Gadgets, Gismos & Gimmicks

For questions about finch enclosures (cages & aviaries).
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S. W. Houston
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Gadgets, Gismos & Gimmicks

Post by S. W. Houston » Wed Jan 02, 2008 3:32 pm

Done my homework, and can't find anywhere here, where these things can be collectively placed !

SO, don't let me be the only one Posting to this Topic, you may have some Gadget or Idea, which will help someone out !

Have a good Day ! :)

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DOOR, Vertical Sliding, Gravity Closing

Post by S. W. Houston » Wed Jan 02, 2008 3:53 pm

DOOR, Vertical Sliding, Gravity Closing
ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS
This is a simple procedure, to make an extra access or replacement Door in your existing cage. You should already have the required parts on hand.

Notes:
1. This Door is for Cages with Vertically aligned Cage Wire, and Horizontally placed support Wire. Additionally, there must be a reasonable amount of space above the proposed opening, for the Door to be lifted/slid upward. Look at the existing doors on the Cage, and pick a place which is of comparable access.
2. Cage Doors usually come in two standard widths, 2.0,” and 3.5”, however you can make the Door as wide as you want, even completely across the Cage. IF you want to hang one of the Standard insertable “T” Mount Feeders in it, then the above widths should be observed.
3. It would be best, if you removed any Birds you have in the Cage to another during this procedure, but, if you must leave them in the Cage, hang a swatch of cloth inside the Cage to protect your work, contain them, and keep them from being terrorized by it.

PARTS NEEDED:
Dowel Rod, ½” (same as your Perch Dowel)
Clothes Hanger (old) (White/Painted would be nice)
Exception:
If you intend to use the type Feeder in this new Door which has “Tabs” that hook inside the Cage, and turn up using the Door to secure it, then, substitute the Round Dowel for a ½” x ½” Square Trim piece. They come in 48” lengths, same as the Dowel.

TOOLS NEEDED:
Saw
Drill and Bits (Small 1/16-1/4” Set)
Pliers, Standard
Pliers, Needle Nose
Pliers, Diagonal (Wire Cutters)
Small Hammer (Optional)

View Drawing at:
http://www.finchforum.com/gallery/displ ... at=0&pos=0

INSTRUCTIONS:
1: Take your time:
Decide how wide you want the door to be, and where it’s best placed. It does not necessarily have to be in the Horizontal center of the Cage. Place it for convenience, rear, side, toward the side, use your imagination.

2: Cutting the Dowel Rod:
Cut two pieces of Dowel, two vertical wire spaces wider than the width you’ve decided for the Door.

3: Marking the Drill Points:
Center each of the Dowels on the proposed area, and use the existing vertical Rod spacing, to mark the places you will drill the Dowel. Mark a position for each Vertical Rod that the Dowel covers.

4: Drilling the Dowel Rods:
Check the diameter of the Clothes Hanger wire, and Vertical Wire of the Cage, and use appropriately sized Drill Bits, to allow the two sized Rods to snugly be pushed into/through the holes. It is probable that the Clothes Hanger Wire will be a larger diameter than is the Cage Wire.
Draw a straight line along the length of the Dowels, directly through the Marks you just made for the Rod spacing. On the two outside/end marks of each Dowel piece, remark them about 1/8” further outward toward the ends of the Dowel (two each on each Dowel). Drill the Dowels all the way through, for these (4) outside/end holes, and only half way through for the ones between them, on both Dowels. (see Figure A)

All drill holes should be straight in line, square to the length of the Dowel.
If you wish to Paint/Stain the Dowel, now’s the time !

5: Cutting the Vertical Rods/Wire from the Cage:
Look at Figure “B”, note the two large Red dots along the Red Line. These Dots represent the Horizontal Support Rod of the Cage.
You must cut UNDER the upper Rod, and ABOVE the bottom Rod, when removing the Vertical pieces. Remember how wide you want the door to be, and only cut the appropriated number of Rods out ! Cut the Rods very close to the upper and lower Horizontal Support Rods, where any rough wire ends, will be sufficiently out of the pass through opening. You may wish to Sand or File these wire ends remaining on the Cage, to smooth them down some.
Leaving the Rods at this length, will make the door a bit taller than is actually necessary, or….

If you feel confident in your ability in understanding this process, you may now cut all the Rods you just cut from the Cage, off another 3/8” or ½”, to make the upper Wire Slides, rest on the Horizontal Support Rods of the Cage the same as the lower ones. If you do not understand this, then leave the Rods as they are. This will add some height to the door, but in no way keep it from working.

6: Fitting the Rods into the Dowel Pieces:
Insert the Vertical Rods you’ve just cut from the Cage, into the holes you drilled half way through the Dowel Rods, leaving the two end holes or each Dowel Piece, open for the next step.
It’s ok if they’re not all the same length exactly, if you need to drill one of the holes a little deeper, do that now, but don’t drill all the way through the Dowel. This captures the vertical rods in the Door. See Figure “C”.
You may use a Rubber Band or cord, to contain this assembly, while you are handling it. To make sure the Dowels are compressed down on the captured Rods as best they can, you might now set the Door squarely upright on your bench, and tap down on the upper Dowel lightly with a hammer. Don’t over do this, or you’ll bend the Rods !

