"~Roy~" wrote in message
...
For what its worth..Here is what I came up with that WILL work and
saave a bundle of money in the process to do exactly what this item
does. I posted this on the Koiphen forum earlier, but if someone here
is interested in making their own, it is simple. Lots of room to make
deviations and substitute other materials.

Out of curiosity without spending much time on it, I am able to cobble
up one of these devices from on hand materials I have laying around
the place.

What would work and be as neat looking as a factory made unit is:

1...13 foot fiberglass foam core antennae extension mast......FREE
1...108 inch fiberglass whip
antennae...............................FREE
1....BBQ grill electric rotisserie
motor................................FREE
1....4" x 4" x 4 foot PT
timber..........................................FR EE
1.....25' outdoor extension
cord........................................$7.95
1......60 pound bag of
Sakrete..........................................$ 2.60

Miscellaneous odds and ends to fasion pivot mount and adapt to
rotisserie unit.
Hole saw and basic tools.....

Dig hole and mount 4 x 4 PT timber in desired spot and secure in place
with sakrete.
4 x 4 needs to have one hole drilled thorugh it to allow the
fiberglass extension mast to fit through it..

Hollow out fiberglass extension mast.....really easy to do since they
are usually foam core. I drilled a 1/2" hole in the whip mount end,
through the brass ferrule, until I hit the foam core, cut out the
bottom socket end in the bottom end, and pulled embedded coax cable
out. Used a piece of rebar with a point and cutting edge ground on the
one end to push, bore, hog out a clean hollow channel following the
old coax cable path inside the extension mast. Used a vacuum cleaner
to suck a string through this hole, to which the end of the outdoor
extension cord can be attached and pulled through the extension mast
after cutting female plug end off.

Make mount for rotisserie from a piece of exterior plywood or aluminum
or fiberglass sheet.........and attach to end of extension mast with
typical pipe hanger clamps......
Cover the rotisserie motor and mount plate with a PVC outdoors
electrical box. OR use one of the 4 1/2" square outdoor PVC boxes for
mount and enclosure......

Fashion mount to rotisserie motors shaft to hold whip antennae, out of
a block of plastic or use PVC pipe coupling or pice of PVC pipe which
is poured full of epoxie or fiberglass resin, with hole for sliding
over rotisserie motor shaft and another at a 90 deg positon to allow
sliding whip antenna through it or it can be drilled and tapped to fit
the 3/8" threads on the typical whip antennae. A screw can be inserted
thorugh this adapter mount to secure it to the motor shaft so it grips
it firmly so it does not slip on the motors end. Make electrical
connection on rotisserie motor to extension cord......slip extension
mast into hole in the 4 x 4, and use a screw to keep it in place so it
does not rotate.

Other materials can be used to fashion the motor to whip antenna mount
as well as the mount for rotisserie motor, as well as method used to
mount motor to extension mast.

I did not actually make one, but did hollow out the extension mast for
a clean passage of extension cord, which is easy to do. I fiddled
around with various methods to attach the various parts, and its
totally doabale with basic hand tools and a couple of hours time, so
you can say I basically made a dry run on assembly of the chaser, and
its certainly doable. A rotisserie motor can often be found curbside
with old BBQ grills on trash day or at thrift stores, and check radio
communications shops, and marinas for discarded extension masts and
whip antennae......Probably less than $20 worth or parts at any
builder supply store will get you the balance of what you need for the
varous odds and ends (clamps etc) So with my on hand scrounge junk I
can assemble one of these for under $20.........with sakrete and
extension cord being the only items I would have to buy....
A typical 10 to 13 foot extension mast with a 96 to 108 inch whip
antennae would give you coverage to reach well out there and sweep an
area of approximately 16 feet in diameter. I think it would certainly
be a most doable weekend project for those in need of one of these
chasers and probably more effective than a motion sensor.......
A motion sensor could even possibly be hooked up to the chaser as
well........
Approximately 2 hours time is what I figured I could assemble this
thing in after doing the "dry" run just piddling around.

YOu can use shorter or longer antenna mast extensions or whip
anatennae to suit yuour size of pond. ALl these materials are out
there "scrap" wise if you just look in the right places. I probably
have 12 or more antennae mast extensions, and probaby double that in
fiberglass whip antennaes. I have left a few rotisserie motors behind
when I find scraped aluminum BBQ grills as most of these motors are
too slow for most of my needs but work fine for this chaser., I am
usually only after the cast aluminum in the BBQ grills to melt down
and recast into something usefull.

==============================================
Put some color in your cheeks...garden naked!
"The original frugal ponder"
~~~~ }((((o ~~~~~~ }{{{{o ~~~~~~~ }(((((o

As someone else mentioned earlier, how do you prevent such a devise from
either chopping up or damaging the plants sticking up out of the pond, or
else getting stuck on those plants? As ugly as it is, I think vinyl/nylon
netting is the cheapest, safest, and easiest way to deal with herons. It
also keeeps the fall leaves out of your pond. But that's my own opinion.
Tha end.