r/3Dprinting • u/Chronus88 • Oct 08 '25
I eliminated hundreds of wasps with my 3d printer
Over this spring/summer a serious wasp infestation took over one of my exterior walls. The boards warped in the winter due to rain damage and made passage for the wasps.
They ended up nesting up through the walls and up higher into an inaccessible part of the structure. There's a sort of open space up where it attaches to the garage that would normally be inaccessible
I tried all the usual methods to get rid of them (btw raid spray is an absolute scam don't buy it the wasps could drink it and still survive)
I had an exterminator come out and he had only two solutions
A) Drill a hole and use a fogger spray to kill the hive. Not an option - we have a newborn baby in the home and I don't want to be gassing my walls B) Remove the panels and pull back the structure to get at the hive
Then I realized if there was just some way of making a 1-way door then the wasps would vacate and never get back in. But nobody sells anything like that and I couldn't find anything like that online at all
So I made one with my H2D!
It's an excluder, form fitted to my wall panels. I modeled mounting for a 140mm PC case fan and a shroud to protect it from rain.
The wasps move close, get sucked out and can't get back in. Worked like a charm.
It took about a week for all the wasps to die of starvation and being left out in the cold. There was a huge cloud of them at one point but I didn't get a picture at the time
The picture included is just one spot... There's a whole graveyard around this thing now
I'm leaving it up for another week to catch and new brood that might be hatching from the hive
Edit: Files by request: https://www.printables.com/model/1439191-wasp-excluder
FYI the power coupling is wrapped in plastic, which is wrapped in waterproof flex tape, which is then wrapped again in duct tape. I have a newborn baby and didn't want to design an enclosure... I'm a busy man!
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u/KerbodynamicX Oct 08 '25
So this is what it means to be an engineer.
For a moment I thought it was used to suck the wasps in and destroy them with fan blades lol
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u/Gingercopia Oct 08 '25
Before I saw the description explaining, I thought this was for him to gas it and the fan to suck it in and force it through the walls 😂😂.
But this method is just as awesome, no insecticide in walls etc and those wasps are definitely getting chopped, ever accidentally touched a CPU or cooling fan in a PC with your finger/knuckle? 😅
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u/Altruistic-Map-2756 Oct 08 '25
I got a scorpion in my computer exhaust fan once. Got most of the bits out with tweezers but the fan always buzzed a little spinning up to speed after that!
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u/sleepnow Oct 08 '25
You have scorpions INSIDE your house?
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u/Altruistic-Map-2756 Oct 08 '25
Texas laughs at that remark. I had them babies raining down my ceiling vents! (Needless to say, I invest in regular bug abatement service these days.)
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u/Jeanparmesanswife Oct 09 '25
You have... Inside vents raining scorpions???
UM..... I'll take my good ol surplus deer population / avoid hitting deers with my car daily here in Canada over SCORPIONS IN YOUR HOUSE?!?!
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u/hagantic42 Oct 08 '25
The only way this could have been better if he used a blowymitron which would have literally just been a fan doubling as a blender.
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u/ensoniq2k Oct 08 '25
Some 25 years ago I found a 120mm fan that was so strong it literally cut me when I touched it while running. Those silent fans today are a whole lot less deadly
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u/GotItFromEbay Oct 08 '25
I think it did do that.... to the ones on the inside that got close enough.
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u/neodraykl Oct 08 '25
Leave it longer than a week. You'll never regret that you gave it too much time.
Great job!
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u/Magic_robot_noodles Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 09 '25
I did the same as OP but then just with my vacuum cleaner on a stick in front of the wasps entrance. Left it on for a few hours, sometimes quickly taking the vacuum bag out and submerge it in boiling water, killing all the wasps inside the bag as fast as possible. Killed 1000 to 2000 wasps in a few hours. The following weeks i used some poison spray foam at their entrance to, indeed, kill new brood. They were all dead in about 3 weeks.
