A few weeks ago I received the following email:

“I’ve written a procedure explaining how to remove a Canon i960 printer from its cover and base and how to prepare it to be operational while out of its case.   It’s a 4 page PDF – 1 graphic, 3000 words, 36 paragraphs.  Too big for a comment.   If interested I’ll email it to you as an attachment.”

Well, I gladly replied that I’d love to see it.   Below is the contents of the PDF and hope many find it useful.  Thanks David for all your work putting this together!

“I find the Canon i960 printer manual lacking in practical information about inspections, tests and cleaning.  This
procedure explains how to remove the top cover and base and how to prepare the printer to be operational while
out of its case.

Basic tools for this job are a medium size phillips type screwdriver with a 5-6 inch magnetized blade.  Most
hardware stores sell a simple magnetizing device for this purpose.  Two straight blade screwdrivers – medium and
small.  A regular screwdriver with a sharp tip to pry apart connectors.  Letter opener.  Flash light.  Container for
small screws.  Newspapers.  Paper towels.

To remove the top cover: Turn the printer power on.  Let it stabilize.  Open the lid.  The print head will move to
the center.  Pull the AC plug AT THE PRINTER.  Pull out the USB cable.  Remove any paper.

Remove the panel that holds the power/resume buttons – 2 screws.  Unplug the cable from the button panel.  Pry
the connection partially apart, then grasp the conductors and pull with a rocking motion.  Set the button panel
aside.  At the rear of the printer remove the inspection plate.  Set it aside.

Look for 5 horizontal slots midway around the perimeter of the case.  Use a flat blade like a letter opener to
depress the internal plastic release tabs while pulling up on the open top cover.  After the top cover is snapped
loose, close the lid and rear paper rest.  Grasp the top cover by each side and lift it from the base in a rocking
motion.  Set it aside.  A cover over the USB connectors lifts out after removing the top cover.  Set it aside.

A push-button switch at the top-center of the logic board senses the top cover lid opened or closed.  Its normal
state (closed lid) is NOT depressed.

If removal of the printer frame from the base is NOT required, reconnect the button panel and cable connection
and temporarily install the panel on the base using the bottom screw.  With the cover removed paper is not
supported.  Make a paper support.  Cut a 7×9 inch panel from a corrugated cardboard box and insert it about an
inch into the gap behind the rear paper guide.  Now normal operations are possible as though the cover was in
place.

Before removing the printer frame from the base, preliminary measures should be taken: Arrange a work station

-garage bench, utility table, kitchen table – preferably well lit and at a comfortable height.  Prepare two wooden
blocks to elevate the printer above the work surface.  Lego blocks might work.  Have newspapers and paper
towels on hand.

For a test lash-up, cables from the power supply module, the button panel and a base test plug must be re-
configured.  It’s not necessary to disconnect them from the logic board or disturb the wiring runs.

Remove the power supply module and the power cable from beneath the base: Turn the printer around so the
rear of the printer overhangs the edge of the work bench 3 inches.  The power supply module resides in a recess
beneath the rear of the base.  At the end of the module towards the AC connector is a 3/4 inch wide plastic tab.
Pry it away from the end of the module while grasping it near the AC connector.  The module will drop out.  At the
other end of the module is a 9 wire plug.  Pry/pull it out.  Set the power supply module aside.  Pull the power cable
and plug back up to the top side of the base.

A cable of 8 red wires terminates on an open plug at the right rear corner beneath the printer base.  It serves no
purpose for this operation but must be dealt with because it’s fastened to the base.  From above bend some of
the red wires facing the rear to mark that side.  To disconnect it from the base compress the locking tabs of the
plug from below the base and pull it out from above.  I used a medium size regular screwdriver and pried against
a tab from below on one side while pulling up at a slight angle on the wires.  Then I moved the screwdriver to the
other side and did the same thing.  The plug came out easily despite the tight spot.  Leave the plug dangling.  Turn
the printer around.

At the front of the printer above the paper discharge chute is a 12 inch plastic bar.  Removing this bar allows
more maneuvering room to install or remove the printer frame from the base, but it’s not necessary to remove it.

It’s held in place by vertical latch tabs at both ends.  Grasp the left end of the bar and push firmly to the left and
upwards.  On the right side on the end near the black purge pump look for a 1/2″ tab that extends downward.
The tab must be pried towards the purge pump while lifting upwards on the bar.  Set it aside.

The printer frame is held to the base by 2 screws located in the rear and 2 tabs (not visible) in the front.  On the
right rear corner a screw is located directly downward in line with the slot used to depress an internal plastic tab.
Look down over the edge of the base with a flash light and use a magnetized phillips screwdriver to remove the
screw.  On the left rear corner the screw is located in line with the white fiber gear.  It’s visible and easy to
remove.  Ignore the other screw nearby.

If the button panel was temporarily installed earlier remove it now from the base and unplug the cable.  Look for
the U-shaped metal bracket at the right side near the purge pump motor.  For future reference, make a mark on
the vinyl covered button cable at the center of the purge pump motor.  Remove the bracket – 2 screws.  Arrange
the button cable so that it is free from snagging when the print frame is lifted from the base.

Grasp the printer by the metal tabs on either side of the center frame and lift upwards favoring the left side.  The
front holding tabs are cleared by pushing the frame slightly backwards after the rear clears the base a fraction of
an inch.  Jiggling the printer frame may be necessary.  Avoid handling the frame at any other points.  It’s easy to
damage fragile parts.  Once clear of the front tabs the printer should lift free from the base but watch carefully
for any overlooked connection or obstruction.  Set it down.

