"Jim Elbrecht" wrote in message
...
"Steve B" wrote:

How
many did you get today?


Squirrels are nothing if not trainable, adaptable, agile, and
flexible-
http://s289.photobucket.com/albums/l...urnaround3.mp4

1 minute video showing how the squirrel reacted when I moved the pipe
a bit so he could run past the pivot point from the 'dumping' end.

Gotta get a bigger barrel.g

Jim
[the noises that sound like gunfire in the background are hickory nuts
falling on my neighbor's tin roof.]

I am amazed that he was able to turn around, since he came back out head
first. I am using a barrel that I cut about six inches out of to use on my
outboard motor. Mine mounts with that end near the barrel, as the balance
point is setting down in there. I am going to go to HD and get some longer
pieces of pipe. I mounted mine on a 1 x 3 so that the tipping point would
be farther out. It's balanced pretty close, so once it starts to go down,
it goes fast. I was considering a hook latch that the squirrel would
activate at the end of the tube, so that he would be at the end, and all the
weight would be out there. The slightly past center tipping point would
bring it back up so that the hook latch would automatically reset.

My neighbor is really having problems with his apricot trees. I'm going out
to dump mine this evening, and take it down to him. He can use this
prototype, and I will make the next one a little better. The mistakes I
made are that I think the pipe is too short, and that I need a better hinge
for the balancing point, as I think there is a little resistance in this
one. Will take a picture of it today and post to Flickr. You will see how
adding the 1 x 3 will change the balance point, and I believe that if you
use slightly larger diameter pipe that they can't jam themselves in there to
get traction.

I have a rod, and a piece of 1/2" or so tubing that I might use for the next
balance point so as to get the least friction on the balance point as
possible. Considering some other things, too. I have a MIG welder, and it
is easy to cobble rod together and make these things.

When the tube first starts to swing on yours, it seems to go slow, maybe
slowed by the chain. It has to be free of any hindrances or resistance.

I had also thought of putting a nice photo at the end of the tube, something
like blue sky and clouds so they think it's open on the end. ;-) Or, you
wouldn't have any X rated female squirrel pictures, would you? And I
wonder, there is lots of scents available, is there eau du squirrel? I'll
google.

This is getting fun.

Steve

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