Hello, New in Forum. & Pictures of my DIY Rack.

Carrera Mike · Sun Feb 23, 2014 9:49 am

my "Anti-Sway" bars

just dowels spot tied to the bottom of the gourds to prevent swaying

Carrera Mike · Mon Feb 24, 2014 9:16 pm

Carrera Mike · Sat Mar 08, 2014 8:08 am

Doors open! after days and days of rain and snow.

chickadee · Sat Mar 08, 2014 8:53 am

You are ready. Looks nice.

Carrera Mike · Sat Mar 08, 2014 1:13 pm

chickadee wrote:You are ready. Looks nice.

Thank you sir. Hope to see them this weekend. it'll be 60s today but lows at night for the next 2 weeks will still be in the mid to high 30s :( Can they tolerate that? I guess the question should be will the insects be out in those temps..?

kehunter · Sat Mar 08, 2014 2:25 pm

From what I've been able to learn so far, nighttime lows in the mid- to high-30s shouldn't be a big issue if they're able to eat well during the day and keep their energy level up. Several rainy days in a row where insects are not in the air, coupled with cold nights, could be a problem, however. Be prepared to offer supplemental feeding, if weather conditions go bad after the birds arrive.

Carrera Mike · Sat Mar 08, 2014 2:51 pm

kehunter wrote:From what I've been able to learn so far, nighttime lows in the mid- to high-30s shouldn't be a big issue if they're able to eat well during the day and keep their energy level up. Several rainy days in a row where insects are not in the air, coupled with cold nights, could be a problem, however. Be prepared to offer supplemental feeding, if weather conditions go bad after the birds arrive.

That's good to know. Thanks. I have a tray and food ready.

chickadee · Sat Mar 08, 2014 5:33 pm

mike, I am a she. and what kehunter said is correct. just be ready to try to feed them. putting them in the gourds or on the porches works good. and I had to use crickets first then went to mealworms. good luck.

Carrera Mike · Sat Mar 08, 2014 6:46 pm

chickadee wrote:mike, I am a she. and what kehunter said is correct. just be ready to try to feed them. putting them in the gourds or on the porches works good. and I had to use crickets first then went to mealworms. good luck.

Ooops

Sorry Mam. Ill make sure Ill be ready in case there more of this cold spells/non stop rain in our area. I do have meal worms that Ive been feeding the blue birds with.

Anthony Neira · Fri Mar 21, 2014 11:51 am

Fantastic job Mike, any updates?

Joez · Fri Mar 21, 2014 1:35 pm

Would it be possible to show a closeup of how your pulley system locks the sliding part onto the top of the pole?

Carrera Mike · Fri Mar 21, 2014 3:21 pm

Anthony Neira wrote:Fantastic job Mike, any updates?

still waiting :( hope to see them this weekend.

Carrera Mike · Fri Mar 21, 2014 3:25 pm

Joez wrote:Would it be possible to show a closeup of how your pulley system locks the sliding part onto the top of the pole?

Im not sure if your asking if the weight of the rack is held locked once its up.. Answer to that is NO. Its held by the Dacron rope in up position.

What locks is the slider/rack from spinning around with the wind since its round pipe. Here's pix of that

Once the sliding pipe gets up there, it has a notch that catches a bolt.

The bolt head side is where the pulley is so it could get over the head. I actually had to file the bolt head a little bit 'cause it was getting stuck coming down. The little chamfer/angle I filed made it snag free.

Joez · Sat Mar 22, 2014 8:18 am

GREAT!

Question tho. Why use two pulleys?

Anthony Neira · Sat Mar 22, 2014 9:19 am

Sorry Mike, my gnat brain might have missed this, but why the lower pully ?

Carrera Mike · Sat Mar 22, 2014 9:54 am

Anthony Neira wrote:Sorry Mike, my gnat brain might have missed this, but why the lower pully ?

Tony,

no worries. Im using the compound pulley principle .. google might be able to explain that better than I could, but the basic of it is, it drastically lighten the effort to pull the rack up. Others even use the double pulley, two on top and two in the bottom.

Carrera Mike · Sat Mar 22, 2014 10:59 am

Tony, here's one that uses a double pulley(total of 4). Zoom in and you'll it better.