Automatic Litterbox Central

We love the litter robot. We just wished it had a bigger (deeper) waste container. If we forget to empty it after just a day, or if we forget to "shake" it forward to make more room, we get a nasty gunky surprise when we pull out the waste drawer.

Enter my husband, who loves any project that gets him in the woodshop. (He's also the one who empties the drawer most of the time!) Together, we decided that we needed a bigger waste bin.

In my mind, I had pictured a tiny drawer--just tall enough so the poop would fall forward (and not stack) and just wide enough for the robot to sit on, plus a little stoop that the kids could jump on before stepping on the trigger step. Well, I must not have good spatial ability, because I told this to my husband...and the box he built is HUGE! But, it's the exact size it needs to be. (Or maybe I just think the robot is smaller than it actually is.) It now sticks out of the closet so we can't shut the door. (Not like we would have shut the cats out of the litterbox, but it's just the fact that size-wise we could still shut the door.)

Basically, it's a huge wooden drawer (maybe 2' wide x 3' deep). The LR sits at the back end, so there will be about an 8" ledge for them to hop on before hopping into the LR. It's about a foot high. The drawer will house a rubbermaid-type container that will fit a large kitchen garbage bag (just hanging over the sides like a regular kitchen garbage; no clips to hold it in place). There is no slanted board (as I had initially imagined)...so basically, it's just another 12" for the poop to fall and collect, rather than the 4" of the originial drawer. So, when it's time to empty, we pull out the large wood drawer (which includes the rubbermaid container), pull out the bag, rebag, and push the drawer back in. Also, since the drawer is so deep, there's room to store extra bags/litter/etc. in the drawer. Oh, and it's carpeted (we had leftover carpet from the scratching post he made).

We did, of course, have to cut a hole in the original waste drawer (and by we, I mean my husband!) AND in the bottom of the robot itself (so the waste can totally pass through). We had originally thought to just take the drawer out entirely (so we wouldn't have to cut it), but if you lose the drawer, you lose the switch that triggers the robot!

We did test it first (before all the cutting) to make sure the cats would hop up and use it...which they did with no problem. Of course, they have already explored the entire drawer and the newly heightened robot.

So, without further ado, here are the pictures.
http://www.hudson2001.com/tom/projects/litterrobot/

If anyone has any questions, feel free to post them and I'll get my husband to answer them.

Wow, great job, and thanks for the pix! I wondered if the LR is now totally stable, as it seems the rocking motion bothers my cats on the unmodified version. Despite having such a large drawer, how do you keep it from having everything pile up in one place? Thanks again, the handiwork was excellent, as were the pictures.

Our LR is as stable as it ever was. It went from the carpeted floor to a carpeted wood box.

It still piles up basically in one place... but it isn't falling into a 4" deep drawer and piling up. It is falling through the LR about 12" into a box...so even if it does pile up, it would need to pile up 12" to reach the LR. Of course, it could still pile up in the inside rubbermaid box, but there is still about 2" or 3" of clearance to pull the drawer out, so it would REALLY have to pile up. This isn't a week-long solution...just something so if we don't get to it every day, we don't have to worry about gunking up the robot when pulling out the drawer.

Does that help?

Yea! Three days so far and we're nowhere NEAR having to empty it! I LOVE IT!

That is totally cool! You and your husband deserve the Golden Scooper, which is much like the Oscar but more appropriate for the subject! Congrats!

abbeytoo

Sheer brilliance! The pictures are great too - very helpful indeed. It occurs to me that there are various nappy-related items (e.g. Sangenic) that could be used instead of the bowl, so a quick twist each day and everything is sealed.

jen wrote:We love the litter robot. We just wished it had a bigger (deeper) waste container. If we forget to empty it after just a day, or if we forget to "shake" it forward to make more room, we get a nasty gunky surprise when we pull out the waste drawer.

Enter my husband, who loves any project that gets him in the woodshop. (He's also the one who empties the drawer most of the time!) Together, we decided that we needed a bigger waste bin.

In my mind, I had pictured a tiny drawer--just tall enough so the poop would fall forward (and not stack) and just wide enough for the robot to sit on, plus a little stoop that the kids could jump on before stepping on the trigger step. Well, I must not have good spatial ability, because I told this to my husband...and the box he built is HUGE! But, it's the exact size it needs to be. (Or maybe I just think the robot is smaller than it actually is.) It now sticks out of the closet so we can't shut the door. (Not like we would have shut the cats out of the litterbox, but it's just the fact that size-wise we could still shut the door.)

Basically, it's a huge wooden drawer (maybe 2' wide x 3' deep). The LR sits at the back end, so there will be about an 8" ledge for them to hop on before hopping into the LR. It's about a foot high. The drawer will house a rubbermaid-type container that will fit a large kitchen garbage bag (just hanging over the sides like a regular kitchen garbage; no clips to hold it in place). There is no slanted board (as I had initially imagined)...so basically, it's just another 12" for the poop to fall and collect, rather than the 4" of the originial drawer. So, when it's time to empty, we pull out the large wood drawer (which includes the rubbermaid container), pull out the bag, rebag, and push the drawer back in. Also, since the drawer is so deep, there's room to store extra bags/litter/etc. in the drawer. Oh, and it's carpeted (we had leftover carpet from the scratching post he made).

We did, of course, have to cut a hole in the original waste drawer (and by we, I mean my husband!) AND in the bottom of the robot itself (so the waste can totally pass through). We had originally thought to just take the drawer out entirely (so we wouldn't have to cut it), but if you lose the drawer, you lose the switch that triggers the robot!

We did test it first (before all the cutting) to make sure the cats would hop up and use it...which they did with no problem. Of course, they have already explored the entire drawer and the newly heightened robot.

So, without further ado, here are the pictures.
http://www.hudson2001.com/tom/projects/litterrobot/

If anyone has any questions, feel free to post them and I'll get my husband to answer them.

could see the pics...looks like someone has hacked into your website

Hi,

I tried viewing the pictures but couldn't get into your website. I am very interested in your modification as I've written about the exact problem with emptying the waste tray without shaking it first.

I'll try to view your site later.

hhg2

Hi,

Although the process looks fairly straightforward, I am not very handy. Would it be possible to get the exact dimensions of your new setup?

Thanks!

hhg2

The site is back up now.... I'll have my husband write down the specs he used and post them later.

Jen,
I think it'd be a great idea for you to make this thread "sticky" -- I can see lots of future board visitor being interested.

Done!

jen wrote:We love the litter robot. We just wished it had a bigger (deeper) waste container. ...

Bravo! I did almost exactly the same thing to our machine last year, once it was out of warranty . However, I used a milk crate as the base, and a plastic planter (lined with a white kitchen trash bag) that happened to fit exactly underneath. I wire-tied a ramp made out of part of an old computer desk to the front of the unit so the cats could have an easy-on approach. I'd say that both of our mods have identical functionality, but obviously, yours is elegant. We must have great minds, but there's no doubt who is the better carpenter!

Lauren has just saved our lives here by telling me to spray WD40 on the circuit board connectors to solve the problem of oxidation that was making the globe move intermittently or not at all. This is such a great company!

Just wanted to apologize for not getting those measurements (etc.) up from my husband. He's leaving for Iraq for nine months on September 15 so there's been lots of other things to do. I do hope to have him get to it before he leaves, however.

Jen,

Godspeed to you, your husband, and your family!!

hhg2