Drill Press is Buzzing

[James Combs]

John, fortunately for you, the males don't sting and the females rarely do. But, does this mean you have some in your shop? When we bought our place, the barn was infested. Found out each generation comes back to the same place to lay their eggs. It takes about 3 years to get rid of them, but we have the barn sprayed every spring when we see the first one flying around, as well as some of our wood decking and porches on the house. Those suckers bore in horizontally - sometimes 3-4 feet - and lay their eggs. Then the mature larvae bore their way out. Pretty much riddles barn timbers!!

Do those little dudes look like small bumble bees?? If so I had (he/she is squished now) at least one boring into my left door gable brace of the shop. I dislike bees with a passion. They are about the only thing except pollen that I know I am allergic to.

[Karl Card]

changed lacquer brands lately john?

[Tom Sherman]

Ok...mystery over.
Start the Jaws soundtrack...duh duh......duh duh......duh duh..duh duh

Here's a picture of the evil drill press
Attachment 156448

Evil Drill Press after the screws are removed
Attachment 156449

Removing cover while taking picture (slowly)
Attachment 156450


Attachment 156451
Nothing

Looking up in the top
Attachment 156452
nothing

So I put the camera down and stuck my finger down in the lower recess part of the housing.

YYEEEEEAAAAHHH!!! A big ol' black carpenter bee shoves past my finger and comes out right at my face!!

I'm all better now.

After being confined in the switch box all day I bet that poor little bee had to go peee really bad.

[John Hart]

Do those little dudes look like small bumble bees??

They look like bumble bees but not as striking of colors. Mostly black...not as hairy. But they do get big. Best preventive measure IMHO is to spray 90 day insecticide on all your exterior wood surfaces. When they target a spot, they go off and die a lonely death.

[John Hart]

Does anybody make a turning helmet with a bug net rather than a face shield? I've never heard of Hart being threatened by flying wood, but bugs seem to be the bane of his existence.

That's for sure. Although, my only real insect problems are spiders and bees. Everything else is killed off by the bazillion birds around here. We live on the edge of a marsh...but mosquitos are rare. The pheasants and the guineas comb the property for fleas and ticks. We don't even see grasshopper very much.

Course...there's the flies. That has something to do with the abundance of horsey poop around here.

[John Hart]

changed lacquer brands lately john?

Sheesh.....Never!!!

[John Hart]

After being confined in the switch box all day I bet that poor little bee had to go peee really bad.

Good! Hope he had a miserable day.

[Maylon Harvey]

John I have those bees. What brand/kind of spray do you use?

[John Hart]

John I have those bees. What brand/kind of spray do you use?

Hi Maylon
I use Spectracide Triazicide. http://www.amazon.com/SPECTRACIDE-TR.../dp/B0037ASSNQ

Costs about $10 at walmart and it's a concentrate...something like 2 tablespoons per gallon. But I make mine at about a 1/2 a cup per gallon and get much longer term results. It says that it is a 90 day solution, but I've found that it keeps killing for 6-9 months.

Spray it on all surfaces and if you see any bee holes...spray it those too. I bought one of those 2 gallon hand pump up garden sprayers. Works great and the stream will reach high places.

[Maylon Harvey]

Thanks John, I'll give it a try.

[Allen Neighbors]

Time to tell us what you found behind the switch plate.....

[Roger Chandler]

Time to tell us what you found behind the switch plate.....

Allen,

John posted that he found a carpenter bee trapped in the switch box. somehow it got in, but could not get itself out.

[Allen Neighbors]

The reason I didn't see John's answer to my post, and the cause of the buzzing, is that this forum program keeps hiding some of the posts.
"More posts below this level" ... what's up with that? Why not show all the posts when you open a page?
grit yer teeth.... count to ten..... John's word: Sheesh!

[John Hart]

Allen...perhaps you are in "Threaded Mode" instead of "Linear Mode" on the forum. This is set in the User CP

Click on User CP in the upper left of this screen
Look at the menus on the left
Go down to Settings & Options
Click on Edit Options

Down near the bottom of the page you will see Thread Display Options

Thats where you set your Thread Display Mode. Linear is really the best one, because people don't really post on SMC in such a way that the Threaded Mode would work correctly.

[Allen Neighbors]

John, thanks for clearing that up for me. I did as you suggested, so maybe it'll keep my blood pressure down... (I really don't have BP problems... Computers just tick me off, naturally.)