I bought a parrot toy yesterday which is basically a stainless steel
cube held together by 3 lengths of 5mm threaded stainless bar with 6
wingnuts.

I assumed it has been made so the wing nuts couldn't run off the end
of the bar - but not.

Parrots LOVE playing with these things, and mine can open those 'chain
link' things with the hexnut in the middle quite happily (until their
perch palls off and then all hell breaks loose - we don't use those
links anymore!). The birds are also VERY strong (large Macaws) and
can crack open almonds and walnuts with no trouble.

What's the best way to stop the wingnuts running off the end of the
bar, but still able to run freely back and forth (the idea being to
hide a treat inside the cube and let them open it up)?

Drop of superglue around the end threads? Cold chisel and heavy
thwack? Hacksaw through the end of the bar and try to force it apart a
smudule?

TIA as always

Pair of Mole Grips and give each end thread a good tight squeeze so as to
distort the thread pitch, that should stop Polly from removing the wing
nuts!

HTH

John

On Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:57:40 +0100, "John"
wrote:

Pair of Mole Grips and give each end thread a good tight squeeze so as to
distort the thread pitch, that should stop Polly from removing the wing
nuts!

HTH
Certainly did! Thanks - simple when you know how, innit! Ta muchly

wrote:

Pair of Mole Grips and give each end thread a good tight squeeze so as to
distort the thread pitch, that should stop Polly from removing the wing
nuts!

HTH
Certainly did! Thanks - simple when you know how, innit! Ta muchly

Aye, brute force rules here.

Anecdotal, perhaps, but we used to have an African Grey, "one previous
owner", in a cage with a knurled brass nut against a door strike-plate
to keep the door closed, and a padlock looped between the door and the
cage frame.

Soon work out why...

The parrot was very adept at unscrewing the nut, from inside the cage,
using the lower beak to spin the nut. Hence the padlock as back-up.

Soon worked out that we had to remove the key from the padlock as well...

Certainly did! Thanks - simple when you know how, innit! Ta muchly

Be warned - If an order of a tap and die set from Screwfix arrives for Mrs
P Parrot, you've been sussed.

Al.

On Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:44:03 +0100, wrote:

I bought a parrot toy yesterday which is basically a stainless steel
cube held together by 3 lengths of 5mm threaded stainless bar with 6
wingnuts.

I assumed it has been made so the wing nuts couldn't run off the end
of the bar - but not.

Parrots LOVE playing with these things, and mine can open those 'chain
link' things with the hexnut in the middle quite happily (until their
perch palls off and then all hell breaks loose - we don't use those
links anymore!). The birds are also VERY strong (large Macaws) and
can crack open almonds and walnuts with no trouble.

What's the best way to stop the wingnuts running off the end of the
bar, but still able to run freely back and forth (the idea being to
hide a treat inside the cube and let them open it up)?

Drop of superglue around the end threads? Cold chisel and heavy
thwack? Hacksaw through the end of the bar and try to force it apart a
smudule?

I'd go with spoiling the thread on the end of the rod.

Oh, and thanks for that brief but fascinating glimpse into the world of
parrots!

--
The Wanderer

Have I understood what the other guy is saying?
Have I meant what I said? Have I said what I mean?

wrote in message
...
I bought a parrot toy yesterday which is basically a stainless steel
cube held together by 3 lengths of 5mm threaded stainless bar with 6
wingnuts.

I assumed it has been made so the wing nuts couldn't run off the end
of the bar - but not.

Parrots LOVE playing with these things, and mine can open those 'chain
link' things with the hexnut in the middle quite happily (until their
perch palls off and then all hell breaks loose - we don't use those
links anymore!). The birds are also VERY strong (large Macaws) and
can crack open almonds and walnuts with no trouble.

What's the best way to stop the wingnuts running off the end of the
bar, but still able to run freely back and forth (the idea being to
hide a treat inside the cube and let them open it up)?

Drop of superglue around the end threads? Cold chisel and heavy
thwack? Hacksaw through the end of the bar and try to force it apart a
smudule?

TIA as always

Angle Grinder!!
Trim his beak!!

On Tue, 31 Mar 2009 17:03:09 +0100, "Baz"
wrote:



Angle Grinder!!
Trim his beak!!