On the printer base look for any foreign objects (screws, clips, springs etc.) and save them.  Remove the white
plastic bar with teeth from the printer base and set it aside.  The printer base and waste ink pads will be cleaned
later.

On the printer frame there may be dust/debris in areas that are now accessible.  If you have access to
compressed air, this is the time to blow it out.  Leave the print head away from the purge area.  Don’t blast ink
from the purge area onto other parts.

Prepare the printer to operate outside of its cover and base: Put down newspapers.  Elevate the printer base on
blocks.  Make sure a folded paper towel is below the black purge pump near the right front corner.

Plug the button cable into the button panel and place it in a convenient location.  Plug the 9 wire power supply

cable into the loose power supply module.  Plug in the USB cable from the computer.  Insert the 7×9 cardboard
panel into the gap behind the rear paper guide.  Load some paper.  Remove the ink cartridges and visually check
for ink levels.  Reinsert them and move the print head back and forth a few inches by hand.  It should move
smoothly.  Confirm that the print head locking lever is down.  Plug the AC cord into the loose power supply
module.

Turn the power on.  Look for the green light.  There will probably be print head movement and purge activity.
After the printer stabilizes, depress and hold the open lid button on top of the logic board.  The print head should
move to the center.  Release the button.  It should return to the parked position over the purge unit at the right
side.  There might be ink on the folded paper towel.

Turn the COMPUTER on.  After boot-up go to Start/Settings/Printer.  Right-click on the i960 printer icon.  Go to
Properties/Print Test Page.  The printer should print the test page.  Click on the Maintenance tab.  Do a nozzle
check.

At this juncture there are many things to check for, depending on conditions and symptoms.  It’s beyond the
scope of this procedure to list them but if cleaning, lubrication and repairs are to be made, this is the time.  If any
clips, screws, etc.  were found in the bottom of the base, this is the opportunity to determine where they MIGHT
belong.

Clean the waste ink pads: In the base are two pads on top of each other running 11 inches along the length of
the base.  Two small pads are on top of each other near the purge pump area.  There’s also a pad at the far left
of the base that’s probably not stained.  Remove it too.  Set it aside.  The others are very messy.  Take the base to
a laundry type utility sink or a bath tub.  Put on rubber gloves and remove the pads.  Don’t do this on the
driveway unless you can live with the stains.

Place them under a running faucet or direct a warm water stream from a hose to flush them out.  Using your
gloved hands, press the water out, flip them over and press the other side.  Repeat this until the ink no longer
blackens the water pressed from the pads.  Be careful not to damage the small ears on the big pads.  The stains
can not be removed but the bulk of the ink will be flushed out.  Leave them soaked with water so they dry out to
maximum thickness.  Place them on 4-6 layers of paper towels, preferably outside in the sun.  Flip them and
change the towels every few hours.  It might take 2 days for them to dry.

Flush the base under a stream of warm water to remove the ink.  Clean the printer top cover with soap and
water.  Use a spray bottle of bleach type cleaner to remove stains from the sink or tub.

To re-assemble the printer gather all the parts that were set aside in one location.  Keeping an eye on them will
guide you what to do next and in what order.  Start with the base.  After the waste ink pads are dry, install them.
Start with the small ones.  The bottom pad may be of different material than the top one.  Install the single pad
previously set aside.  Install the big pads.  There’s a slight difference between the bottom and top pads.  Install the
white plastic bar with teeth on the base.  It fits only one way.

Disconnect the loose power supply module from the power supply cable and the AC cord.  Disconnect the button
panel from the button cable.  Remove the paper and 7×9 cardboard panel from the rear paper guide.

With the base and printer prepared, lower the printer onto the base: First, position the button cable so that the
reference mark is near the center of the purge pump motor.  To hold it from flopping, place the button cable
above the metal tab that anchors one side of the U-shaped bracket.  Tape is optional.  Grasp the printer frame by
the tabs on either side of the center frame.  The rear of the printer has to go slightly back beyond the screw
holes so that the 2 front tabs are engaged when the printer is then brought forward.  It might require some
jiggling.  You can tell if the printer frame is seated properly when you can see the rear holes firmly against the
bottom case and are lined up.  Confirm the button cable is in the slot at the bottom rear of the case.  Attempt to
lift up the front of the printer frame at both corners.  It should be secure under the tabs.

Install the U-shaped metal bracket on the right side – 2 screws.  It has a retainer tab for the button cable which
should now be positioned correctly with the center of the purge pump motor in line with the mark made earlier.
Use the magnetized phillips type screwdriver and install the 2 screws that secure the rear of the printer to the
base.

If not already in place, install the 12 inch plastic bar across the front of the printer above the paper exit chute.
The thick side is to the left and the 1/2 inch tabs point downward.  Push the bar down from the top until it snaps
into place.

Turn the printer so the rear of the printer overhangs the edge of the work bench 3 inches.  Install the red wire
cable plug into the square hole at the right rear corner of the printer base.  The bent wires face to the rear.  Push
the plug down from the top side of the base into the hole until the plastic tabs snap into place.

Route the power supply cable and plug down through the opening in the right rear corner of the base.  Plug it
into the power supply module.  Snap the power supply module into the recess beneath the bottom of the base.
Set the USB cover plate in place.  Turn the printer around.

