Ty for the tip. I did clean the glass and I can try replacing it, just don't want to stress them too much.
On the THA mini hearth you got there and the glass.
I got one too and this trick works, but it is tricky to do the first time you try it.
Once you do get it right, it's easy to repeat.
If you have a 2nd glass ready to go* (magnets on it already in the right position and orientation), you can basically swap out the glass without ever opening the nest.
It's just the first time you do it it's a little tricky, takes a steady hand and quick but not rushed smooth motion aciton.
1: the 2nd glass has to be ready first. Hold it up on front of the current glass, and use the magnets to hold it in place on top of the first glass. This will ensure that all the magnets are in the right positions and orientation(magnetic polarity) to hold the glass in place on the nest just like the current one. The magnets will hold it in place and you can take one off at a time to put the glue dot on it and back on the glass. No need to press hard the magnetic pull will press the glue dot down well.
2: now set the min hearth on the edge of a table so the front 1/2" or so is hanging off the edge of the table.
3: making sure the replacement glass is in the correct orientation for the magnets to line up. Line the bottom edge of the new glass onto the top edge of the old glass.
4: in one smooth non-stop motion that's not overly rushed, but not too slow either, push the new glass downward forcing the old glass out of the way as it goes.
the tricky part that i messed up on my first try, is that you have to push a little harder at first to move the current glass off the magnet. But as you move the new glass into place the magnets will pull on it downward. I was not ready for that and it slipped out of my grasp moving so fast it wedged up under the old glass making a gap ants spilled out of.
I did a reset and on the 2nd try i got it exactly right no problems, because i was ready for the pull and had a better grip on it. As well i was ready for when the old glass's top magnets get near the bottom nest magnets and will also be pulled on which could cause a gap if you were not holding the old glass from the bottom to control that ti can't move downward faster than the top glass is pushing it.
It worked perfectly the new glass pushing down into place as the old glass slides off below the edge of the table it is hanging over. No escapes, the bottom edge of the top glass stayed in contact with the top edge of the bottom glass for no gaps. Just a quick easy swap of the glass without actually opening up the nest.
You could do this as a left/right slide, but that is almost three more inches of slide to make without messing up. top to bottom is a shorter slide distance to have to not mess up over. This is why i went for top to bottom.
Again important tip is, no stopping, just make it happen in one smooth non-stop flow. But don't try to be super fast in the movement, as much be steady and smooth.
They will of course freak out for all the vibrations and movement of the nest this will be. But no need to actually open it up, we can slide a replacement glass into place without opening it. It's just a little bit of a dexterity challenge to do it right.
* magnets are in the nest material where they are, so the best fit for the glass is likely asymmetrical placement of the magnets. Which is why you want to line it all up in actual use potion, before gluing the magnets to the glass. And just do so on the nest itself, rather than try to measure it out and get the magnets in the right spots. I know the magnet is going into the right spot and orientation, because it is literally right on top of the old magnet and it sticks to it.
Also real important is magnetic polarity. We will of course try to ensure they are all in the same orientation, but mistakes can happen. One of my nests has three of the magnets in one orientation and one in the opposite. This means the glass is "keyed" as it will not stay fastened to the nest unless the one opposite oriented magnet is in the correct position. So be sure you would not have that issue at all, if you do have this situation, be real sure you get the glass's keyed orientation correct to do this slide maneuver. And also be ready for that magnetic push it might give during the slide, if you have to pass opposite oriented magnets over each other to get it in position.
NOTE 2:
I did that and then just about 72 hours later the ants had totally messed up the same spot on the glass just a bad as it had been. So a nearly pointless effort and now they are in a top down nest anyway which has the magnetic polarity issue i had mentioned. i;ve not tried to swap out that glass yet as they don't futz with the overhead glass as much so it's mostly clean still.
Edited by Full_Frontal_Yeti, July 14 2023 - 10:16 AM.
