# General Husbandry and Supplies > DIY Forum >  DIY XPVC Rack - Complete with pics!

## Simple Man

In the beginning...



Stabilize your pieces!









Use the tubs and shelves to stabilize and determine your drill spots.













Ripley the Patterdale Terrier aka B's Little Helper.











Finished up the side support pieces.







Back support pieces.



Back support pieces finished, notice 4" gap on side pieces to leave room for 4" Flexwatt.





Front shot.



All completed!



After the build I moved it inside and applied Cyanoacrylate (Super Glue) to the joints taking advantage of capillary action! The Cyanoacrylate melts the plastic slights and forms a checmical weld. Once glued the rack can never come apart again BUT it makes the pieces of plastic all bonded together.

This rack holds one 32qt Clear View latching Sterilite or 2 x 15qt Clear View latching Sterilite per shelf. I designed it to use one sheet of 1/2" XPVC. The dimensions are as follows:

8 pieces of 24" x 17"

6 pieces of 48" x 4"

I used 96 x #8 1.25" Metal Screws and 6 small tubes of generic Cyanoacrylate (Super Glue).

Hope this helps everyone! I am considering building these in a DIY kit and fully assembled for a reasonable cost. I wanted to put this up regardless for people comfortable with DIY work. I'm all about helping out the community  :Very Happy:  I also have the parts to build a 50 x 6qt hatchling XPVC rack so keep watch for another DIY XPVC build coming soon!

Regards,

B

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## jarradw

Very nice, easy to follow as well. One day I will take the plunge and get to money together to build one like this.

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_Simple Man_ (04-23-2011)

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## Annarose15

Very nice! How much did materials end up costing you?

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_Simple Man_ (04-23-2011)

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## Jason Bowden

Thanks for sharing B!
How are you heating?  Should be fairly easy to add belly heat.

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_Simple Man_ (04-23-2011)

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## knox

Fantastic!  Thanks for making the effort to take pics and share them with us envious people...

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_Simple Man_ (04-23-2011)

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## PghBall

Nice setup, Easy to follow.  What did it cost you for the supplies?

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_Simple Man_ (04-23-2011)

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## PitOnTheProwl

Real nice :Good Job:  :Good Job:  :Good Job: 
As questioned, what did it cost you and also did you pre-drill the screw holes?

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_Simple Man_ (04-23-2011)

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## Simple Man

Thanks for all the kind word!

I predrilled all the holes. The XPVC was super easy to work with.

I am into the rack $85 for the 1/2" sheet of XPVC, $6 for a box of 100 screws, $5 for three two packs of generic super glue, $40 for 20 feet of 4" Flexwatt (I have extra but wanted it that way), and $80 on the tub configuration I have. The grand total is $216!

Regards,

B

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_AlexisFitzy_ (02-15-2014),_Annarose15_ (04-22-2011),_zach_24_90_ (06-21-2011)

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## PghBall

$216 is a great price considering how many shelves it has.  Not to mention your not paying shipping on it either.  Thanks.   :Good Job:

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_Simple Man_ (04-23-2011)

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## HighVoltageRoyals

Very nice looking rack and it looks like it's easy enough to assemble! I hope to build one of these in the future. Thanks for such a picture heavy post too. I'm a visual learner.  :Razz:

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_Simple Man_ (04-23-2011)

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## Chewy

> Simple Man, where did you find the 15 and 32 quart tubs for the rack on the 1st page?  I found them on the Sterilite website, but I find it odd that you can't order directly from them??
> 
> Also, you say in the first post that the shelves are 24 x 17 but your cut reference sheet says 24 x 18.  Was that just a typo?


I got mine from Target!

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## Riv

Fantastic thread

-Riveran

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## BP Newbie

Too cool, someone should sticky this.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

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## Simple Man

> Simple Man, where did you find the 15 and 32 quart tubs for the rack on the 1st page?  I found them on the Sterilite website, but I find it odd that you can't order directly from them??
> 
> Also, you say in the first post that the shelves are 24 x 17 but your cut reference sheet says 24 x 18.  Was that just a typo?


Target!

That was how I initially did it but ended up using 18" for the cut sheet. By the time the blade took away a little bit they are slightly under 18".

Regards,

B

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icejd7 (09-30-2012)

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## icejd7

I was wondering simple man how stable the bottom of the rack is being supported only on the leg supports and not a large flat piece.  I know you said the super glue secures everything, just curious.  Great post, thanks many will benefit from this...  :Good Job:

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## Kylegep

I found a few places that have XPVC in my area and I was wondering if you think quarter inch thickness will be too thin? It is significantly cheaper than the .5"

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## TheMick

Awesome! Did you cut the PVC yourself or order it cut? And if you cut it, what did you use. I'm very interested in making one of these if I can find a supplier. Thanks!

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## TheMick

Ignore my last post. After reading through the 13 pages I found my answer. I do have another question. What is the difference between xpvc and regular PVC boards? I can special order 4x8 boards of 1/2" thick PVC at menards to build a new rack as I can't find any local suppliers of xpvc. Any input is appreciated.

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## jafar72789

How did u set up the heat tape do u have a pic of that???

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## Tsanford

So I built the rack following the guide and found that on half of the tubs, they are tight. Next one I build I'll be using a piece of cardboard as an extra spacer.

Any suggestions on this?

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PitOnTheProwl (02-19-2015)

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