Install the top cover loose.  Route the button cable and plug up through the opening in front of the clear mist
shield.  Snap the cover down starting with the left side.  Insert the button cable plug into the socket of the button
panel.  Open the lid.  Fasten the button panel – 2 screws.  Close the lid.  Install the rear inspection plate.

Plug in the AC cord and the USB cable to the computer.  Load with paper.  Turn on the computer and printer.  Wait
for everything to stabilize.  Open the printer lid.  The print head should move to the center.  Check the ink
cartridges.  Make sure they have ink and are seated properly.  Confirm that the print head locking bar is down.
Close the lid.  At the computer, navigate to the printer icon and print a test page.  Click the maintenance tab and
do a nozzle check.  Print a test color bar or photo.”

A HUGE thanks to David for sending this great writeup over!

NOTE: If any visitors give this a go please post your thoughts below and take lots of pics during the process so we can add them!

Cut to the chase?  Go to TouringPlans.com and read then join!  Honestly, it was the only trip planning site we needed.

Back in Febuary of 2008 my family took on the exciting yet daunting task of planning a trip to Walt Disney World.   We knew if we wanted to maximize our trip and have a lot of fun (with relatively few frustrations) we needed to get our ducks in a row.

That trip was quite a while ago and I’m finally going to share some of the ideas and resources we used when planning our trip to DisneyWorld.

Hitting Up Friends:

I knew a friend who recently had taken his family to DisneyWorld and wanted to get his feedback.  I wanted to pull from his experience and asked his thoughts on his trip.  He sent me some absolutely wonderful advice and I felt selfish that I was the only one benefiting, so I thought I’d share his great comments and suggestions:

“Before you go to Disney, prepare properly.  It takes several visits just to learn what’s there, and it’s easy to miss some great attractions.  It’s also important to budget your time properly, especially with a small child.  There is a great temptation to “go, go, go”, when you need to build in some rest time and not over-do it.  If you had unlimited energy, there is enough to do to keep going all day and night for a week, but that would be a BIG mistake.  There’s nothing like watching the excitement in your child’s eyes as they experience the Magic Kingdom and its characters.  If they get over-tired, it’s no longer fun for them (and therefore for you).  If your parents are up to walking 5 miles/day, take them along – they’ll make great baby sitters.

Here is a great book on Disney World (http://www.amazon.com/Birnbaums-Walt-Disney-World-2008/dp/1423103920/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1202902822&sr=8-2 ).  Even though most people think of Disney as just 4 theme parks, it is FAR more than that.  Disney World should be looked at as a “full service resort” that can pick you up and drop you off at the airport (for free – http://www.mousesavers.com/magicalexpress.html ) and never expose you to the outside world.  Here are two websites that have a lot of information:

http://www.mousesavers.com/

http://allears.net/

During school breaks, they get very crowded, and your memories will be mainly of long lines.  From their ticket pricing structure (http://www.mousesavers.com/wdwticketprices.html#myw), you can see that most people who go for multiple days will go to at least one of the parks every day of their stay.  It is also obvious that Disney wants to get people to stay longer and spend all of their lodging and food dollars at Disney.

If you are just looking to go to the Magic Kingdom for 1 day, I would just go to Disneyland instead.”

A vacation at Disney World requires a lot of planning to maximize the positives and minimize the negatives (and there are lots of both).”

And in another email:

“Per this link (http://www.mousesavers.com/moderateresorts2008.html ), your dates are at the end of the “peak season” (winter & Easter break for many eastern schools).  I think that you can guess what that means in terms of crowds and lines.  The room rates tell you that the only busier time is during Christmas (where they often have to close the gates early because they hit their capacity limit).  From personal experience, we once went during the school break period – we will NEVER do that again.  Not only are the crowds excessive during this time, they don’t have enough help to properly man the parks.  During the summer, they have lots of high school/college students, so keeping the park open for extended hours isn’t such a problem.  During the other 9 months, they rely on lots of retired people who work part time.  This works OK during the “not-so-busy” periods when the park closes early, but look at the hours during the week of Feb 17th.  During these times, the retirees are FORCED to work extended hours, and some workers get tired and cranky (school break was the ONLY time that I have seen Disney “Cast Members” get cranky).  It’s not just the hours; some rides have “double lines” where twice as many people can be accommodated during busy times – more workers are therefore required for each hour that the park is open.  Staffing is often well below optimal during these times, and things just don’t run as smoothly as they do when things are properly staffed (including restaurants).

Next, we find that it is easy to try to do too much, get tired and have a bad experience.  We always get to the park when it first opens – the first 2 hours are “golden hours” when the crowds are down and you can actually get on the best attractions.  After 11:00 the lines are longer, and after 1:00 (when many people continue to pour into the park), the lines can grow to 2 hours on popular attractions during busy periods.  “Fast pass” sounds good, but some rides have a 5 hour wait to use a fast pass in the afternoon/evening on a busy day (so they can be effectively worthless).

How’s that for a “negative”?  Disney World can be a GREAT place to visit if you know when to go and how to get around.  It can also be a living hell if you go at the wrong time and with unrealistic expectations.  Under no circumstances would I recommend a 1 day visit during the time period that you mentioned.  Look at this link (http://www.mousesavers.com/disneyresorts.html#datestoavoid ).