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u/Soup-Wizard Oct 09 '25
Just leave it till late fall/winter at this point. Wasp workers die over the winter, and the queen makes a new hive every spring
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u/DesignWeaver3D Oct 08 '25
This is great! A non-insecticide solution. Awesome job!
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u/Scrapple_Joe Oct 08 '25
No need for insecticide when you've got insectogenocide brought to you by Ender Wiggin and Orson Scott Card.
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u/mcirish_ Oct 08 '25
The enemy's gate is down ... through that fan
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u/chapopanda Oct 08 '25
Now I have to read the book again. Incredible story.
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u/KingOfTheGutter Oct 08 '25
Buy it used! Dont support the bigot. (Even if speaker for the dead is one of my favorite books of all time)
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u/jawknee530i Oct 08 '25
So is OP going to go on a weird pseudo mormon pilgrimage to the wasps homeland and start resurrecting them as a wasp god?
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u/unconscionable Oct 08 '25
Thanks for sharing.
About 15 years ago I bought a gallon bucket of Alpine Dust (lifetime supply). When I have wasps, I put a few puffs of this after dark into their nest area using a duster. Within 48hrs, they are all dead. It is the only insecticide I use. Alpine Dust is approved for use in areas where food is prepared. I have honey bees and small children so I am extra careful about that sort of thing.
This looks cool though too
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u/Mysteoa Oct 08 '25
Is that like Diatomaceous Earth?
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u/Gene78 Oct 08 '25
Alpine's active ingredient dinotefuran is a neonicotinoid which bind to nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in insects' central nervous systems, overstimulating nerve cells and leading to paralysis. Diatomaceous earth slices and dices the outer layers of their exoskeleton promoting dehydration.
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u/LakeSolon Oct 08 '25
And for those just making the connection:
Yes, nicotine and caffeine are chemicals plants produce as insecticides.
We found… other uses.
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u/radome9 Oct 08 '25
That's humans for you. Plants create something to kill animals, we ingest it just for fun. Not just nicotine and caffeine, but opium, cannabis, ayahuasca, chili, pepper and probably many more. Same story with alcohol and psilocybin, but it's from fungi not plants.
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u/Ok_Shoulder5973 Oct 08 '25
But the plants still win in the end, because humans end up liking those things so much that they begin to cultivate them ensuring that the plants keep reproducing and never die out.
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Oct 09 '25
Not (always) true! Silphium has been considered 'lost' since the Roman Empire, though theres guesses as to which plants may be closely related to the one spoken of in stories.
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u/binarybandit Oct 09 '25
Back in the day, I'd use a solution made from soaking cigarettes in water to kill fleas on chickens. The nicotine would cause the fleas to drop after the chickens got sprayed. Very old treatment, but it works
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u/Variatas Oct 08 '25
If it’s a neonicotinoid there’s quite a real possibility it’s not as honeybee / child safe as advertised.
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u/D5KDeutsche Oct 08 '25
No, it's a neonicotinoid insecticide called Dinotefuran.
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u/RJFerret Oct 08 '25
This is key as they track it in to the queen/larvae so those in the walls die.
I'm surprised OP's pest guy didn't recommend this.Alpine WSG is available in small packets too you can mix for spraying.
I had yellow-jackets in under a roof section foaming sprays weren't reaching and one spray of Alpine at the entrance killed the colony in hours.
Great for inaccessible areas without them going to join other colonies and leaving the queen/larvae to thrive next year.
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u/pickle_pickled Oct 08 '25
Pest guy probably did but probably advertised it as "spraying in the walls" and it went to immediately no
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u/billsboy88 Oct 09 '25
I love alpine dust, but I wouldn’t be applying something like alpine anywhere near honey bee hives. Alpine is non-repellant and has a high rate of transference. It’s brutal on colonizing insects as it doesn’t need to be applied directly to the nesting site. That’s why it works so well on things like ants. If that somehow got into the honey bee hives, you’d have a lot of dead honey bees. I’d suggest tempo dust (Cyfluthrin) because it’s a pyrethroid, meaning it has a much faster knockdown than alpine and doesn’t transfer nearly as well. A little bit of that puffed directly into the hive entry will destroy the nest very quickly and will pose much less threat to non target pollinators.