They'd learn to use their claws! Fast learners and VERY determined as
the poster above relates with his African Grey - said to be the
smartest of all birds.

Compltely OT - one night I crept into my study (where the birds sleep)
to sit in front of the PC in the dark, lit only by the ghostly glow
from the screen. As I battered away at the keyboard a voice came from
nowhere "What do you think YOU'RE doing?" it growled. It was the
bloody macaw. I nearly sh*t. First time I'd ever heard it, and out it
came - perfectly formed. Just like something else nearly did.

In message ,
writes
Compltely OT - one night I crept into my study (where the birds sleep)
to sit in front of the PC in the dark, lit only by the ghostly glow
from the screen. As I battered away at the keyboard a voice came from
nowhere "What do you think YOU'RE doing?" it growled.
You are Wacqui Jacqui Smith's husband and I claim my five pounds...
(Don't worry, you can get it back on expenses)
It was the
bloody macaw. I nearly sh*t. First time I'd ever heard it, and out it
came - perfectly formed. Just like something else nearly did.

--
Clint Sharp

On Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:44:03 +0100, wrote:

Drop of superglue around the end threads? Cold chisel and heavy
thwack? Hacksaw through the end of the bar and try to force it apart a
smudule?

Round off the end of the threaded bar with a hammer. I wouldn't like to
say if Macaws will still force the nuts off by recutting the threads on
the bar though.

I was going to sat "prene" the end of the bar but when I checked the spolling
and looked in a dictionary that "rounding off of metal by bashing it" meaning
didn't pop up.

--
Cheers
Dave.

Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:44:03 +0100,
wrote:

Drop of superglue around the end threads? Cold chisel and heavy
thwack? Hacksaw through the end of the bar and try to force it apart
a smudule?

Round off the end of the threaded bar with a hammer. I wouldn't like
to
say if Macaws will still force the nuts off by recutting the threads
on
the bar though.

I was going to sat "prene" the end of the bar but when I checked the
spolling and looked in a dictionary that "rounding off of metal by
bashing it" meaning didn't pop up.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Peen

I thought it was pein.

"Clot" wrote in message
...
Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:44:03 +0100,
wrote:

Drop of superglue around the end threads? Cold chisel and heavy
thwack? Hacksaw through the end of the bar and try to force it apart
a smudule?

Round off the end of the threaded bar with a hammer. I wouldn't like
to
say if Macaws will still force the nuts off by recutting the threads
on
the bar though.

I was going to sat "prene" the end of the bar but when I checked the
spolling and looked in a dictionary that "rounding off of metal by
bashing it" meaning didn't pop up.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Peen

I thought it was pein.

Pien is a modern name for the part of a hammer opposite the face. Peen and
pene are older names, from which peen or pene also mean striking metal to
thin it. I would normally describe rounding off the end of a metal rod with
a hammer as peening over.

Colin Bignell

On Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:01:19 +0100, "nightjar".me.uk wrote:

Pien is a modern name for the part of a hammer opposite the face. Peen
and pene are older names, from which peen or pene also mean striking
metal to thin it. I would normally describe rounding off the end of a
metal rod with a hammer as peening over.

Ta, I found pene as in ball & hammer but no definition of the "peening"
over. I initially wanted to use "preen over" as bit of humour but wanted
to ensure I got the right word for the joke to work. As this expression is
a memory from my pre double figure years of age, I decided it might be a
inaccurate memory. As it turns out it's just my bad spolling. B-)

--
Cheers
Dave.

nightjar cpb@ wrote:
"Clot" wrote in message
...
Dave Liquorice wrote:
On Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:44:03 +0100,
wrote:

Drop of superglue around the end threads? Cold chisel and heavy
thwack? Hacksaw through the end of the bar and try to force it apart
a smudule?
Round off the end of the threaded bar with a hammer. I wouldn't like
to
say if Macaws will still force the nuts off by recutting the threads
on
the bar though.

I was going to sat "prene" the end of the bar but when I checked the
spolling and looked in a dictionary that "rounding off of metal by
bashing it" meaning didn't pop up.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Peen

I thought it was pein.

