New Heron Cha$er

On Tue, 21 Jun 2005 14:37:35 -0700, San Diego Joe
wrote:

"~ janj JJsPond.us" wrote:

Just got this in an E-mail, the latest in heron scaring:
http://www.pondfiltration.com/heron.html

Think I'll stick with my motion sprinkler. ~ jan

~Power to the Porg, Flow On!~

Jeez Jan, I looked at that and thought, "wow, what a cool idea!" Then my
eyes moved over to the price. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

Still, seems a person should be able to Mcgyver something like that.
Hmmmm...


San Diego Joe
4,000 - 5,000 Gallons.
Koi, Goldfish, and RES named Colombo.


I'm thinking of the swinging arm being a fiberglass tent pole, the
motor a rotisserrie motor, and the pondside mount/pole made from EMT
conduit.

Considering the light weight of the swingarm, I'd think you could
cobble up a bracket out of about a 3" length of 1" aluminum angle.

Oddly enough, I have all of those in my basement...hmmmm.

Mike


Mike Patterson
Please remove the spamtrap to email me.
"I always wanted to be somebody...I should have been more specific..." - Lily Tomlin

"Mike Patterson" wrote in message
...
Considering the light weight of the swingarm, I'd think you could
cobble up a bracket out of about a 3" length of 1" aluminum angle.
Oddly enough, I have all of those in my basement...hmmmm.
=========================
Would something swinging be a danger to small children? As the arm came
around it could clip them... :-(
--
McKoi.... the frugal ponder...
EVERYONE: "Please check people's headers for forgeries
before flushing." NAMES ARE BEING FORGED.
Do not feed the trolls.
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

Reel McKoi wrote:


"Mike Patterson" wrote in message
...
Considering the light weight of the swingarm, I'd think you could
cobble up a bracket out of about a 3" length of 1" aluminum angle.
Oddly enough, I have all of those in my basement...hmmmm.
=========================
Would something swinging be a danger to small children? As the arm came
around it could clip them... :-(

Ponds are a danger to small children... This specifically claims it won't
hurt the heron, so it shouldn't be worse for kids. It looks like there's a
10' arm, and something dangling off the end. If the pointy bit is high
enough to ensure it doesn't poke someone in the eye, and slow enough to not
hurt, it should be OK.

I'm waiting for Mike's experimental results :-)
--
derek

"Derek Broughton" wrote in message
...
Reel McKoi wrote:


"Mike Patterson" wrote in message
...
Considering the light weight of the swingarm, I'd think you could
cobble up a bracket out of about a 3" length of 1" aluminum angle.
Oddly enough, I have all of those in my basement...hmmmm.
=========================
Would something swinging be a danger to small children? As the arm came
around it could clip them... :-(

Ponds are a danger to small children... This specifically claims it won't
hurt the heron, so it shouldn't be worse for kids. It looks like there's a
10' arm, and something dangling off the end. If the pointy bit is high
enough to ensure it doesn't poke someone in the eye, and slow enough to
not
hurt, it should be OK.

I'm waiting for Mike's experimental results :-)
--
derek
==========================
I wish my problem was *only* herons. When we cleaned out the 800 gallon
pond last weekend we found a huge bullfrog in the schlock on the bottom. I
mean this was the mother of all bullfrogs. Although no koi were missing
only about 1/2 the Shubunkins were there. Two of my beautiful butterfly
ginrins had shredded tails. The shredded tails was the tip-off that
something got through the netting. We did find two tears near the ground.
We replaced the birdnetting around the bottom 18" with hardware cloth. Only
the smallest frogs can get through now. We also removed one real smelly
dead snake that commit hari-kari in the net where it ran through some large
Hostas.
--
McKoi.... the frugal ponder...
EVERYONE: "Please check people's headers for forgeries
before flushing." NAMES ARE BEING FORGED.
Do not feed the trolls.
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 01:51:01 -0500, "Reel McKoi"
wrote:


"Mike Patterson" wrote in message
.. .
Considering the light weight of the swingarm, I'd think you could
cobble up a bracket out of about a 3" length of 1" aluminum angle.
Oddly enough, I have all of those in my basement...hmmmm.
=========================
Would something swinging be a danger to small children? As the arm came
around it could clip them... :-(

If they're out in the middle of my pond and I'm not there, then the
arm swinging around at 1 revolution every 10-15 seconds is NOT their
most pressing problem!

The arm's pivot point is out in the middle of the pond.

Are you the one who was afraid I'd destroy the planet with my fire &
water experiment? :-)

Mike
Mike Patterson
Please remove the spamtrap to email me.
"I always wanted to be somebody...I should have been more specific..." - Lily Tomlin

"Mike Patterson" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 22 Jun 2005 01:51:01 -0500, "Reel McKoi"
wrote:


"Mike Patterson" wrote in message
.. .
Considering the light weight of the swingarm, I'd think you could
cobble up a bracket out of about a 3" length of 1" aluminum angle.
Oddly enough, I have all of those in my basement...hmmmm.
=========================
Would something swinging be a danger to small children? As the arm came
around it could clip them... :-(

If they're out in the middle of my pond and I'm not there, then the
arm swinging around at 1 revolution every 10-15 seconds is NOT their
most pressing problem!

The arm's pivot point is out in the middle of the pond.

Are you the one who was afraid I'd destroy the planet with my fire &
water experiment? :-)
=========================
LOL!!! I don't think so........ :-))
--
McKoi.... the frugal ponder...
EVERYONE: "Please check people's headers for forgeries
before flushing." NAMES ARE BEING FORGED.
Do not feed the trolls.
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

The price on that item is pretty well overinflated by about 400% After
seeing that device, I starated to look around on what can be used, and
so far I can make one in less than 2 hours for under
$90...........Anyone even half capable of doing odds and ends and a
little scrounging could assemble one of them pretty cheap and
easy...... Other than the motor, I can scrounge up or have already,
from my routine scrounge places all the materials to make them. Given
a bit of time I know I can find a motor as well. The motors used on
BBQ grill rotisseries can be had for under $20.00.......rpm is right
in the ball park, as is torque needed to swing it. A core from a lunge
whip or stock whip which is fiberglass or even an old CB whip antenna
could easily be used to the rotating part, and an antennae extension
mast from a base station could be used for the support arm. These
extension masts are easy to find as trash in places that sell
communications equipment as they frequently get opens or shorts in
them which renders them useless for communications.

Then the $95 S & H fee is absurd. I bet the entire device weighs less
than #30 pounds probably less..........add that to the $500 and some
charge for a unit as such ....its a rip once again aimed at the deep
pockets ponders and fish keepers are accused of having.

==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!
"The original frugal ponder"
~~~~ }((((o ~~~~~~ }{{{{o ~~~~~~~ }(((((o