Pictures Oppy's Atom!

[jmfleish]

WOW! Did I say WOW yet??? WOW! For the wrapping, are you taking the actually braided rope and wrapping it around the SS wire? While that is awesome and that's the way my friend Monica and her husband Carlos did it for their stuff when they owned Grey Feather Toys, you can also actually just put the wire in the middle of the three braided rope and it kind of wraps itself around the wire. It's a pain to get tight that way but it is another way to do it if you want to give it a try...it's probably a little more complicated that way too because you have to constantly take the rope you aren't working with and loop it through the skeleton...I'm sure what I'm saying makes no sense! The advantage of doing it the way you are doing it is the bird has more to chew on before it gets to the inside! LOL!

I'd skip the carabiner as they can be a little dangerous, especially for a curious bird like...say...a Goffin's Cockatoo! LOL! I don't know if you could somehow just end it within the ball...that's the secret! The fun part about the atoms and the orbits is that they are on a swivel...so there is a eye hook in the wooden ball and then a swivel and then the quick link. Birds who are not lazy like mine can get it to go in circles!

Love it so far though! Totally awesome!

 

[MommyBird]

That is a gorgeous atom! but, yeah definitely no caribiner especially for a G2. They love to take things apart and that can get hung up in the little space under their chin where their lower beak meets skin.
Having had a G2 for over 30 years I would warn they are quite active, love to disassemble things and are escape artists. Mine has 5 locks on his cage, this after he dismantled a skylight when we were at work (and had not yet learned he was a Houdini). He also landed on a hanging dining room light and bit thru the cord and fortunately the fuse was fast enough. He can spin his hanging bottlebrush perch in circles and shoots 5/8" beads at whatever he wishes with great accuracy, pinging them from between his cage bars. Has never even thought of biting anyone.
Not trying to scare you, just making sure you are ready so everyone is safe. He will be a much better approximation of a caique than an ekkie. I can't wait to hear about it.

 

[jmfleish]

That is a gorgeous atom! but, yeah definitely no caribiner especially for a G2. They love to take things apart and that can get hung up in the little space under their chin where their lower beak meets skin.
Having had a G2 for over 30 years I would warn they are quite active, love to disassemble things and are escape artists. Mine has 5 locks on his cage, this after he dismantled a skylight when we were at work (and had not yet learned he was a Houdini). He also landed on a hanging dining room light and bit thru the cord and fortunately the fuse was fast enough. He can spin his hanging bottlebrush perch in circles and shoots 5/8" beads at whatever he wishes with great accuracy, pinging them from between his cage bars. Has never even thought of biting anyone.
Not trying to scare you, just making sure you are ready so everyone is safe. He will be a much better approximation of a caique than an ekkie. I can't wait to hear about it.

The hanging light situation happened to me at our condo! Reggie D2 and Kishka RB2 helped themselves...Reggie walked away from that mess with his beak smoking! We replaced the hanging light with a non hanging one! Cockatoos...what are you going to do with them?

 

[Atomiklan]

Thanks for all the comments and suggestions. I should have used a word other than carabiner. I was referring to the more common SS screw link that are frequently used to hang toys. Are you still advising against these too? All the materials arrived today, but I have not started assembling the nucleus yet so I dont have a decision yet on how to hang. I have a few different ideas though that I am going to play with tonight. Check back tonight or this weekend for more updates. Thanks everyone!

 

[Atomiklan]

For the wrapping, are you taking the actually braided rope and wrapping it around the SS wire? While that is awesome and that's the way my friend Monica and her husband Carlos did it for their stuff when they owned Grey Feather Toys, you can also actually just put the wire in the middle of the three braided rope and it kind of wraps itself around the wire.

Not sure I understand this. That sounds infinitely more troublesome. Are you saying to untwist the three strand rope, then retwist it around the steel skeleton? That sounds terribly frustrating. Do you have any examples of one made this way? The wrapping process I did was not that bad.

 

[Atomiklan]

Few more pictures of progress. At this point just waiting on everything to dry in the oven so I can start assembly. Few things learned from these steps. Drilling the holes, especially for the larger balls (process not pictured) was quite difficult and strenuous. In the future I will try a different fixturing solution. A deeper pocket with a cut out to accept the tool after punch through is needed and a different tool to secure the ball is necessary to keep it from spinning. Next time I may try one of those rubber strap type wrenches used to cinch down onto pipes, jars, and such to hold the spheres in place. This was the biggest trouble when drilling the holes. Yes you can buy the beads predrilled, but not in the specific design I selected nor in the ideal diameter. This is why I elected to produce them myself.

As for the coloring process, I used two teaspoons of dye per container and used nearly boiling water to help quickly dissolve the food coloring. I then used a piece of scrap aluminum stock to hold the wooden balls under the surface of the water. At first I tried a 5 minute dip and this did 98% of the coloring. I opted to go back a few hours later after drying completely to do a second dip which I let sit over night. I'm not sure yet how I like the coloring. I did prefer at first a darker color, however, in retrospect, because the color will never be as consistent as I had initially expected, it may be nicer to just do a 1 minute dunk and utilize the wood grain a little more. Of course at the end of the day, I am probably reading too much into this since most birds are going to chew this up anyways. I am still going to be a perfectionist though...

Should have one more update later tonight after I complete the first nucleus. Thanks again!

 

[Atomiklan]

Alrighty! The first atom is essentially finished minus the electrons as those have to be added next time before welding. Tell me what you think of the hanging solution (Please ignore the carabiner, both the large and small one in final picture. They are both just temporary). I ultimately decided to loop the rope that secures the particles. This ended up working brilliantly as gravity ultimately keeps all the particles snug against the Wiffle ball. It was a TON of work, but I'm pretty happy with the final result . Next step... either get a parrot, or make a human sized version...

 

[CeciliaZ]

What sizes can you do?

 

[KimKim]

Not sure I understand this. That sounds infinitely more troublesome. Are you saying to untwist the three strand rope, then retwist it around the steel skeleton? That sounds terribly frustrating. Do you have any examples of one made this way? The wrapping process I did was not that bad.

Here is what she is talking about, but she's making a boing not an atom.

 

[WendyN]

 

[Atomiklan]

Here is what she is talking about, but she's making a boing not an atom.

Ah, now that makes more sense. Hmm, I guess that method is a possibility. Not sure how well it would look at the corners though.

 

[Atomiklan]

What sizes can you do?

Never really thought about that. Currently I am making just one size which is about 16" in diameter. This is an easy size to work with. I guess I could probably make them as small as 10" in diameter or as large as 22" in diameter. I recommend sticking with 16" though as it is the easiest to work with in my opinion.

 

[Atomiklan]

Probably going to start making a few more of these here pretty soon. Now that I am officially a parront, Lada needs an atom up in the office to sit on. I will probably make a few at the same time if anyone is interested. Just send me a private message if interested.