Pien is a modern name for the part of a hammer opposite the face. Peen and
pene are older names, from which peen or pene also mean striking metal to
thin it. I would normally describe rounding off the end of a metal rod with
a hammer as peening over.

Peening was regularly used in the aerospace industry years ago. It was
used to stop an ordinary engineering nut from removing itself from a
bolt. The thread was cut down so that about 2 threads extended from the
nut and a V shaped tool was used to deform the threads down to the top
surface of the nut. This was considered as a class one locking, along
with split pinning and wire locking, but lots faster.

Dave

We were somewhere around Barstow, on the edge of the desert, when the
drugs began to take hold. I remember "Clot"
saying something like:

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Peen

I thought it was pein.

It is, or either.

On Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:35:12 +0000 (GMT)
"Dave Liquorice" wrote:

On Tue, 31 Mar 2009 15:44:03 +0100, wrote:

Drop of superglue around the end threads? Cold chisel and heavy
thwack? Hacksaw through the end of the bar and try to force it apart a
smudule?

Round off the end of the threaded bar with a hammer. I wouldn't like to
say if Macaws will still force the nuts off by recutting the threads on
the bar though.

I was going to sat "prene" the end of the bar but when I checked the spolling
and looked in a dictionary that "rounding off of metal by bashing it" meaning
didn't pop up.


peen. as in ball-peen hammer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peening
R.

wrote:
I bought a parrot toy yesterday which is basically a stainless steel
cube held together by 3 lengths of 5mm threaded stainless bar with 6
wingnuts.

I assumed it has been made so the wing nuts couldn't run off the end
of the bar - but not.

Parrots LOVE playing with these things, and mine can open those 'chain
link' things with the hexnut in the middle quite happily (until their
perch palls off and then all hell breaks loose - we don't use those
links anymore!). The birds are also VERY strong (large Macaws) and
can crack open almonds and walnuts with no trouble.

What's the best way to stop the wingnuts running off the end of the
bar, but still able to run freely back and forth (the idea being to
hide a treat inside the cube and let them open it up)?

Drop of superglue around the end threads? Cold chisel and heavy
thwack? Hacksaw through the end of the bar and try to force it apart a
smudule?

Coat the end of the bar in.... pollyfiller:-)


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

On Mar 31, 6:21*pm, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:
wrote:
I bought a parrot toy yesterday which is basically a stainless steel
cube held together by 3 lengths of 5mm threaded stainless bar with 6
wingnuts.

I assumed it has been made so the wing nuts couldn't run off the end
of the bar - but not.

Parrots LOVE playing with these things, and mine can open those 'chain
link' things with the hexnut in the middle quite happily (until their
perch palls off and then all hell breaks loose - we don't use those
links anymore!). *The birds are also VERY strong (large Macaws) and
can crack open almonds and walnuts with no trouble.

What's the best way to stop the wingnuts running off the end of the
bar, but still able to run freely back and forth (the idea being to
hide a treat inside the cube and let them open it up)?

Drop of superglue around the end threads? *Cold chisel *and heavy
thwack? Hacksaw through the end of the bar and try to force it apart a
smudule?

Coat the end of the bar in.... pollyfiller:-)

The solutions given so far seem semi permanent and what if you need to
remove item from said bar for what ever reason. Perhaps you could look
on fleabay for a single nut with nylon insert or scrounge one from an
ironmonger. It would have to be a parrot with a spanner for a beak
that was able to remove one of those! If you want to be sure to be
sure, put two back to back with a split washer between.

Dave

Dave Starling wrote:

The solutions given so far seem semi permanent and what if you need to
remove item from said bar for what ever reason. Perhaps you could look
on fleabay for a single nut with nylon insert or scrounge one from an
ironmonger. It would have to be a parrot with a spanner for a beak
that was able to remove one of those! If you want to be sure to be
sure, put two back to back with a split washer between.

A Nylok?, nah, that's like a red-rag-to-a-bull as far as a parrot is
concerned. It'd have it out in a jiffy

On Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:05:50 UTC, Mike Dodd
wrote:

Dave Starling wrote:

The solutions given so far seem semi permanent and what if you need to
remove item from said bar for what ever reason. Perhaps you could look
on fleabay for a single nut with nylon insert or scrounge one from an
ironmonger. It would have to be a parrot with a spanner for a beak
that was able to remove one of those! If you want to be sure to be
sure, put two back to back with a split washer between.

