# Glad to be part of this forum



## mmcl26554 (Jan 8, 2013)

Hi,
My name is Michael, we have acquired 3 new kittens to replace our 10 rear old cat who died unexpectedly last April. We got our kittens from a lady who has rescued them from a feral mother. She already had 9 very social cats so the kittens had good roll models. They like to be held and are quite playful, like most kittens are. We have kept them in a fenced in area made out of and indoor baby fence. I had to put a top on it or they would just leap over the top. They have a littermaid, a scratching post with a "cup" on the top to sleep in and a 3 tier house I made out of 3 cardboard boxes. I have installed a cat door in it which allows ingress but controls egress. When we let them out to explore the house one of them will sometimes go back into the "catitat" on her own. They will be altered in the next 2 months and we plan to discontinue the "catitat" soon after that. Their names are Skye, Finn & Angus.
Michael


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## mmcl26554 (Jan 8, 2013)

*Our cats*

We live in White Hall WV, with our 3 new kittens, Angus, Finn & Skye. We got them because we missed our beloved Cleopatra who died quite unexpectedly last April. The new cats are such a joy and they sure do play a lot! My current project is to fix one of our older littermaids I will post elsewhere about this project. Anyway glad I found this forum
Michael


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## Greenport ferals (Oct 30, 2010)

Welcome, let's see some photos of your bunch!


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## mmcl26554 (Jan 8, 2013)

*Littermaid repairs and improvements*

One of the bigger problems with the littermaid is being somewhat underpowered. I found through some research that with if the rack encounters a to big clump and stalls it will draw 1.5 amps before reversing. Well, the A/C adapter is only rated at 1 amp. So I had several 2 amp 12 volt transformers so I wired one to the correct plug and tried it out. Well it runs noticeably faster and if it encounters a to big clump it is usually able to clear it on the second try. So a higher amp transformer did do a lot for this problem. 

I have 2 other littermaids who have broken one tooth in the gears in the rake. Since NO parts are available for the littermaid I had to find gears elsewhere. I have found a source and have several gears. It looks very promising and I really expect to be successful. The only problem I see is these gears are also nylon plastic and may break again. So, I am searching for a source of brass or steel gears. I will keep this post up to date. If anyone wants to also try this I would be happy to share the specific specifications of the original gears and the source I have found thus far.
Michael


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## mmcl26554 (Jan 8, 2013)

*Picture*

From left to right Angus, Finn & Skye


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## Tiliqua (Jan 22, 2013)

Aww! Very cute little ones. Welcome!


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## Mylita (Jan 23, 2013)

Love your kittens! Very cute!

Mylita


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## mmcl26554 (Jan 8, 2013)

I was successful installing new gears in the littermaid and now it is working fine. If anyone wants to do this themselves let me know and I will provide more info.
Michael


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## mmcl26554 (Jan 8, 2013)

Well, looks like I spoke to soon. The new gears are turning out to not be heavy duty enough to handle the load. The gearmotor is really quite powerful. However, I have found some metal gears which should arrive in a few days. The gear ration of these gears is a little lower than original and will favor power over speed so again I am hopeful they will do the job. In any case it is interesting to do this and I have learned a lot about gearing.
Michael


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## mmcl26554 (Jan 8, 2013)

I have successfully installed the metal gears. Since the drive gear is a bit smaller and the driven gear is a bit larger this puts it in a lower gear favoring more power to the rake. It does move a bit slower but that creates no problem. The littermaid is working just great.


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## Marcia (Dec 26, 2010)

Wow! You sound quite accomplished mechanically AND you have 3 cute cats - I'm sure you are not single!! Just kidding!! Welcome to the forum!!


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## mmcl26554 (Jan 8, 2013)

I just like to fix things! It's getting to be more of a challenge as "stuff" is being more and more designed to not fix let alone take apart. Since there is no responsibility in the corporate world they purposely publish no manuals and sell no parts, you are on your own. That's where I shine. I make my own parts! 
And, I do have a wife we are working on our 49th year, now you don't hear that often today!
Michael


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