turning the heat down to 55 at night instead of 60. And this happens:
The yellow is how it normally looks. Except it was also separated. I'd just stirred it up and the paint quickly dissolved back into the mineral spirits.
I wonder if there is a practical application for this knowledge...
Duck
Sarcastic remark goes here
Well I do have a cooler that I put a 15 watt plant heating pad in, controlled by a thermometer and I can maintain up to 30 degrees above ambient inside it. It works better if there's high mass objects in it to serve as a flywheel for thermal energy.Sure there is...
Store paint and solvents in a warmer area.
But I'm not sure if it's safe to put flammable liquids in it.
The thermostat is electronic and it's outside the cooler with just a probe inside. So no worry about sparks from that. But I don't know if the Chinese heating pad would make a spark when the tiny heating element wires inside it eventually short out.
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