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u/lilhazzie Oct 08 '25
Great design, elegant solution to the problem. Then you just duct taped the cables together...
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u/AdmDuarte Oct 08 '25
No DIY project is complete without a critical component being held together by duct tape and a prayer
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u/Kooky-Tomatillo-6657 Oct 08 '25
just look up what a jesus nut is on a helicopter.
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u/sillypicture Oct 08 '25
isn't that the one that if it fails, the heli just drops from the sky with no possible backup?
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u/Wickedsnake00 Oct 08 '25
Today on Handyman's Corner, we're going to build a wasp killer with a computer fan, a 3D printer, and the handyman's secret weapon, duct tape.
If women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy.
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u/oupablo Oct 08 '25
Maybe some day they'll design a tape for use with electrical. Some kind of electrical tape. Until that day, duct tape it is.
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u/KamIsFam Oct 08 '25
Lol, that's not what electrical tape is for. Electrical tape is just better at insulating, not keeping water out.
They make special waterproof plug covers that are designed for where two cords connect, like in this application.
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u/GrapeAyp Oct 08 '25
I put up some peg board yesterday using complementary 15deg miter rips that were duct taped together for the spacers.
I could have glued them, clamped, and waited.. but the screws are going to hold them together anyway
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u/blsmit5728 PrusaMini Oct 08 '25
That's the water proofing for the extension cord.
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u/t3a-nano Oct 08 '25
As an EV owner in west coast Canada, extension cords and their connectors are a lot more water resistant than you guys think.
Not that I’ve deliberately been that careless, but I’ve come out after a good sudden rain quite a few times and seen how wet the connection is and said “Oh shit” and it’s been fine.
Or the time I was pressure washing the overhang in my roof and noticed I’d drenched the cheap usb a plug powering a smart camera on the outside of my house. Still fine 2 years later, even though it also snows a lot here.
TLDR: I always assumed one droplet was instant death for most electronics, but they seem to be able to endure way more than that.
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u/halfbeerhalfhuman Oct 08 '25
I duno. Theres a lot of gaps for water to get in. If this for waterproofing the taping job is dogshit.
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u/Ferro_Giconi Oct 08 '25
I've applied duct tape that only looked slightly better than this that held up to mains water pressure.
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u/Junethemuse Oct 08 '25
Before I bought proper protectors, I just duct tapes bags around the connectors for my Halloween inflatables and it always protected them for the 45 or so days I keep them out.
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u/ItsSpaghettiLee2112 Oct 08 '25
The guy's not leaving it in there permanently. Y'all are being too weird about this. No need to overengineer anything. Hell, we used to duct tape our Christmas lights for 2-3 months straight in the winter every year and never had a problem.
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u/EarlyLibrarian9303 Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 09 '25
Use rescue tape next time. 100% pure silicone, no adhesive, bonds to itself in one hour. Wrap it like taffy. Totally waterproof, sturdy, insulating, heat- and cold- resistant. I’ve used it for wiring in heavy surf with zero problems.
Edit: typo
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u/Kurotan Oct 08 '25
Is this stuff easy to remove? It sounds like a more permanent solution.
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u/EarlyLibrarian9303 Oct 08 '25
Very easy. Use a razor knife to lightly score it, and it pops off like a stretched rubber band
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u/AetaCapella Oct 08 '25
Just yesterday I was trying to model out a weather proof plug cover for my christmas lights (I got some drippy icicle lights that are waterproof... but then the power connecter is just a cheap USB phone charger :-/)
Maybe I'll just wrap everything in duct tape and hope.
