- Joined
- Feb 23, 2010
- Messages
- 45
The smart people in the sulcata forums said my weather has a thumbs up, so decided to take the little one back outside. Before, I was told it was a bit too cool. Nights are still low 60's, so the new version is only daytime romping.
Anyhow, my Outdoor Playpen V1.0 looked like this..
Which I was using a piece of scrap hardware cloth to cover, and held down with a scrap piece of 2x6 which doubled as shade.
Now, the problem is that I knew it was a flimsy, serviceable eyesore. I figured it'd work, and went to put the little one out, then was told to throw it out because its a flimsy eyesore. Herein lies a life lesson for those who do not already know this... never tell a person who likes woodworking to throw something out if they want to use it and you don't want them rebuilding it.
So I rebuilt it, after being told not to.
This is my "New and Improved" Outdoor Playpen V2.0
Top
Front
Back
Opened Up
Not much movement between pics since it was apparently nap time in the water dish.
Wood used was old pine from the garage that's been aging (and warping...) for a few years. I figure it'd been in the garage, which isn't climate controlled, so most of the oils are probably gone. I -had- to drill guide holes for the screws or it was splintering, so it definitely didn't have the 'give' of fresh wood. Other than the one piece of plywood, the rest was all 1x2 pine drywall strips.
I plan on leaving it outside, so anything kicked up from drilling is going to probably evaporate off in short order anyway. The wood itself won't last more than a few months directly in the weather. The only things used that are treated in any way are the mesh; galvanized hardware cloth to keep the squirrels out; and the white painted knob, which was laying around and I figured would be fine since its on the outside.
All plants in the enclosure have been identified and are either on the 'good', 'ok', or 'everything but seeds' lists. I manually removed the rest, which was only some unidentified stuff.
I'm probably going to make a larger V3.0 next month or so. Once it warms up enough to go full time outside, I'll make a big enough playpen for 24-7 romping. It'll also be a wood that'll stand up to our harsh weather summers, since we max out the UV scale almost every day from May-August and have rain usually like clockwork every afternoon. Hooray for gulf coast central Florida weather, right?
Anyhow, my Outdoor Playpen V1.0 looked like this..
Which I was using a piece of scrap hardware cloth to cover, and held down with a scrap piece of 2x6 which doubled as shade.
Now, the problem is that I knew it was a flimsy, serviceable eyesore. I figured it'd work, and went to put the little one out, then was told to throw it out because its a flimsy eyesore. Herein lies a life lesson for those who do not already know this... never tell a person who likes woodworking to throw something out if they want to use it and you don't want them rebuilding it.
So I rebuilt it, after being told not to.
This is my "New and Improved" Outdoor Playpen V2.0
Top
Front
Back
Opened Up
Not much movement between pics since it was apparently nap time in the water dish.
Wood used was old pine from the garage that's been aging (and warping...) for a few years. I figure it'd been in the garage, which isn't climate controlled, so most of the oils are probably gone. I -had- to drill guide holes for the screws or it was splintering, so it definitely didn't have the 'give' of fresh wood. Other than the one piece of plywood, the rest was all 1x2 pine drywall strips.
I plan on leaving it outside, so anything kicked up from drilling is going to probably evaporate off in short order anyway. The wood itself won't last more than a few months directly in the weather. The only things used that are treated in any way are the mesh; galvanized hardware cloth to keep the squirrels out; and the white painted knob, which was laying around and I figured would be fine since its on the outside.
All plants in the enclosure have been identified and are either on the 'good', 'ok', or 'everything but seeds' lists. I manually removed the rest, which was only some unidentified stuff.
I'm probably going to make a larger V3.0 next month or so. Once it warms up enough to go full time outside, I'll make a big enough playpen for 24-7 romping. It'll also be a wood that'll stand up to our harsh weather summers, since we max out the UV scale almost every day from May-August and have rain usually like clockwork every afternoon. Hooray for gulf coast central Florida weather, right?