If you really want to go and show your family a great time, go for a week in the middle of one of the “value seasons”.  Stay in one of their resorts (we like the “Moderates” as a good mix of cost/ambience) – discounts are available through AAA.  They also have “value resorts”  that cost less, but don’t have the ambience of a resort and are packed with small kids.  Go to the park each day when it opens, stay for 3-4 hours, go back to your resort for a swim/nap, then go back in the evening for a few hours.  DON’T overdo it – getting tired is a killer, especially when you have a small child or a cranky grandparent in tow.

If you only have one day during this time period, I would pick a park that won’t be packed.  Surely there are a number of choices closer to home.

I’m sure that you will agree that:
1.    One day isn’t nearly enough time.
2.    Going without reading up ahead of time and having a plan would greatly detract from your experience.
3.    Having realistic expectations is a key to enjoying yourselves.
4.    Knowing how to “work the system” is a big help.“

I was so thankful for this wonderful information.   I was even more determined to make this trip a success and not end up like a dear in the headlights when we arrived.

TouringPlans.com – Best $8.95 I spent during the whole trip!
I can’t recall how I stumbled upon this gem.  Maybe it was from my friend above or a few web searches, but this tool made the whole trip infinitely better than it would have been without.

Lots of great information on the site (including best days to go), but what really made the tool invaluable to us was the actual Touring Plans.  Basically you can tell it which park you are going to, how many days you’ll be there,  the ages of the people in your family, and it will create a custom plan with a map that shows where to go and when.    The best part:  It leverages the FASTPASS system so you don’t spend 1/2 your trip in lines.

To see sample touring plans, click here

I was worried that too much optimization would ruin the trip and/or that our girls wouldn’t be able to keep up with the pace, but things couldn’t have been more perfect.   In fact, using the guide we had either my wife or I run to get the FASTPASS for all of us while we got in line for something that didn’t support FASTPASS.

At the end of each day and by the end of the trip we were exhausted, but had no regrets about what we had done or hadn’t seen.

Examples of before and after a great fun-filled day at DisneyWorld

Have you been to Disney World or DisneyLand?  Have some good suggestions or ideas?  Leave a comment so others can gain from your experience!

Automatic Compost Sifter – Screen
Sieve – Screen Shaker for Soil and Compost

Over the past few days I’ve been corresponding with another visitor of the site who has his own design.  He sent over a video (below) which really impressed me and I implored him to send me more information and pictures which he kindly did!   Below is the HomeMade Rotary Trommel Screen by Ken:

“I had need for about 6 cubic yards of broken stone to level a steep area on my property.  Because rain water flowed through the area, I wanted just stone, no dirt to impede the water flow.   I have about 1500 cubic yards of broken shale and soil available if I could just screen out the dirt. 

To this end I built my rotary screener out of:

• a 55-gallon steel drum
• 2-24 inch id bicycle rims bolted to the drum.
• 4 caster wheels
• Four 3 foot long bars of 1-1/4 x ¼ steel bars
• A clothes dryer motor and belt
• Some 2 inch angle iron
• 2-8 foot long 2×4 pt lumber
• ½ inch mesh wire cloth.
• 2 inch angle iron
• Miscellaneous flat and v belt idlers

To keep the drum bicycle rims running in the casters, I used the drive belt on the motor/outlet end and a long v-belt bought from home depot for $1.99 on closeout at the inlet end.

I found the drum speed was too fast, around 55 rpm, throwing dirt all over the place, so I added a ¼ hp motor driving the washing machine motor at half speed, which worked out well. Both motor mounts are pivoted so the drive belts are tensioned by motor weight and the bungee cord

I didn’t want to throw the dirt and stones; I wanted them to slide down the screen as they moved toward the outlet. 

I made the screening opening 24 inches long so the dirt would fall down into a wheel barrow or garden tractor trailer and the stone would fall out the end, also into a wheelbarrow or trailer.

I installed the 2 side deflectors so the screenings would only drop straight down and not on the casters or frame of the machine.

I later added four easily removable wheels for ease of movement.

The barrel is tilted by having the inlet end casters raised on a 2×4. 

The barrel is 35 inches long, the machine is 48 inches long.  I originally cut 4 windows in the barrel for the screenings to fall through, added the steel bars and cut out the spaces between the windows to get a full circumference for screening. 

As soon as I get an other barrel, I’ll simply cut it in half and use the bars to space the halves 24 inches apart, making it 59 inches long.  That way I’ll have more space to toss the material in and more overhang on the outlet end to make it easier to position the trailer or wheelbarrow.

The screen wire permanently attached to the barrel can be of a larger opening size, for larger screening and a smaller mesh liner can be laid in and attached with twisted wire ties to the main screen for finer screening.  I used this process with window screen to separate pea gravel from sand. “

A big thanks to Ken for sharing this with us!  If you have any questions or comments please post them below.  Also, if you want to make an article submission for our site please comment below.

1. Costco stopped carrying the Luxeon LED flashlights.
2. A couple of the Costco lights started to have intermittent problems.
3. I needed something brighter than the Dorcy AAA light, but still wanted to stick with a single or double AA design.

A few months ago I received a post on that older article from Nick at http://www.workflashlight.com.   I asked him if I could test a couple of his lights and he sent me two single AA models to try:

• 5W Super Duty 30 Lumens 1xAA Pocket LED Flashlight
• 1W 32 Lumens 1xAA LED Flashlight

Here are the two lights along side of the Dorcy AAA LED flashlight:

As you can see the beam of the 5w had a bit more of a yellow coloring while the 1w has more of a blue color similar to the Dorcy.   Both of these test lights had a much stronger and tighter beam than the Dorcy.  Pretty amazing when you consider the batteries in each are more or less the same (1.5 volts).