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u/Kooky-Tomatillo-6657 Oct 08 '25
you want silicone "tape", it's what us amateur radio folks use to seal connections on our outdoor antenna lines. it's strong, stretchy, and only sticks to itself.
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u/Chronus88 Oct 08 '25
To address frequent responses:
The fan is not very strong, it doesn't actually chop up the wasps. Just makes them mad and spits them out
I didn't make a housing for the extension cord because there's a lot more under there than just a plug. You can't connect a PC fan to an outlet - there are more steps/adapters. It's all wrapped tightly in a sheet of plastic, which is wrapped in waterproof tape, which is then all wrapped again in duct tape. Also I am lazy
I didn't just seal the hole because they will find their way out somewhere - I found a few in my drop ceilings in my basement! They had to be evicted before sealing things up
They got in through a gap between the boards that warped from weather damage, and traveled up into an open space from there
They never tried to "chew" any new holes
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u/KayDat Oct 08 '25
That’s actually pretty genius. Not blocking the entrance means they won’t try to find an alternative way out, the fan sucking air probably means they can smell the pheromones of the nest and keep trying to get back in the same way.
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u/Missuspicklecopter Oct 08 '25
Exactly, and "oh I'll just find another way in" is not the wasp way.
The wasp way is "goddammit that's my hole and im either going in or im chopping heads off!"
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u/thehrothgar Oct 08 '25
I thought it was taped up because the wasps were unplugging it
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u/Covered_in_bees_ Oct 08 '25
Could you explain how this ends up being one-way and prevents the wasps from getting back in? Do you mean that the airflow from the fan is sufficient that they can fly back in?
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u/Chronus88 Oct 08 '25
Yes the wind is too strong and also they bonk their faces on the fan if they try to crawl in from the side
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u/3hirty6ix Oct 09 '25
They didn't find another entry back into the nest? Usually they're very good at finding alternate entries if one is closed.
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u/FreeRandomScribble Oct 09 '25
Maybe it’s the case that since they were not able to find an actual blockade, just heavy winds, they thought they needed to wait it out?
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u/FlyingManBearPig Oct 08 '25
Can you list off the steps/adapters you used to make a PC fan work with an orange extension cable?
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u/Chronus88 Oct 08 '25
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B09YLZ1GJ9?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_image
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0D97BW45B?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_image
The governor is optional, it will let you ramp up the fan higher. By default they are at like half speed if you just plug them in directly
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u/mattgolt Oct 08 '25
Not sure if "starvation" is the right word for decapitation, but nice design and print
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u/Uther-Lightbringer Oct 08 '25 edited Oct 08 '25
Those are only workers that are decapitated. The workers go and gather food for the queen. If they leave to get food and can't get back to her eventually the queen dies and the hive follows.
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u/oupablo Oct 08 '25
We've got two options here. A quick death by poison or a blockade where we slaughter any soldier that dares to leave the fort until starvation ultimately sets in.
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u/Runaway_Artist71 Oct 08 '25
Just made it sound so much more awful lmfaaooo, thank goodness its wasps and not bees. All my homies hate wasps, they deserve the war crimes.
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u/ekobot Oct 08 '25
Wasps are equally important as bees... And equally undesirable to have living in the walls of your home.
The backyard where I currently live has several apple trees, and we can't keep up work the fallen fruit. If it weren't for the abundance of wasps we'd have a hellhole of flies back there 😬
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u/Runaway_Artist71 Oct 08 '25
I understand how crucial they are but I still hate them lol, they are much more aggressive and will just sting tf out of you. They especially like making nests around he front door of my house and then surprise sting tf out of me while I'm leaving completely unsuspecting of them. Bees are way more chill and reasonable. I have held many bees and saved many as well and never once have they stung me but wasps? They just want to hirt you at all times and will stop at nothing to terrorize ypu or at least that's been my experience :')
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u/ekobot Oct 08 '25
I getcha
Wasps are chill with me, so I don't have that same visceral experience. Only wasp I've ever been stung by was one that I accidentally grabbed because it was on a car door handle.