7: Cutting and Installing the Clothes Hanger Rods (Slider Rods):
Lay the partially assembled Door down, and measure it’s height (see Figure “C”).
Then with your Wire Cutters, cut two pieces of the Clothes Hanger, of equal length, making them at least THREE inches longer, than the height of the Door. We’ll be cutting off the extra length later.

Now with your Pliers, bend one end of each of the Clothes Hanger Rods 90° about 1 ½” from the end, and slip them into the end/outside holes, that you drilled completely through the Dowels (upper and lower Dowel). Using your Pliers again, bend the other ends of the Clothes Hanger Wires to 90° in the SAME DIRECTION, that you bent them the first time.
Try to make these second bends, as close to the Dowels as possible. If you do not get the Angles bent where the top and bottom bends are exactly parallel to each other in the same direction, you may twist the wire now, to align them.

8: Forming the Wire Sliders:
At this time, take a look at an existing Vertically Sliding Door on a Cage. Note that the Sliders are NOT formed tightly around the vertical Wires. This is to enable the Door to drop and close on it’s own, and about the same clearances should be formed, on this Door. Figure “D”, shows the final shape of the Sliders.

Now, place the Door against the Cage, centered in the opening you have created. Allow the Clothes Hanger Rods to go outside of the two existing Vertical Wires on the left and right of the opening, and into the inside of the Cage.

With both of the Clothes Hanger wire ends pointing directly to the opposite side of the Cage, mark those ends INSIDE the Cage, at the point where they are just passed the Vertical Cage Wire.

Remove the Door, and using your standard Pliers to hold the Clothes Hanger Rod, with the jaws of the Pliers slightly covering the marks you just made, and , HORIZONTALLY bend the upper, then lower, “Slider” wires inward toward each other 90°.

Now, using your Needle Nose Pliers, hold each Slider near the angle you just bent, making sure that about 3/16” of the Wire is captured by the Pliers, and bend the outer end of the Wire HORIZONTALLY forward toward the front of the Door about 45°. You may now cut off the ends of the Slider about ½” from the bend you just made. You should see that the “V” bends of the top and bottom Sliders, are bent toward the center of the Door.
I know it will seem easy to just go on and bend these wires around in a “U” shape now, but don’t !

9. Attaching the Door:
Center and place the Door against the Cage, where it is raised about half the way up/open. This will place the Sliders, above the Horizontal Rods of the Cage. You may have to reach inside the Cage, using your Needle Nose Pliers, to pull the ends of them around the vertical wire of the Cage.

Having done this, hold the Door against the Cage lightly, moving it up and down to see that the clearances of the Sliders are NOT too tight. If you need to re-bend the angles to increase the clearance, do this now. LOOSE IS BETTER than tight !

If you have determined that these clearances are adequate, then from outside the Cage, reach into and around the “V” shaped bends of the four Sliders with your standard Pliers, and close them from the “V” they are now in, to a “U” shape. DO NOT allow this closure to capture/tighten up on the Vertical Wire of the Cage. You may have to reach inside the Cage with your Needle Nose Pliers, placing them between the 90° and 45° bends, to maintain the spacing between those bends, as you close the Sliders to the “U” shape.

You’re done !

Figures “E” & “F”, show the finished Door.

Reasons why:
1. To place oversized objects into Cage.
2. Easier access for Cleaning and Adjusting.
3. Quick access to join two Cages together.
4. Existing doors to small for me to get my hand in ! (personal reason)
5. Bored, and just did it ! (maybe this one too)

S. W. Houston

Have a good Day ! :)
Last edited by S. W. Houston on Fri Jan 04, 2008 9:49 am, edited 2 times in total.
Good Golf good times and anything else that makes you happy llike
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FeatherHarp

Post by FeatherHarp » Wed Jan 02, 2008 4:23 pm

Wowzers.!!....after reading your post and description you definitely are a Gageteer and shall henceforth be known as "Inspector Gadget"... :mrgreen:

Now I have a request for you.....remember when there was discussion about leg bands....well I got some of those perler beads from Walmart and now I need a tool/gadget to put them on with. If I don't have to purchase one that would be nice....sooooo....my dear Inspector Gadget.....might you be able to suggest a homemade tool for that?

I am totally clueless in the gadget department but Hubby is an Engineer and could understand your "language". :D

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Banding Tool

Post by S. W. Houston » Wed Jan 02, 2008 4:46 pm

Gees FeatherHarp !,

I haven't laughed that hard in quite a while ! :lol:

Alas, the Standard Tool is the best one I've seen so far !
(See a picture of one at: http://www.finchinfo.com/breeding/leg_b ... eeping.php )
See "Open Banding", toward the bottom of the page.

I have seen substitutes where a Paper Clip and, a small Safety Pin were used, fitting the Band around them to open the Band.

Additionally, there’s a “tool” that some people use to push on the Quick’s of their Fingernails, looks sorta like a Shovel. IF you had one that wasn’t very wide, you could slip one of the bands on it, and then off the end onto their Leg. If you have one, try it on a toothpick, and see if it works well for you.

