Richards Rant

Post your builds, private or commercial set ups. This is where we will document the creation of housing or the planning and construction of projects from scratch. This differs from the Journal Section because this section does not concentrate on the Ants or the other animals that are being kept, this section focuses on the progress of the build.
RichardP
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Re: Richards Rant

Post by RichardP » Sat Feb 27, 2016 9:58 am

Ruairidh wrote:What about going down the route of reinforcing the designs with plastic rims? Also, someone mentioned somewhere that ants may eat away the silicone if they find a weak spot, well what If fibreglass or is it epoxy? was used to seal internal joints? Also what's your average price to set up an ant colony?
I think the glass bonding methods I've seen are ant proof. I don't know if anyone else has has any problems of the nature you describe. In terms of using fibreglass, my experience of it is that it can be a bit "ugly". And it would increase production costs I guess. Interesting ideas though.

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Leafcutter
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Re: Richards Rant

Post by Leafcutter » Sat Feb 27, 2016 10:30 am

If you think about it, along the edges of a glass tank, the edges will be touching each other for the thickness of the glass so even if the silicone was chewed, the ants wouldn't be able to escape as there wouldn't be a gap, unless the glass just fell apart then there would certainly be an issue :lol:.

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Acromyrmexbob
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Re: Richards Rant

Post by Acromyrmexbob » Sat Feb 27, 2016 11:15 am

Leafcutter wrote:If you think about it, along the edges of a glass tank, the edges will be touching each other for the thickness of the glass so even if the silicone was chewed, the ants wouldn't be able to escape as there wouldn't be a gap, unless the glass just fell apart then there would certainly be an issue :lol:.
In practice the ants will eat away all of the silicone inside the tank. If the glass is hand cut then there is a good chance they will find a gap, and the smallest minims will escape. Not been a big problem though.
Britishants.com wrote:Glass is a lot cheaper and I've approached small and large manufacturers with designs with no luck! the greatest worry is that it needs to meet a price point and be able to survive our dodgy postal service! If one in three gets damaged the next two sales are at a loss! no (small) business could afford that risk. Packaging on such items could amount to a third of the price not to mention the weight costs! Antstore make more profit because they construct them, removing the middle man as it where. It's something I'm still interested in tho!
Sean, if you want I can stick you in an aquarium factory for a couple of days to learn how to build tanks. Would mean coming up here and staying locally for a couple of nights but you would be able to build and cut by the end. Glass can be bought very cheaply, happy to pass on contacts etc.

Britishants.com
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Re: Richards Rant

Post by Britishants.com » Sat Feb 27, 2016 6:02 pm

I think it's time I came up there and harassed you in person! I have tried glass cutting, it wasn't successful if I'm honest :lol:

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Acromyrmexbob
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Re: Richards Rant

Post by Acromyrmexbob » Sat Feb 27, 2016 7:28 pm

You can stay with me if you want.

Ruairidh
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Re: Richards Rant

Post by Ruairidh » Mon Feb 29, 2016 3:02 pm

Had an idea of a simple way of adding and removing pipes, now lets see if I can upload an image...Image

Please scrutinise (If you work out the drawing) and il see if I can do anything about it, i also have ideas for vents etc using this design.

RichardP
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Re: Richards Rant

Post by RichardP » Mon Feb 29, 2016 3:11 pm

I couldn't see the image? Photobucket seems to work well..?

Ruairidh
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Re: Richards Rant

Post by Ruairidh » Mon Feb 29, 2016 3:59 pm

Does anyone know how to fix it? I also can't edit that reply with the image o.O

RichardP
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Re: Richards Rant

Post by RichardP » Mon Feb 29, 2016 4:02 pm

It depends what the problem is. How have you tried to link the image.

A good way to do it is to create a photobucket account. Upload the picture to that service and then there is a box to the right of the photo that will copy a URL link to your clipboard. Just paste that into your forum post.

Ruairidh
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Re: Richards Rant

Post by Ruairidh » Mon Feb 29, 2016 4:20 pm

Ach, il just make a 3D model when I get home

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