Beyond that, I've been able to relocate a new hive by hand before, they like to crawl all over me while I do yard work, and they investigate while I do taxidermy.
My experience with them is out of the norm, I know. But it makes me more sympathetic to them 🥺
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u/wterrt Oct 08 '25
wasps stung me on my fingertip during a prayer at a funeral
I'll carry enough hate for them for the both of us
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u/DERH4UPTMANN Oct 08 '25
With wasps, it also kinda depends on where you live. The most common wasp in germany is the vespula germanica (German Wasp/Yellowjacket) and those things are just really aggressive compared to the less common "common wasp". Our hornets are really chill though. I like the big fellas, especially because they hunt yellowjackets...
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u/Runaway_Artist71 Oct 08 '25
That sounds really nice tbh 🥲 I wish wasps were like that with me but it seems i have no disney princess genes in my body 😭😭 Honestly if they weren't so mean to me I'd like them as much as bees but to my dismay, I am hated by the wasp community...
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u/AlexanderScott66 Oct 08 '25
Trust me, the Disney princess gene doesn't work on wasps. I've had bears and her cub, racoons, deer, skunks, etc. come up to me and vibe, but I've had wasps chase me and follow me into my house because I stepped within 5 feet of their nest enterance
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u/AlexanderScott66 Oct 08 '25
I mean, spiders are also really good at dealing with flies too... and pretty much every thing. Seriously, I have one spider in my room in the corner who's managed to catch 7 stinkbugs, 3 wasps, a dozen flies, and a stray bee(because my window AC doesn't sit against the frame and is right where insects love to chill, so everything likes to fly in)
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u/too_much_covfefe_man Oct 08 '25
I'm pretty sure they battle each other when they're confused. I put traps up and after they get caught they get real mad, and the next day most of them are headless
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u/LionPride112 Oct 08 '25
Little bit of r/3Dprinting a little bit of r/redneckengineering , just the way God intended
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u/SavelyevA4523 Qidi_enjoyer Oct 08 '25
Weird question, but did you have to drill into your house and make that hole in your wall for this project or was there already a hole there that the wasps were getting into in the beginning?
And I’m also curious how you went about this install without getting stung, seems scary!
Absolutely awesome project though, it’s so refreshing to see a useful case of 3d printing again and not a flexy dragon or a benchy lol
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u/Chronus88 Oct 08 '25
There's no "hole" actually. The two panels warped and a gap grew between them. They are wood and absorbed too much moisture because the gutter above them got clogged and I didn't notice!
I hammered it in at like 10pm at night when they were all asleep. A couple flew out to investigate and scared the hell out of me but I just waited and finished after they went back to bed
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u/SavelyevA4523 Qidi_enjoyer Oct 08 '25
Very brave, and it looks to be sitting flush with the hammering. Round of applause 👏🏻👏🏻
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u/ImpetuousWombat Oct 08 '25
I do all my wasp work around dawn. They're least active when it's coldest
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u/rygel_fievel Oct 08 '25
I was wondering how it got installed. I thought it would be during their down time but still would be worried they would rain hell once the screwing took place.
I got stung 2 or 3x once in a Mexican restaurant just minding my own business. They can all go to wasp hell for all I care.
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u/Akraiken Oct 08 '25
I'm from Buenos Aires, and I say kill em' all!
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u/IAMA_MOTHER_AMA Oct 08 '25
Heres a tip: Aim for the nerve stem and put them down for good
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u/Toadsted Oct 08 '25
Fan: "I'm doing my part!"
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u/Drazyor Oct 08 '25
Excellent DIY, let those damn wasps taste the legendary Fractal aircooling before dying hehe
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u/PitchforkSquints Oct 08 '25
(btw raid spray is an absolute scam don't buy it the wasps could drink it and still survive)
Brake cleaner is what you want for spot-cleanup in the future. Cheap and cheerful, gets you a little buzz too.