Next I setup my camera and each light to shine on a target picture 16 feet away.   I’ve found that while I’m outside checking on the chickens that this distance is usually the max distance of what I expect to see with a small form factor light light this.

	Here is the baseline shot of the wall and picture with the lights on.The image is cropped and zoomed to get better detail.Click any of the thumbnails to see a larger image.
	This is the 5W Super Duty 30 Lumens 1xAA Pocket LED Flashlight.Again, you can see that the color is a little bit on the yellow side, but could be considered more like “actual light” color. This light produced a good balance between the main beam with a decent amount of “side spill” for peripheral viewing.I prefer the feel of this light over the 1W below.  It seemed more solid and I liked the anti-roll notching into the body.
	This is the 1W 32 Lumens 1xAA LED Flashlight.  It has a more “blue” color and a tighter main beam with less side spill.While I preferred the feel of the 5W light above, this light fit more smoothly into my pocket.  I also liked the light color better.The tail cap button felt a little less solid on this light and the optics were loose (could have simply been this model).
	Here is the Dorcy AAA LED.  The light setting was fixed on the camera to provide for a relative display of how much light each of the flashlights produced.    The Dorcy was almost useless at this distance.

 Overall I was very pleased with the lights.   I’m not sure if it was an optical illusion produced by the different color light, but I honestly had a hard time determining which one was brighter.   After going outside in the dark and testing the lights on a plethora of different areas I decided I liked the brightness, color, and beam of the 1W 32 Lumens 1xAA LED Flashlight best.    While I like both lights, I think the 5W body with the 1W circuit / LED would be a perfect combo.

A big thanks to Nick at http://www.workflashlight.com for letting me test his lights.  Maybe someday he’ll be able to talk me into testing some of his brighter non AA based LED lights. 

We’ve had a lot of interest in the Automatic Compost Sifter – Screen post. One visitor of the site, Richard Buxton, posted a comment and sent a picture. I was so impressed I asked him to submit some more details so I could post it up as its own article. So, below we present the “Son of Sid”:

A sieve-box moves backwards and forwards by means of an electric motor. Sifted material falls through a mesh base and a guide chute into a wheelbarrow below. The sieve-box is hinged to allow debris to be tipped out.

Two open boxes; similar to kitchen drawers but without bases, are nested inside one another and arranged so that the inner box may be tipped up on a piano hinge for clearing any material that does not fall through the mesh.

The two nested boxes have four small, in-line castors underneath to allow lateral movement along two rails. These full-length rails are supported on six anti-vibration mounts (Elasto Mount – AT type) that attach through angle brackets to the inside faces of the long-rails of a supporting table-frame.

Movement is provided by a reciprocating saw clamped to a board and firmly anchored across the running rails. The Saw mechanism is connected by means of a push-pull bar fixed to the outer of the two nested boxes with a gate latch and 10mm bolt.

The reciprocating saw has been modified to disable the original power switch and the simple speed control electronics have been removed and adapted to provide a slower rate of reciprocation. A watertight enclosure fixed to the saw mounting board contains the removed speed controller circuit together with an illuminated on/off switch and a speed adjustment knob as operator controls.

The running rails are joined together by cross batons in the manner of railway sleepers so that all moving components and all anti-vibration mounts act in unison. As the reciprocating mechanism moves so does the sieve-box assembly.

The fitted mesh is ½ inch square but a finer mesh of ¼ inch may be dropped in on a sub frame for a finer particle size.

• Overall dimensions of table-frame: Length1340 – Width 560 – Height 950
• Sieve box: Length 610 – Width 455 – Depth 120
• Original speed 300 – 3000 cycles/min. Modified speed 0 – 200 cycles/min.
• Power consumption estimated to be in the order of 100W

This view shows the sifting box tipped up.

You can also see a rudimentary mudguard covering the castor wheel but some
sifted compost is visible on the running rail so I think I will need to fit full length
mudguards instead of these boy-racer ones.

Son of Sid has a very smooth action
The speed controller is subject to variation due to ambient temperature but luckily the purely
accidental selection of components I used (potentiometer and two resistors) allows me to adjust the speed accordingly.

If I load it too heavily I need to turn the wick up a little to get him running properly and as he empties I can turn it down.

The concept idea came from Sid the Sifter and my motivation was nothing more than laziness.

People often say, “Here’s something I made form bits I had lying around.”
True I did use a few lying around bits but I bought most of it – the most sexpensive of course being the saw
which cost £36 ($52)

This picture shows motor, control box and combined tool store and cup holder. (I am NOT responsible for the brickwork in the background).
Three quarter view. Notice tipping hinge and strain relief bracket on table frame – slotted into carrier box to reduce tipping strain
The Design
Speed controller: The Red Wheel is a combined switch and speed potentiometer - on the full speed setting the switch bypasses the speed control. I removed this control completely – five soldered connections
Speed controller reverse: You can easily see the five joints all in a circle that hold the potientiometer on the circuit board. The new control potentiometer connects to the two pads on the left. I used a 120K linear pot and added ballast resistors by trial and error to get the speed range I wanted. I think the total resistance was close to 850k – up from 500k on the original

A huge thanks to Richard for all the great pictures and information!

