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Shock-Lock
Inspired by an airlock, but not really the same thing at all. | |
The last few weeks, I've been having a huge problem with insect
infiltration. These weird bugs that look something like either a very
small black wasp or a very large winged ant keep swarming over my
tile kitchen floor. Which is odd, because there's no food on my
kitchen floor. I sweep it daily.
Yet
every morning, I walk in in the kitchen and find about 40 of the
damned things cavorting all over the tiled portion of the floor.
Which was why I'd previously posted that MFD'd (and self-deleted)
idea for using long-neck lighters to burn the bastards. Yet despite
the fact that I kill every one I can catch, a few always manage to get
their bearings at the last moment and fly away.
Except they don't just fly. I've seen them crawl in through the door
whenever I open it to pass through, sometimes even crawling
through a small gap in the doorjamb even when it's closed. I've got
hanging bug-zappers, and boy do they work fine for flying bugs! But
there's really no defense available for crawling pests. My neighbor's
been complaining about a similar problem with beatles.
So I got to thinking about how high-tech laboratories with sterile
environments use airlocks to keep pests out. Well that's not really
an option for me, because I don't want to have to wait to cycle the
airlock everytime I come and go. Which is a shame, really, because a
narrow airlock between the outer storm door and the inner solid
door would be really neat! But Baked. *sigh* What's a Baker to do?
Well, 21-st Century Quest Engineering has the answer! Introducing
the electrified doorframe! People and pets step over and through in
safety, while bugs crawl to their shocking deaths! It consists of a
vinyl doorframe with 6 electrified wires running parallel to each
other, a few milimeters apart, like ant-sized railroad tracks, only
narrower. And each wire forms a complete, unbroken loop around
the entire doorframe. When a buggy bastard attempts to crawl over
it, and bridges the gap between 2 wires... ZAP!!! The door itself, it's
perfectly safe to grab onto, being insulated from the frame. A raised
wood or rubber lip around the outer and inner edges of the
electrified part should keep you from accidentally brushing against
it while passing through.
Self-cleaning version periodically superheats and vibrates to remove
debris from the wires, and a pressurized air manifold blows it all
outside.
Just make sure it's not these guys on the right.
http://richardspest...rol.com/term_10.gif [2 fries shy of a happy meal, Jun 01 2009]
Airborne version
http://www.flyingin...ner/large/AG969.jpg [loonquawl, Jun 02 2009]
[link]
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What you need is a circuit, for which the insects are to "short circuit" - get it?
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"A metal doorframe with a current applied to it" - would only zap something when it presented a path for the electricity to pass through. Same way you could fall out of the sky and land on an electrical line without getting electrocuted. It's when you touch a second wire at the same time, or the ground, that a circuit is made and you fry.
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So just make an electrified grid under your door. A series of parallel wires with a current limited high voltage applied between. Extra buns if you make it self cleaning somehow. |
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When it's the season for ants, it's the season for ants. You can outsmart them all day long, because they're not smart enough to know they've been outsmarted. Thankfully, the season is brief. |
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An excellent point, CG. Post has been edited accordingly. |
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//similar problem with beatles.//
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What? JL came back from the grave? |
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Apparently, she can't get Ringo to shut the hell up. |
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Kids would lick it for a thrill. Bun. However, use lower curent with an conductive adhesive--yes, it would be deemed torture. |
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The adjacent-wire traps with high voltage already exist in the cage version and in the handheld bug-zapper version. To put it on the floor poses the risk of water / conductive dirt shorting the circuit. Also, investing money into a system to shield the doorways only to have them come through a crack in the wall would severly limit the fun i could have with this. |
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This would be great for roaches too! |
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