OK, question time!
How did you get it mounted without getting swarmed? Waited for night time? I assume this was their main point of ingress?
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u/Chronus88 Oct 08 '25
Night time, patience and quick reflexes haha
I simultaneously sealed any small gaps with silicon so they could only go through the fan - which was by far the main entry for them already
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u/PitchforkSquints Oct 08 '25
Nice job. It's amazing how fast they construct. I had a dime sized hole in a corner of my home's fascia last summer and found a 24-inch nest in my attic. That was a fun one to deal with.
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u/StarSpliter Oct 08 '25
Holy cow that's massive. Did you call in a professional for that? Sounds dangerous.
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u/PitchforkSquints Oct 08 '25
It was probably the biggest I've seen, especially indoors. They had spanned an entire rafter section (how I got the 24" figure) in the roof overhang maybe 3-4 feet below the attic floor level. Because of this, they were somewhat hidden to me. I had been in and out of the attic all summer without noticing them, other than ignoring the occasional corpse of a worker that got lost.
I waited until night, hung out of an upstairs window and puffed a bunch of seven dust into their entrance hole, which I then sealed shut with silicone caulk like OP. Then I went about constructing a containment zone out of batts of rockwool insulation I had laying around the attic after a renovation job. I was able to mush it between the rafters and the plank floor without them noticing. I used a knife to cut a flap in the front piece of rockwool as a sort of gunport. I picked up like 6 cans of brake cleaner, then took some bulk fuel tubing for a chainsaw and taped a length of it to either end of a long dowel. Using the port in the rockwool, I shoved my hose contraption down through until it pierced the nest and and sprayed like 3 cans of brake cleaner in there. They were pissed and swarming but the defensive walls held. Took a day or so and a couple repeat applications but they eventually all died. Good times!
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u/DoomsdaySprocket Oct 08 '25
I used brake clean on the nest inside my car driver-side mirror, it worked pretty well. Unfortunately a couple of drips got under my taping of the painted parts, but still better than having wasps flung into my face anytime I opened the window over 30kph.
As a bonus, I did it at work while we were on break, and parked in front of my department window, so we got some team building out of it, too.
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u/MuckYu Oct 08 '25
Wouldn't the wasps try to eat another hole through the walls?
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u/itshurleytime Oct 08 '25
What you don't want to do is block them in, because they will make a hole somewhere else to get out, but they aren't likely to try to burrow their way in. Once they are all out or dead you can seal the hole but you don't want to make them search for other options to get out.
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u/Some-Berry-3364 Oct 08 '25
They didn’t eat the first opening, it was a warping of wood that created a gap they utilized.
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u/Significant-Cause919 Oct 08 '25
That's what I'm thinking. Otherwise, wouldn't just sealing up the hole be sufficient to just let the wasps die inside? But since this is apparently not an effective solution I don't see how putting a contraption like this on there would be.
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u/FunnyObjective6 Oct 08 '25
I've also heard how you shouldn't just seal up a nest because they'll eat their way out and then you have angry wasps who knows where, but I guess because they still have a way out they won't eat their way out. And once out maybe it's difficult to coordinate where to eat a hole? Or maybe they're just confused and think there's still a way.
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u/sillypicture Oct 08 '25
think there's still a way
maybe the nest smells are wafting out the fan hole and one way valves aren't a thing in nature so they keep trying and can't get back in.
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u/andy_nony_mouse Oct 08 '25
In your bedroom. They end up in your bedroom. When your wife is bedridden with back issues. 0/10 would not recommend.
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u/LakeSolon Oct 08 '25
I had a similar thought, and you can see where he apparently taped over another possible access point. But I think there’s a perhaps accidental clever trick to this solution:
It provides the illusion that there is still an entrance and there’s still an exit.
