345 replies to this topic

[sgheaton]

Startin' the research we all are wanting is why!

 

3M spray-on glue and sand.

 

I did some epoxy in sand and it worked..ok. Made sandpaper essentially. Going to try a layering method when I get home -- but what I'm getting at is it doesn't look as "speckled and rough" as yours - which I'm shooting for. Thanks Drew

[dspdrew]

Hydrostone actually absorbs water really well. I don't know why their documentation states the opposite.

 

This solves a few problems, but it doesn't only solve problems, it's just better than the current design in a number of ways.

 

1. It saves me time, because casting it with Hydrostone is actually faster and easier than printing it out and filling it with dirt to the right level.

2. It will hold more water overall, and has better sorptivity than the dirt inside the 3D printed ones.

3. It never needs to be cleaned out.

4. You don't have to worry about the ants finding their way inside it.

5. It allows for a nice sandy texture on a more naturalistic material.

[dspdrew]

Startin' the research we all are wanting is why!

 

3M spray-on glue and sand.

 

I did some epoxy in sand and it worked..ok. Made sandpaper essentially. Going to try a layering method when I get home -- but what I'm getting at is it doesn't look as "speckled and rough" as yours - which I'm shooting for. Thanks Drew

 

Can you post a picture of what of mine you are talking about? I thought we were talking about the tank I put gravel and rocks in.

[sgheaton]

Like...the picture above? I was talking about the hydrostone "cube" you just made and posted about in the thread. Maybe silly because I should know all the problems of saturated hydrostone..but.... is it hollow that you could pour water into it and then kinda controlled through a pin hole?

I'm thinking the epoxy+sand method for outworld use I'm doing will work for me just fine.  

[dspdrew]

Oh well you need larger sand. When trying to stick sand or gravel to something sticky, it is really important that you use sieves to get rid of not only much larger pieces, but any smaller pieces too, especially dust. I had to wash my sand until there was no more dirty water coming from it. This way the dirt doesn't stick to the glue and prevent the larger particles from sticking.

 

BTW, that is not a tank I made. It's a solid block of Hydrostone. It is meant to replace the plastic tank I was filling with clay dirt.

[sgheaton]

Yeah the tank question might have sparked a different route/topic/thing. Good to curb it easily. 

 

The sand I've baked and washed and put in the PT Vases it's....it was like a fine powder. The stuff I have left over is play sand and it's rather fine and really should be used for playgrounds n'things. The "natural sand" I've got in my back yard probably....grainier? Larger? Either way.... I'll try "bake'n'washin" some of that stuff and trying it on my test square. I meant to experiment some last night but got distracted with other chores and forgetting the epoxy at work. Thanks, Drew.

[T.C.]

I'm Lovin it! Great job

[dspdrew]

So there it is. I of course decided to dump dirt into it before taking pictures, so it's all dusty. Funny how much it looks like stucco.
 

 

[dspdrew]

Every mom's worst nightmare.
 
My kitchen floor dirt factory.
 

[sgheaton]

And to be clear that is a giant solid chunk of hydrostone + with some 3M spray glue and chunkier sand on the outside? 

[dspdrew]

No. The original 3D printed part had the sand glued to it. Once the silicone mold was made using that, I could then cast these with Hydrostone to look like they have sand glued to them.

[sgheaton]

Awesome, I understand. Thanks for the clarification. 

[Foogoo]

Made some small ones today for my Dolopomyrmex pilatus queens. These should make nice little founding nests.
 
Plastic tubing: 1/2" OD, 7/16" ID, 37 mm length
Hydrostone (hydrated) 1st pour: 15 ml / 28 g
Hydrostone(hydrated) 2nd pour: 15 ml / 28 g
Plug hole (for the silicone plugs I cast): 21/64"
Lid hole: 7/8"
 

 
For your original dirt boxes, how did you move colonies out of them? I made a few but neglected to make a bottom hole. My small Veromessor pergandei colony collected a ton of seeds which are all sprouting now and I'm debating if I should get them out...

[dspdrew]

i would pull the plug and wait for it to dry out.

[dspdrew]

I decided to make one more of these vase setups for another one of my growing Honeypot ant colonies. This time I wanted to coat the pipe with sand and gravel to make the tunnels and chambers look as natural as possible.
 
I normally use resin to hold down sand and gravel, but doing this on a round pipe is a bit of a problem, because well... gravity.
 
To solve the problem I got a sheet of PVC vinyl and cut just enough to wrap around the pipe.
 

 
 
I coated it with black resin and then covered that with sand and gravel. This works much better because it's flat and won't slowly run all over the place.
 

 
 
At this point it was half way cured, so even though it was hardly a liquid anymore, it was still malleable.
 

 
 
I rolled it on the inner pipe, adhering it with PVC cement.
 

 

 
 
Poured black resin on the top and coated that with sand and gravel.
 

 

 
 
Inner tank installed.
 

 
 
Initial hydration.
 

[Leo]

that is A LOT of water

[sgheaton]

Really like the vinyl backdrop gravel layer. That was a good idea. ... Messing with sand/gravel over carpet? Come on, Drew... 

[dspdrew]

Really like the vinyl backdrop gravel layer. That was a good idea. ... Messing with sand/gravel over carpet? Come on, Drew... 

 

Vacuum cleaner.

[Kevin]

Where exactly do you find the cylinders for this?

[Serafine]

About that mold experiment from earlier - wood has anti-microbic/anti-fungus substances in itself. Wood is dead material which means the tree can't really react if it gets infected so it has to deposit substances inside it before the cells die. By sterilizing it you may very well wash out or destroy these substances.

Also while working with wood clean hands and clean equipment are VERY important. Most of the mold is actually brought in when the wood is worked on.