A Nylok?, nah, that's like a red-rag-to-a-bull as far as a parrot is
concerned. It'd have it out in a jiffy

Two nuts locked together?

--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://www.diybanter.com

On Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:15:28 -0700 (PDT), Dave Starling wrote:

Perhaps you could look on fleabay for a single nut with nylon insert or
scrounge one from an ironmonger. It would have to be a parrot with a
spanner for a beak that was able to remove one of those!

I don't think a Macaw would have any trouble at all in removing a nyloc
nut.

Anyway if you had read the OP properly you would see that there is a
requirement for the nut to run freely on the threaded rod but not to come
off the end.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Tue, 31 Mar 2009 23:23:07 UTC, "Dave Liquorice"
wrote:

On Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:15:28 -0700 (PDT), Dave Starling wrote:

Perhaps you could look on fleabay for a single nut with nylon insert or
scrounge one from an ironmonger. It would have to be a parrot with a
spanner for a beak that was able to remove one of those!

I don't think a Macaw would have any trouble at all in removing a nyloc
nut.

Anyway if you had read the OP properly you would see that there is a
requirement for the nut to run freely on the threaded rod but not to come
off the end.

I think he meant...put the Nyloc nut on the end, with the wingnut
'inboard' of it...

--
The information contained in this post is copyright the
poster, and specifically may not be published in, or used by
http://www.diybanter.com

On 31 Mar 2009 23:49:30 GMT, Bob Eager wrote:

I think he meant...put the Nyloc nut on the end, with the wingnut
'inboard' of it...

Still wouldn't stop a Macaw taking it off. They reallt do have very strong
and powerful beaks coupled to good dexterity and a brain that learns.

Two murdered up back to back with a split or serrated washer between might
slow the parrot down but would take up a lot of threaded bar. I wouldn't
be surprised if the nylon wasn't removed in fairly short order either.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:15:28 -0700 (PDT), Dave Starling
wrote:

... a single nut with nylon insert ...
It would have to be a parrot with a spanner for a beak
that was able to remove one of those!
Yes, those are the birds I have. Four of them: the Blue and Gold
Macaws and African Greys gleefully do that!

If you want to be sure to be
sure, put two back to back with a split washer between.

I'm probably going with peening over the end of the rod or deforming
the threads another way, but I have had some success with a nut inside
the 'wings of the wingnut: not totally foolproof, but works most of
the time because where it is is difficult to reach.

How would putting a split washer between the nuts help? I understand
(I think) how it tensions the nut against the thread preventing it
from vibrating loose, but if something were turning the nuts singly or
as a pair, how would the split washer help?

Thanks for the suggestions though.

Oh, and polyfiller in another post was funny!

On Wed, 01 Apr 2009 06:15:28 +0100, wrote:

How would putting a split washer between the nuts help? I understand
(I think) how it tensions the nut against the thread preventing it
from vibrating loose, but if something were turning the nuts singly or
as a pair, how would the split washer help?

Two nuts tightened against each other lock fairly effectively bung a lock
washer between them will reduce the ability of the nuts to separate as
they are held by the lock washer. Still not convinced it would be parrot
proof though. Not only are they strong, dexterous and clever they also
have time, lots of time.

--
Cheers
Dave.

On Wed, 01 Apr 2009 09:35:26 +0000 (GMT), Dave Liquorice wrote:

On Wed, 01 Apr 2009 06:15:28 +0100, wrote:

How would putting a split washer between the nuts help? I understand
(I think) how it tensions the nut against the thread preventing it
from vibrating loose, but if something were turning the nuts singly or
as a pair, how would the split washer help?

Two nuts tightened against each other lock fairly effectively bung a lock
washer between them will reduce the ability of the nuts to separate as
they are held by the lock washer. Still not convinced it would be parrot
proof though. Not only are they strong, dexterous and clever they also
have time, lots of time.

Lost track of the diameter of the bar, but drill a hole and use a split
pin?
--
Peter.
You don't understand Newton's Third Law of Motion?
It's not rocket science, you know.