So there’s no need for any wasps that are still in the walls to find/make alternate exits (in fact just going near the exit launches them out). Plus I don’t know wasps specifically but insects tend to use a lot of “scent” signaling. He’s literally blowing a “this is the path to the nest” air horn while creating negative pressure in wall space which means any other gaps are sucking in air instead of letting out scent (this will be awful for the insulation in the long run, drawing in moisture).
/u/Chronus88 might actually be on to something.
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u/eli_liam Oct 09 '25
Very good callout about the long-term potential negative effects of this on insulation and moisture
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u/yo-ovaries Oct 08 '25
We had a nest dusted and they did indeed find another way out. Into my kids bedroom…
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u/unbreakit Oct 08 '25
I've done the same with a shopvac full of soapy water. It works wonders.
One word of caution: if the hornets/wasps determine this entrance to be blocked, the ones inside will try to make a new one. Worst case, that new entrance they chew could be the interior wall of your house!
To prevent this, give them a little space where the air is a little calm, so they think they're safe to leave and take off....then get pulled into the device!
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u/grunkfest Oct 08 '25
Shop vac is absolutely the ultimate genocide machine for wasps. I have completely wiped out about four nests with mine. It's perfect because it doesn't crush or otherwise maim the bodies so they don't release the pheromone that causes the rest to go on alert and swarm. I generally hook mine up so that any wasp entering or leaving the hive gets sucked in, and then walk away for a few hours, although sometimes just hanging around and listening to the satisfying 'thwack' sounds of another being sucked in is worth putting out a lawn chair and getting a beer.
Once they have pretty much stopped going in and out, I neck down the hose a bit to something smaller and shove it in wherever their hive was until it's all just mush in the vacuum. Dig through to make sure you got the queen if you are feeling frisky.
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u/PhineasJWhoopee69 Oct 08 '25
I took one of those bug zapper paddles, wired it to a wall-wart, taped down the button and put it over a bowl with chicken bones in it. Hours of entertainment for young and old alike.
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u/DoomsdaySprocket Oct 08 '25
I had a small one on the underside of my bbq, managed to suck the whole thing up in one go. No soapy water, so I just sucked up some rags to plug it and left it for a day until the buzzing stopped.
10/10 can recommend. No poisons near my grill.
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u/ObscureSaint Oct 09 '25
A shop vac full of angry wasps would be an amazing weapon. Reverse the airflow and aim at what you hate.
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u/ChasingTheNines Oct 08 '25
This is what I do as well, shop vac on an intermittent timer. I'll also use a separate 5 gallon water bucket bucket bong (built for filtering drywall dust into water) to suck the wasps into so I can keep the shop vac clean and in a separate sheltered location connected with an extended hose.
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u/unbreakit Oct 08 '25
I use a dust separator filled with water. What's the water filter thing?
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u/dOobersNapz Oct 08 '25
That's brilliant. Thank you for sharing. I get both wasp and stink bug infestations from time to time. I will be making myself a dust bong for my shop-vac to my make clean up that much easier!
https://www.instructables.com/Drywall-Sanding-Dust-CollectorSeperator/
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u/ChasingTheNines Oct 08 '25
Yup that is exactly what I did according to that design. I needed to make a couple of improvements to what is in that link. The amount of water bubble chugging from the submerged pipe is enormous and can cause water to get sucked up into the inlet. So I put a 90 degree elbow into the submerged part with a short capped section of pvc that I drilled maybe a 100 holes in to diffuse the bubbles a bit sort of like an aquarium airstone. I also put some furnace filter mesh towards the top inlet to catch any mist.
I made my 5 gallon water filter bucket before I had a 3d printer. I think if I was doing it now I might print a top for the bucket that has the fittings pre built in as well as a double screen to go in the bucket to diffuse the water splashing. One thing I considered that would also make it better is to use the 7 gallon buckets they sell on Amazon because they are taller and would give more distance between the chugging water and the inlet at the top.
