Today we have a quick but fun cache design for kids. This plan was brought up in a previous post, but without build details. This ended up being a prize for a kid at a recent event in my area.
Needed Supplies
A fake insect
A nano
Weatherproof paint
Weatherproof glue or epoxy
Drill or dremmel
Once you have the supplies, figure out how you want to place the nano into the insect. In this example, an Ant was used. You'll need to drill a hole to fit a nano. Drill it deep enough to fit the nano but allow room to grip and unscrew the lid. Using a weatherproof glue or epoxy (something that can handle cold temps and possible moisture), apply a small amount of glue to the inside of the hole. Then push the bottom of the nano in and get it set in place. Allow time for the glue to dry.
There you go. A quick, easy cache build. Find a good place to put it and enjoy the logs.
For today's post, we are going to look at an interesting way to hide a nano that can totally confuse the finder. I've mentioned this on Geocaching Podcast before, so I felt it was a good time to present it.
Materials Needed:
One Nano cache
One 1/2 inch Quick Link
I'll leave the nano-shopping up to you and focus on the Quick Link, also sometimes called a D-Link. You can find these in most hardware stores. Just find the section of the store that carries chains and you'll usually find these next to it. Outside of caching, they are typically used to connect two chains together, among other connecting uses. Here is one that I've used:
Once you have both supplies, the rest is easy. If you look carefully at the image above, in the little oval on the right side, you'll see that the Quick Link opens by unscrewing a piece in the center. Go ahead and get out your new Quick Link and do the same. Once open, place the nano inside the section you just screwed open, and now screw it shut, sealing the nano inside. Voila. You have a camoed nano.
Now you just need to find a place to hide this. Near chain link fencing can work well, provided you can find a way to conceal it. I once had one of these hidden at a tennis court. It was placed right at the base of one of the corner posts, nestled between the post and a piece of metal. It blended in rather well. Even better, if you can find a location that has an actual chain with links about the same size, you can attach it to the chain. That would up the difficulty just a bit (just make sure you have permission for either placement).
If you want, you can try modifying it by painting the Quick Link to match the color of it's surroundings. Sand it just a bit to roughen up the metal so that the spray paint will flake off slower. You might find yourself occasionally repainting it. A quick, easy to make nano cache that will leave finders baffled if they've never found it before. Oh, and here is a photo of what it looks like:
Here at Creative Caches & Containers, we are not impartial to creativeness from outside sources. We encourage you to let us know about your ideas so that we may help spread that creative nature to interested geocachers. It is in that nature that we present this next idea straight from HeadHardHat (HHH), host of the geocaching video series known as GeoSnippits and the author of the GeoCache: I'm NOT Obsessed...Right? blog. With his permission, we provide you with this video on how to design an Ant Hill Cache:
Let's quickly look at what is needed for this design:
Bondo
Bondo Hardener
A small bucket or cup
Latex or vinyl disposable gloves
Something to stir with (and disposable)
Spray Paint (textured, and roughly the color of ant hill sand)
Plastic 35mm film canister
Bondo is, simply put, a putty. But it's not like the Silly Putty that most people play with as a kid. Bondo is a two-part putty. This is because Bondo alone is okay. But once you add the hardener, it hardens FAST. And the more hardener you apply, the faster it will harden. This is why you want the gloves. It will harden to anything and you don't want it under your fingertips when it does. Bondo was originally designed for automotive use and is commonly used in automotive repair. But there are many other uses. Just looking it up I came across pictures of people who have used it to design creative outsides for their Wii, making hand holds for rock climbing walls, making a ceiling fan look like helicopter blades (complete with helicopter hanging below), and even for making buttons on a Guitar Hero controller that light up when you push the buttons. There are likely limitless ideas for its use, so it's no surprise that it can be useful for making geocaches.
The video pretty much sums up how to make it, so I'm not going to go over that. When I first saw this, I commented to HHH that most ant hills I've seen don't look so vertically tall. Guess the North Carolinian ants are bigger. :P But all kidding aside, you don't want to create an ant hill that doesn't look like the ant hills commonly seen in the area you want to hide the cache. I've seen ant hills that look like his but half the size. I've seen ant hills that are small in height but are wide and circular. What we are going to look at now is how to modify the design to blend this cache in with the ant hills in your area.
First, you'll want to go out and find some ant hills as examples to see how you want yours to look in the end. Part of why his is taller is because of the position of the 35mm film canister. That's going to be hard to position any different. You could use something smaller, but I have another thought that will help in making a smaller ant hill while not necessarily reducing the size of the container.
