Qubedworks
Wasp sucking machine (August 2016)
Although somewhat cruel this project was done to eliminate a wasp nest that had appeared in the roof at home. The nest being lodged under the roof slates, was very well protected against any conventional methods to get rid of it. I had a 1.1kW electric leaf blower I had bought for 15 euros second hand in Switzerland and decided to use this to make a big wasp vacuum cleaner.
The contraption consists of a long PP-pipe to reach thew position on the roof, a collection chamber and finally the leaf blower. The leaf blower surprisingly created enough vacuum for this application. The blower inlet is covered with a net so as to avoid wasps being blown through it. Finally, in order not to let the wasps escape once the blower is turned off, a disc "valve" was placed in the pipe close to the chamber.
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After running the machine for an afternoon, it managed to catch a 200-300 wasps. At this point I realized that there were probably still thousands more in the nest as they seemed to continuously come out. To conclude, the machine worked but not well enough to get rid of the nest.
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