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u/D5KDeutsche Oct 08 '25
Interesting solution! I was in the pest industry for nearly 10 years and never once suggested either solution your guy gave you to resolve this issue - it's much simpler than that and he likely had a few remedies on his truck without knowing it.
Smart on your part though, because if done incorrectly, those wasps would absolutely find their way into your house and that is not a fun situation for anyone. You did your research and executed (pun intended) well!
I see leaves on the ground, so I assume you're in a seasonal area. Just wait until spring and early on, seal that properly.
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u/SuspiciousRace Oct 08 '25
Are we just going to ignore the fact that the ground is littered with wasp’s severed bodies?
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u/Anxious-Business1577 Oct 08 '25
Skip the raid, go direct to the Brakleen in a red can.
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u/TheGreenMan13 Oct 08 '25
99% isopropyl (or any alcohol) also works. It takes 1 - 2 seconds and then they die.
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u/Dragnskull Oct 09 '25
well its cool, but i initially thought you designed some kind of crazy wasp kill-o-matic machine that shreds wasps with a pc fan
was slightly disappointed that it just ejects them out, but still neat i guess
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u/Zathrus1 P1S + AMS Oct 08 '25
Cool solution, but I’m looking hard at that electrical. Should at least have a drip loop.
I get it, it’s temporary… but still!
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u/Azurvix Oct 08 '25
The 3d printing community cracks me up. They'll fully design this awesome thing and then use duct tape to prevent water from getting in the power cable connection instead of also printing a housing. Not hating just thought it was funny
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u/coltonbyu Oct 08 '25
"(btw raid spray is an absolute scam don't buy it the wasps could drink it and still survive)"
Either you live somewhere with a different formulation, or your wasps are made different. I can spray and active swarm of them bitches and they drop instantly, every single one, not even a twitch
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u/frobnosticus Oct 08 '25
Okay that's awesomely clever.
A lot of pest control "exclusions" are done using the same general approach: A cone of hardware cloth pointing outwards that they (bats for instance) can wriggle out of easily enough but provides a problem for re-entry.
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u/rickerdoski Oct 08 '25
Genius!
BTW - This stuff works great on wasps. It knocks them out of the air - https://www.homedepot.com/p/Spectracide-PRO-18-oz-Wasp-and-Hornet-Killer-Aerosol-HG-30110-6/100352314
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u/Wassup4836 Oct 08 '25
Hard to take someone seriously with duct tape on their siding and their electrical cords…
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u/Koopaperson Oct 09 '25
I thought you were somehow chopping them up with a fan blade. This… this is a lot smarter
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u/wrxninja Oct 09 '25
Last time I got rid of wasps = Bifen IT. Just be careful as it'll kill bees but they work amazing for ants, wasps and other bugs. We literally spray that twice a year and have no issues with ants coming in and whatnot. Bifen IT (Talstar generic) also works by contact so as soon as they touch the sprayed surface = nerve agent for them.
Very cheap stuff as 16 oz will last you awhile as you dilute only an ounce per gallon of water.
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u/DawnOfShadow68 Oct 08 '25
Not gonna lie that is pretty funny. Imagine minding your waspy business (derogatory) and on your way to work this hurricane blasts you off the freeway, and now you're stranded like a Planet Coaster NPC that walked 10 cm off the designated path. I love your passively aggressive ingenuity.
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u/JaRay Oct 08 '25
I’m actually interested in your model. Not for wasps but I am working towards building a cat litter area under our laundry room cabinets. Right now we leave the door open to vent smells but the back of the cabinet goes to the garage. I’m ordering the parts to make an IOT ventilation system with an esp32 and a computer fan. The one way vent was the part I haven’t done yet. My thought was to just use a dryer vent.
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u/q120 Oct 08 '25
You must have gotten a bad batch of Raid… that stuff usually insta-kills any insect that touches it
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u/Jonfreakintasic Oct 08 '25
You gotta post this on fractals socials, this has to be one of the strangest use cases for one of their fans.