If you want to make one of these that doesn't stand up as tall, then don't build it around the cache itself, but around a cache holder. Let's first look at some additional supplies that are needed. First, you need to know what size container you are going to use. Avoid anything larger than a 35mm film canister. Try to aim for something thinner. The goal is to lay the cache on it's side inside the fake ant hill to reduce the height, but still allow geocachers to open the container. Bison tubes, Advantex film canisters (more oval shaped than the 35mm kind), nanos, and other small containers will work well for this.
Once you have the size picked out, make a thin plastic sleeve that fit snuggly around the container. If using a nano, you can also just get a magnet the same width as a nano. You want this sleeve to fit snuggly to help hold the container in place, but still be able to remove it from the sleeve as needed. If need be, you can try to hunt down some moldable plastic. It's been a while since I've seen it in stores, but there is a product out there that can be heated up in boiling water so that it is moldable. Take it out of the water, and within a few minutes it will harden into whatever shape you position it in. I'll try to look for in the future, but if you know what I'm talking about, send me the info. Once you have this mold made, you then just snap the container into the sleeve and you have a cache holder. When you apply the Bondo, this will take the place of the 35mm in the video.
For added measure, we're going to design a cover to go over the cache to help ensure it doesn't fall out by accident. To do this right, you'll need to design this part first, before you make the ant hill. Figure out roughly what size you want the base of the ant hill to be (width wise) and about how tall you want it to be. Get some hard plastic and cut it out to be about that width of the base. Then get a screw that will be a bit smaller than the planned height of the ant hill. Put the screw through one end of the plastic piece. Have this with you when you apply the Bondo.
Before apply the Bondo, have newspaper down like in the video. Take that plastic sleeve that you'll use to hold the cache and place it on top of the plastic piece with the screw. Make sure it's not right up against the screw. Then place a small piece of newspaper between both plastic pieces, covering up the bottom piece, but with the screw poking through the paper. You are doing this because you want the Bondo applied to both the sleeve and the screw, but not the plastic piece that is attached to the screw. Now apply the Bondo.
When finished applying the Bondo, and once it's hardened, remove the small piece of newspaper that you placed between the two plastic pieces. If designed right, this will create a plastic cover that can be rotated open to expose the cache inside, and rotated closed to help protect the container from falling out. This won't protect against the elements, so make sure that the inner container can be sealed. If the shape isn't quite what you want, sand any undesirable parts away.
Now all that's left is to apply the spray paint. As HHH mentions, use a textured spray paint. Try to find one that closely matches the color of the ant hills in your area. Paint it, let it dry, and there's a modified Ant Hill Cache.
Thanks to HeadHardHat for making this video. It really shows how some creativity can produce interesting cache designs. Keep up with his blog for some great general geocaching tips.
Nanos. Some enjoy them. Many hate them. The mere word makes some want to hunt down the guy who first introduced them to the geocaching world. Some have never seen one before. So how can we be creative with a nano?
Nano's are small caches about the size of the tip of your pinkie finger. Magnetized on one end, they can fit in spots that many caches cannot even fit in and they are inconspicous. Commonly, they are found in urban environments where someone wants to place a cache but most caches won't fit well. For those who haven't seen one, here is what a nano looks like (with a penny for scale):
But a nano in the woods? I must be crazy. Well, I won't deny that statement but I will ask that you give me a chance to explain. It is entirely possible to place a nano in the woods without people crying for your capture. It just takes the right cache design. The design I'm going to share today can be varied as you desire, but it is one I have been working on for a while now. Let's look at what is needed.
First and foremost, you need a nano. You can find them through many various geocaching stores, along with Groundspeak's own store. They do cost a few dollars, and occasionally you can find deals if you buy a group of them.
Once you have the nano, the next thing you need is an ammo can. Yep, I said ammo can. You might be starting to see where this is going.
With these two items, you have the bare minimum needed for this cache. Place the nano inside the empty ammo can and go find a good spot in the woods to hide the ammo can. Cacher's will dread your nano and possibly give a huge sigh of relief, and maybe confusion, when they find the ammo can. But, as always, there is a way to go an extra step. This is where my design comes in.
For my idea, I've been spending the last several months trading swag for golf balls whenever I see one in a cache. My idea, which you are welcome to use and modify if desired, is to get as many golf balls as my ammo can will hold. I'm closing in on that goal. Many are dirty so I'll take one day and clean them all up so they look as similar as possible short of brand design. I've purposely passed up on colorful golf balls.
Next, I will begin the process of drilling out a hole in one of the golf balls. The hole will need to be deep enough that I can fit a nano inside such that only the lid of the nano sticks out. Then I need just a tad bit deeper. This is so I can glue a magnet into the base of the hole. I could stick the nano in further, but if I do, it will make it harder for geocachers to pull the nano out of the hole. With the magnet in place, I can set the nano into the hole and voila...geocachers now have to search the ammo can for the golf ball that contains the nano. You can see an example of how this would look to the left.