Here is the automatic door I built with an automatic car antenna (click the image to see it in action). I chose the antenna method because it has a built in stop when it reaches its end in both directions. This eliminates the need of more circuitry to control “run time”.

Mine runs off a little 12v lawn tractor battery. The battery is kept up to charge with a “float” charger. The door opens and closes with a photo light sensor. The reason for the battery is so that a power failure will not cause a problem. The reason for the light sensor is so that the length of daylight does not need to be constantly adjusted on a timer. BUT, you can simplify things and use an ordinary appliance timer plugged into an AC outlet, and then use a 12v DC power supply to power the antenna.

This is just one way to use an automatic car antenna. With some imagination you could probably come up with many more designs. 
As you can see the antenna is mounted upside down. The door is made from an 1\8″ ALUMINUM panel. It is light in weight but very strong. The door channels are 1/4″. I have a 3″ spacer connected to the tip of the antenna to the door. You can measure the distance you need to determine the spacing length. I used a piece of aluminum stock and tapped each side to mount it. The side on the antenna tip has a hole for the tip to set in, and then I used the tapped hole as a “set screw” to keep the tip in place. I have my tip connected towards the bottom of the door. This makes the length of the door channel a bit shorter in order to match the up and down stroke of the antenna.

Be sure to carefully measure the lengths and travel distances needed for the antenna to move up and down freely.

If you do not have some aluminum sheeting lying around, you can find some at Lowe’s or etc. Aluminum can be easily cut with your skill saw. Just make sure you have a carbide blade and wear safety goggles.

The door channels can be purchased also at Lowe’s or Home Depot.

The best price for the antenna was on-line at Beachaudio.com. Just look for the least expensive “Pyle” brand. It was about $35.00 The antenna has three wires. Two connect directly to your power source. The other (green wire) is the “up down” trigger. That is the wire that you connect to the timer or sensor circuit.

If you go with the 12V battery, the float charger can be bought at Harbor Freight Tools for under $10.00.

Here is the circuit.  Its pretty simple and self explanatory and would require someone that has done a little soldering in the past.

The only thing that is really not explained is the CDS photocell. One could try different types to see which works best. The one I used was a photocell button thing from Home Depot. It was a unit designed for you to install in an outside lamp. It is weather proof and has two leads coming out. It was the least expensive one and was under $10.00. I had it for a few years so I don’t know the model #. You will see it when I send you the pix of the stuff.

If you decide to go with the photocell circuit, the antenna’s power wires (red and black) must be always connected to the 12vdc power source and not be controlled by the photocell circuit.

A few thumbnails you can click on for the control box, door channel, battery / charger, photocell

On the bottom of the control box is a hole to access the photocell sensitivity trim pot.
On the one side of the box I mounted a terminal screw strip to attach my wires.
On the other side of the box I have a little slider switch that makes the door close manually.

The tip spacer/connector will probably be the hardest part for a lot of people to figure out to. There plenty of ways to get that done. I had a piece of an aluminum rod that was solid. I drilled and tapped each side of it. There is a screw going through the outside of the door to one side of the rod. I drilled a hole in the rod for the antenna tip to sit in. The screw on that side of the rod is a set screw that keeps the tip in place.

(Rob Note:  A huge thanks to Bob for this great design, pics and wrtieup and for letting me post it on the site.   I know we are both looking forward to reading some of your comments!)

After years of thinking about this, and after 2 separate raccoon attacks I finally found some time to create a prototype / proof of concept of my auto chicken coop door closer.    You can read the details of the initial design here: http://www.nifty-stuff.com/automatic-chicken-coop-door.php.   The most recent coon attack was 3 weeks ago when a gang of 4 coons came into the coop just an hour after sunset.   They were able to kill a hen and our only duck before I got out there to scare them away.

It is a terrible feeling knowing that if you had only gone out a few moments earlier that everybody would be fine.  It only takes a single night of forgetting, or not getting home in time to lock up the coop and an entire flock could be destroyed.

As stated in my original auto chicken coop door plans, I only needed a design that would close the door in case we forgot or couldn’t make it home in time.   We’ll still try to manually close the coop up, but this will give us the extra safety net we need to make sure everyone sleeps safe!

Here is the BETA Version 1.0 Open & Close

Here is how the auto coop door works:
(click on image for labels)

1. The digital timer (110 volt AC powered) triggers at a predetermined time (6:30 pm, 15 mins after sunset) and sends power for 1 minute through an AC to DC adapter (12v 200mA) which powers the car door lock actuator.
2. The actuator receives power and pulls, with a good amount of force, the pin which releases the door.
3. The door falls swiftly to the closed position and stops on a piece of rubber bike tire for cushioning.
4. A pivoting piece of wood with a reflector falls down.  This allows us to shine a flashlight from the house, about 150 feet away, to see if the door has closed without walking to the coop.
5. A spring loaded pin / latch falls and locks into place preventing any would be killers from lifting the door.
6. Resetting the system is simple:  Pull on the spring loaded pin while raising the door.  Hook the door onto the top release pin.

