Bird Houses

I recently cleaned out bird houses and started monitoring them for the year. It has been very cold, with some late snowfalls, so I have not had to start monitoring until now. In a normal year, the blue birds would be back around March 31st. It is important you monitor your houses every week so that you can address any problems right away. Top-opening nest boxes make monitoring easy. Checking the boxes will not cause the birds to leave as some people believe. I have found using 1/2" EMT conduit for poles works the best. Cut one 10-ft. piece of conduit in half and you have 2 poles that are just the right height. Next, cut a 10-ft. piece of  1/2" rebar in half and drive it in the ground and slide the conduit over the rebar and use a conduit coupling to secure the conduit to the rebar. I weld a small flag on the rebar to keep the whole thing from spinning. This setup is easy to put up and is relatively predator proof. You can wax the pole with car wax to make it harder for predators to climb the pole. You will want to put screw in the back of the bird house so it doesn't slide down the pole, secure the house to the pole with 2-hole conduit straps. Mount your houses in open areas, with at least 100 yards between houses. Happy birding!

Front view of the nest box

Rear view of the nest box, mounted to conduit.

Rebar with flag welded to it.

Coupling on bottom of conduit.  I added a longer screw to the coupling to get a better grip on the rebar.

Small trailer

Recently I built a small trailer for hauling a walking greens mower,or other small equipment. The trailer is36"x48". Axles and hubs came from a salvaged beverage trailer. Metal costs were 180 dollars.

Stripped Threads

Stripped threads are a common problem on machinery, especially when bolts are threaded into aluminum housings.  There are a number of different thread kits that can be used to repair your threads.  The kit that I have had the best luck with is TIME-SERT.  The TIME-SERT inserts are thin-walled steel and are locked into place with an expander. 

Picture of the stripped hole.

Contents of the TIME-SERT kit - drill, countersink, special tap, installation tool and thin wall insert.

Drilling hole and countersinking.

Tapping of hole.

Installing insert with tool.  The tool installs the insert, expands it, and locks it into the hole.

Completed project.