This is an idea that can be modified however you desire. I've actually seen a variation with a homemade container for the nano to be housed in. Don't want to use golf balls? 35mm film canisters can also work. Just place a small pebble in each one so that a geocacher can't "feel" the containers for the one with the nano.
And that is how to place a nano in the woods that won't resort in your exile.
Bolt caches are a great example of how to blend something in so well that few muggles will ever pick up on it's true intentions. Many geocachers will get caught off guard by them too if they are well done. But did you realize there are ways to get creative with just bolt caches?
Most geocachers will see only one type of bolt cache. It looks like a simple bolt with a nut on one end. Unscrew the nut to open the cache. But let's look at it with a bit more detail shall we.
There are a few things you'll need if you want to build one of these. You need a bolt, a nut that fits it, a magnet that fits either fits just inside the nut or over the nut, a logsheet, a drill and a drillbit for drilling metal. Last of all, make sure to have some super glue. You will also need a saw for cutting through metal.
Let's start with the bolt. It's easiest if you know where you are going to hide this first, as you can then get a bolt of the same size as what's found on that object. This really helps blend it in. It will also give you an idea of how far it sticks out. You don't want the cache to stick out further than the real bolts. Make sure that you try to find a spot that doesn't use really thin bolts. The thinner the bolt, the harder it will be to build the cache and the smaller the log sheet will have to be.
Once you have the bolt, then find a nut to fit it. This will be pretty easy. Also, while you're at the hardware store, make sure you have a drill bit that will not only cut through metal, but also be wide enough to drill through the end of the bolt.
The hardest part of getting the supplies will be the magnet. You can often find small round magnets at hardware stores, but usually in limited supply and often thicker than you really want to have. You may have to order them from a catalog. Ideally, you want to try and find neo-dymium magnets. They are powerful and come in a variety of sizes and thicknesses. You can go with thin or thick, but make sure it is just wide enough to fit inside the nut. The more snug it is, the easier it will be to seal it. Also, the thicker it is, the harder it will "grip" the surface it's place against.
Once you have the supplies, you will need to figure out how long you want the cache to be and then saw off the head. Then you need to drill a hole into the end of the bolt. How deep you want to go is up to you. You can cut the logsheet to fit the hole, but try and make it at least a half inch deep. This allows a logsheet that gives room for people to sign the log.
After you have cut the hole, you will need to fit the magnet into the nut and seal it in with super glue. Try to use super glue that works on metals. Or, if you have something that works really well for you when gluing metals together, work with that.
Once this is all dry, slip a rolled up logsheet inside the bolt, screw the nut over the end and you now have a magnetized bolt cache. Go hide it and enjoy the new cache.
But wait, I said there are ways to make this more creative. How could you possibly make this more creative? First, let's look at the typical way people find a bolt cache. Most geocachers, if they begin to think it might be a bolt cache, will begin grab every bolt and see if anything moves. Since the bolt cache is merely magnetically attached, it will come right off or at least move (if the magnet is good). Here's where the creative part comes in.
One thing to do use find a spot where there are already bolts, but find an unused hole. If there is one you can use, this opens up options. Measure how thick the object is. Figure out at what point on the future bolt is on the opposite side of the object. For example, let's say you are using a bolt 3 inches long. If the head is snug against the object this is attached to, then let's say the object is half an inch thick. Measure from the base of the head to about 3 & 1/4 inches. That is the spot that will most likely be covered by the nut. Now, instead of sawing the head off the bolt, saw through the bolt at that spot. Then drill the hole into one of the two pieces. Now you have two options at this point. You can use a wider nut and hold the two pieces together using just the nut, or glue two nuts together to provide enough room. Just be warned that the latter option is more likely to stand out. The advantage of this method...a geocacher can't just feel for the bolt that moves. They would actually have to take it out to figure out it is a cache. I've actually seen this done just once in my personal experience.
But now for the really tricky option. The above ideas include drilling the hole through the end of the bolt. Instead of drilling the hole through the end of the bolt, drill it through the side of the bolt. Then use the nut to cover up the hole. Since this is not the standard method of hiding a bolt cache it will help throw some cachers for a loop. Combine in with the second idea and you'll have a devious cache. If you really want to mess with your fellow geocachers, make it magnetic but hide more than one of these designs. The fake ones don't need to have the hole drilled in them. In fact, drilling the hole might entice a geocacher into thinking the logsheet is missing and they might "help you out" by putting one into the fake cache.
The last way to make a bolt cache interesting is to combine it with something else that blends in. For example, combine it with a reflector on one end and attach it near other reflectors. I have seen this one once before too.
Bolt caches are a fun way to safely hide a cache in plain site and have it be a bit more creative. Are there other ideas for bolt caches out there that I haven't thought of? Post a comment and explain.
I'm still working on a system of photos and diagrams. I'll try to get those up soon.
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