Here is a video of the auto coop door closing (narrated by my 5 year old Alana using a rotary timer):

Here are some notes and changes to the original plan:

The Actuator, Pin, & Brackets:
I was pleasantly surprised to find that the actuator has two holes that allowed for easy mounting onto my door.  It also has a nice swivel ring to which I could connect my pin.   The pin and brackets were just some old pieces I found around the house.  I wanted the left most bracket to push against the door hanger to ensure a clean release.  The bracket to the right is there to guide the pull pin and to make sure the pull pin didn’t fall with every release.
Cutting Power:
I was very concerned about the actuator motor burning out during the 1-3 minutes that power was being sent to it.  These aren’t designed to continue to run.  I had two ideas on how to solve this, either:  1) Install a limit switch at the bottom or the top of the unit to cut power once the door fell, or use relays or a circuit to provide power to the actuator just long enough to pull the pin.  

While staring at my design it hit me, “Everything is made out of metal… metal conducts electricity!”   I stuck my alligator clips to the bracket and to the pin and voila, once the door falls the circuit is broken and power is cut to the actuator!    To the right is a closeup of the bracket and the pin (click for a larger version).  You’ll see that the pin rests on the bottom hold of the bracket.  The weight of the door pulls the pin down to make firm contact with the bracket which ensures good current flow.

Securing The Chicken Door:
Gravity was really good at helping me drop the door into position, but not so good at keeping the door closed from prying little claws.  I needed a way to lock / latch the door into place once it fell.  I played around with the swivel latch in my original design, but couldn’t get it to work reliably with the thin door I was using.    I ended up with what I felt was a wonderful idea:   Have a pressure / spring loaded pin push against the door so when the door falls past it, it snaps into place.   After a few tests with a paper clip I upgraded to some heavier gauge wire and now nothing is lifting that door.   If two coons can work together, one of them somehow climbing up to pull on the pin while the other raises the door, then they deserve to get at my flock!

Flagging A Successful Close:
This was just for fun.   As long as I had all these chain reactions going on, I decided to add one more.   Our back door sits parallel to this auto coop door.   We’re far enough out that we’d have to walk outside of the house about 150 feet to see if the door successfully closed.   I added a piece of wood with a pre-drilled hole and a screw as a swivel point.   When the door is up, the block of wood with a reflector attached, points toward our door.  A quick shot with a flashlight shows bright red reflection and that the door is still open.   Once the door falls, so does the block of wood and reflector.   At that point the reflector is lying down and can’t be seen by our flashlight which means the door has successfully and completely closed!

Sunset Calculator & Setting Door Close Time:
I found a great tool to determine my sunset time on a calnedar.  I noticed that for 10/26 my sunset time was 6:17 pm.   Of course, it is still pretty light outside at sunset so I watched my girls.  Then all were in the coop by 6:23 pm so I set the door to close at 6:30 pm.   I’ll watch it again tonight, and if all is well, I expect that I’ll be able to maintain 15 minutes past “sunset” as my time to close the door.

Parts:

• Car door lock actuator:  a pair on ebay for $11 (included shipping).
• Digital Timer: $8.00.  You can get the cheapo rotary ones for $4
• AC Adapter: 12 volt, 200 mA.  I have tons of adapters lying around.  This one came from an old portable phone charging base.
• Pins, brackets, wood - All were around the house.  A bit of cutting, drilling and bending got me what I needed.

Next Steps:

• Slow down the door descent:   It doesn’t seem to really bother the girls when the door falls, but I’d like to have a slower fall just to be sure.
• Decide if the current design of cutting power by breaking the circuit is a good way to go.  I’d like to use a circuit that gives a quick 0.5 second shot of power.
• Make the system portable: I’m powering this with an extension cord from the house.  I’d like to find a way to make everything battery powered.  Potentially using a cheap battery powered alarm clock, some relays, and a circuit or two.  One issue is if I call charge something like a capacitor from batteries to shoot enough current into the actuator to do its job.
• Clean everything up:  It would be cool to resolve all the bullet points above and create a self contained, battery powered, easy to mount and easy to set auto chicken coop door closer!

I’m anxious to hear your thoughts and suggestions on this design.   So far I’ve been watching it work for 3 days and I’m pretty happy with it!    What do you think?   What would you change or add to the design?

UPDATE 11/7/08 – Wow, this thing is working like a CHAMP!  It is such a good feeling to not have to always be wondering “Did we remember to lock up the chickens!?!?”    Also, it really helps out at times like tonight:  We went out for a date night with another couple before sunset.   We stayed out for a few hours past dark and didn’t worry one bit about our girl’s safety!    Woot!

There’s a great discussion at http://www.backyardchickens.com/ about improving this design and some really great ideas about a new design using linear actuators and circuits!  Check it out: http://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=99668

UPDATE 12/11/08 – You know how people say something / someone was a “life saver”?  Well, I wanted to let everyone know that this simple auto coop door closing system has literally been a life saver for my remaining hens!

Last night we didn’t get out to the coop until late.   When I opened the door to go outside I heard scurrying from 2 directions and then I saw them… 1 coon up in a tree and 2 over in the bushes (the 3 remaining ones from the group of 4 that killed our duck and hen a month ago).    I’m almost certain our whole flock would have been dead had the auto door not done its job.

UPDATE 8/11/09 – I’ve had a couple times over the last few months where I found the coop open in the morning (i.e., it didn’t close the night before).   For details see:  Pin didn’t pull and door didn’t fall

Bottom line:   Automated door closers are fantastic!  I know ours has saved our hens on multiple occasions, but be careful not to get a false sense of 100% security.