BUT, Let me think about that a little more. ummm..... :wink:

Have a good Day ! :)
Last edited by S. W. Houston on Fri Jan 04, 2008 10:57 am, edited 4 times in total.
Good Golf good times and anything else that makes you happy llike
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Post by Leah » Thu Jan 03, 2008 1:09 pm

Houston!!!! You must be an engineer!!! I read the cage door post and will have to get my Engineer husband to translate! I prefer wire cutters and zip ties. I like your plans though. I was just contemplating how to expand one of my flight cages and this would work well.

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Post by S. W. Houston » Fri Jan 04, 2008 10:07 am

Leah,
I’m very glad you think this is helpful. (I am a retired M.E.)

Additionally, should anyone have a recommendation, of terminology for clarification, please mention it.

And, I encourage any of you again, to please post your Ideas/instructions/drawings, they don’t have to be in such literal terms. Just plain English will do. :D

Have a good Day ! :)
Good Golf good times and anything else that makes you happy llike
Peophila Guttata-Australia ;-)

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Post by Sally » Fri Jan 04, 2008 11:35 am

Houston, this is a go! I'm not very inventive, myself, so this will really come in handy. Next year (actually this year, now), I am thinking of building some bigger breeding cages for a few of my waxbills. With building, I can get exactly what I want, and now I have directions for my doors! Thanks!

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Post by S. W. Houston » Fri Jan 04, 2008 12:01 pm

Sally,
Thank you for your support, now, and SO many times before.
If it weren’t for loving and caring people like you here, my birds would have been dead by now.
And I mean that literally.
Giving something back to you and the others here, is SO gratifying to me, and hardly any compensation, to the value I have acquired.
And I sincerely mean it, when I say….

Have a good Day ! :)
Good Golf good times and anything else that makes you happy llike
Peophila Guttata-Australia ;-)

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Clamp, Security, for Hopper with removable Tray

Post by S. W. Houston » Thu Jan 10, 2008 1:30 pm

Clamp, Security, for Hopper with removable Tray
ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS
In Product Evaluation here at FINCHforum, this Hopper was well accepted. Sturdy and convenient, but, it may not fit all Cages well, in that that some Wire Doors, do not fit down into the Top Hook securely. The Picture shows two Applications, of a simple Clamp that you can fabricate, which keeps Hopper securely against Cage, should you require this added safety feature.

Parts/Tools Needed:
18”Wire (Old Clothes Hanger will do & length may vary with Type of Cage)
Pliers, Standard
Pliers, Needle nose
Pliers, Diagonal (Wire Cutters)

You may view the two Applications/Picture at:
http://www.finchforum.com/gallery/displ ... fullsize=1

Instructions:
Find the middle of the Wire, and place it against the middle of the back of the hopper just under the Hooks. Bend 90° angles in the same direction, just outside the sides of the Hopper, leaving about 1/8” clearance on both sides.

Now, you must decide if you want to remove it each time you remove the hopper, or, bend the hooks, where it will stay on the Cage.

View A, Removable:
Shows the Pivot under the back hooks of the Hopper, and how the Clamp hooks down over the Horizontal Support Wire of the Cage. Having chosen this application, place the Clamp under the Hooks of the Hopper. Insert the Clamp Wires above the Horizontal Support Wire, inside the Cage, and bend both ends of the wire down 90°. Cut the excess wire off, leaving about ½” hook, on it.

View B, Attached to Cage:
Shows the Pivot on the Cage, with the Clamp dropping down over the Hopper, and below the hooks on the back. This choice will require the Clamp to be slightly longer, and is not as secure as View A. Having chosen this application, cut the Length of the Clamp to hook over the Horizontal Support Wire of the Cage, and bend/close the Clamp wire around the Cage Support Wire.

See Product Evaluaton and Comments at:
http://www.finchforum.com/viewtopic.php?p=14416#14416

Have a good Day ! :)
S. W. Houston
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Peophila Guttata-Australia ;-)

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Post by sunnydove » Tue Jan 22, 2008 12:56 pm

Houston, you are such a genius!! I would bet my right arm that your mind NEVER stops working. You are probably always trying to "think" up a new idea or figuring out a new way to make something work.
My dad is/was a Jerry rigger (mechanic, fix-it-all) man (although disabled now) and I got a little of his skills, but you take the cake.


Keep up the great work!!!

Judy
Find a place to be quiet enough to hear what's inside you!!

Fur & Feather Mom of: 1-Maltipoo, 1-Toy Poodle, 1 - Border Collie, 1 -Great Pyrenees, 4-cats, LGF's... RH/WB/BB-Dilute, BH/PB/GB, YH/PB/GB, RH/PB/GB-BLUE, BH/WB/GB, RH/PB/GB.

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Post by ac12 » Wed Feb 25, 2009 3:57 pm

SWH
The link to the drawing for the door does not link to a drawing.

tnks
Gary

gouldians (GB,YB,BB), blackbelly firefinches (trying to breed), societies (foster parents).
red factor canary

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