Well, I’m also one of those guys that has about 15 windows open at any given time… browsers, spreadsheets, Dreamweaver, Outlook, Explorer, etc.   I find that I often need to quickly get access to my desktop to edit, move, or upload a file.    Hitting the minimize button on each window isn’t an option, and the “Windows Key + D” command just isn’t comfortable to me.   So, having the ability to hit a single button where my finger is already hanging out is just super convenient!

Up until a year ago my software allowed me to easily set this middle button, via a pull down option, to one of many things.  Minimize All was there and so mapping that function to the button was just super simple… well, that changed and so this is why I’m writing this post!

A while ago I got a new wireless keyboard mouse combo (a Logitech Cordless Desktop LX500).  I was super happy with it… but wait, what’s this:

NO OPTION FOR MINIMIZE ALL?    Oh my gosh you’ve got to be kidding me!  

Well, I wasn’t going to trash my keyboard for the lack of minimize all, so I resigned myself to simply using the “Minimize” option which just minimizes one at a time.

I can hear you geeky types now, “Just assign the keyboard command “WindowsKey + D” as a “Keystroke Assignment”!  Yeah, well, I tried that about 20 times and the software doesn’t recognize the WindowsKey!

Well, today my combo went looking on the net for an upgrade to the software during a periodic update check and found one.   I downloaded and installed with my fingers crossed hoping for an answer to my prayers… but alas, I was left with the same boring options as before.   But this time, there was a difference… I was determined to find an answer, so here’s what I did:

First Step:
Find or create the application that minimizes all called “Show Desktop” (instructions on how to create a minimize all shortcut here).

Second Step:
My keyboard allows me to map to a program of file, but of course my mouse does not.   I read the instructions on how to create a keyboard shortcut (bottom of page) to a program.

Third Step:
After some trial and error I realized I had to create a regular desktop shortcut to the “Show Desktop” application (copy it and paste as shortcut) to my desktop.  I then clicked “properties” on this shortcut and assigned ctrl+alt+9 to that shortcut.

Final Step:
Finally, into the Logitech software I went and assigned my Middle Button to the new key command, which triggers a shortcut, that triggers the “Show Desktop” command that actually minimizes all the windows…. PHEW!

If you know of a better way to do this (other then “Hey stupid, get a different keyboard”) then please let me know.  

Many of you know that I became the owner of www.backyardchickens.com about a year and a half ago.  Since that time the new BYC Chicken Forum has grown like crazy.   It has been a lot of fun taking what I learned from my very first forum (the one tied to this domain, the Nifty-Stuff Printer Forum) and using that information (along with the help of 13,000 great members and some excellent moderators) to really build up a great community.

Over the past 19 months there have been a lot of requests for different topics to be added to the BYC Forum.  Subjects like gardening, sufficient living, etc.  Unfortunately these topics are just too grand to be limited to only a few sections on a chicken site (no offense to BYC).   For this reason I embarked on creating some new forums that would allow the community to explore these topics in greater detail.  Hence the birth of:

http://www.theeasygarden.com/ - The first “sister site” to BYC.  Already with almost 1,000 members discussing one of my favorite topics:  Gardening!

http://www.backyardcows.com/ - What started out as an April Fool’s joke in 2007 turned out to be something the community was interested in developing.   And people thought BackYardChickens was unique! 

http://www.sufficientself.com/ - Here is another topic that came up very frequently on BYC and also involves a lot of topics to which I am very interested in discussing:  Sufficient Living!   Everything from renewable energy and frugal living to financial aptitude and homeschooling.

The audiences of these 4 forums (the three above and http://www.backyardchickens.com/) overlap quite a bit.  Many of the same members like to visit all of the forums to learn and share.   Interestingly enough, these visitors are very uniquely different from the Nifty-Stuff Printer Forum.  Who knows, maybe with time some of the techies in the printer forum will see the light of backyardchickens and at the same time, some of the sufficient living minded people will learn the beauty and joy of refilling printer cartridges! 

It all started back on 5/4/08 when I received the following email:

“Hello Rob,I stole your idea and took it on one stage… hope you like it!  Check out Sid, he’s just doing his job… that’s all!Cheers for the inspiration”Attached was the following video:

I was blown away at the design!   I promptly asked for more a few picture of the mechanism which I received (click thumbnail for larger image):

I also received a little more info:  “I used some old drawer runners for the carriage to slide smoothly and the spinning crank bit is an old component from some office furniture, I think it is a bracket that you bolt a leg onto and then screwed the plate onto the underside of a table/desk top.  Quite good as it has a “Hex” shape recess to take an M10 bolt, so the shaft can’t wear out and start spinning around.”

My only question / suggestion to this amazing design was, “Any thoughts on how to make this so you don’t have to dump out the contents?   I’ve wondered if a gravity fed system with an agitator would work.”

The reply came: “You were so right about the – having to stop every 4 shovels to take out the stones!  A radical free think was required this morning and now Sid sieves, sorts and spits without the need to stop… ever!  I end up with rocks over 1 inch in the barrow and stones between 1/2 – 1 inch in the blue box which I recycle to create the walking areas between the raised beds!”

Here’s an updated video:

WOW, no more shoveling. But it got even better with the next design that did 3 individual sortings at once!!!:

Well, just when I thought I had seen it all, the design got even better:

Just amazing!!!    This beautiful contraption makes my little manual compost sifter look like a couple of dumb boards nailed together.

If you have any comments on this design or would like to share your own version please comment below!