Built My Rack!

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Originally Posted by .Matt

Good to see I'm not the only one who went out and built a rack when they saw the other thread!

Nice looking rack, exact same as mine! I'm just waiting on flexwatt

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Are you serious? me too. No cutting, no bull, 18 slot 32 qt rack, friggin great! since none of use installed flexwat yet let me know how that goes, because the three tubs fit perfectly (not much side to side room) let me know if the connector/insulator clips get in the way of the tubs sliding action.

Nice job on the rack. :gj:

I am interested in building this rack with the tax money I get in later this week and I'm curious about how much heat tape you are planning on using. I was going to order 11inch heat tape for this but I was not sure how much I would need. I'd love to hear an update on how much heat tape you end up needing to use and how stable the temps are. Thanks in advance.

HEATING UPDATE!
Ok ladies and gents, I just installed the Flex-watt and the Helix today. I played it cool and ordered only 8' of the 11" heat tape. This was a cheaper alternative and to be honest, I didn't know just how difficult it would be. I also ordered the clips, protectors and wire. The clips came clamped to the wires, so I just needed to attach em. Now, I'm an electronics nerd, so I was well prepared to solder anything, this was so easy I almost did it over just to have a challenege...

I foil taped the heat tape in 4' chunks and then plugged everything in...there was some overhang which is obvious given the lengths of the tape and the shelves. I didnt mind, I simply folded the tape up along the side on the clamp end and taped it there. no biggie, there is still plenty of room to slide the tubs in and out. This fold is also where i taped the probe, on top of some plastic to model a tub.

That's it really. If i can find out how to insert this memory card, I'll upload some pics...EDIT: these are more of the setup. If you want, I can get em of the installation, too.

http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/7671/13lt2.jpg
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/421/14df6.jpg
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/7387/15fu2.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Danegerous

HEATING UPDATE!
Ok ladies and gents, I just installed the Flex-watt and the Helix today. I played it cool and ordered only 8' of the 11" heat tape. This was a cheaper alternative and to be honest, I didn't know just how difficult it would be. I also ordered the clips, protectors and wire. The clips came clamped to the wires, so I just needed to attach em. Now, I'm an electronics nerd, so I was well prepared to solder anything, this was so easy I almost did it over just to have a challenege...

I foil taped the heat tape in 4' chunks and then plugged everything in...there was some overhang which is obvious given the lengths of the tape and the shelves. I didnt mind, I simply folded the tape up along the side on the clamp end and taped it there. no biggie, there is still plenty of room to slide the tubs in and out. This fold is also where i taped the probe, on top of some plastic to model a tub.

That's it really. If i can find out how to insert this memory card, I'll upload some pics...EDIT: these are more of the setup. If you want, I can get em of the installation, too.

http://img247.imageshack.us/img247/7671/13lt2.jpg
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/421/14df6.jpg
http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/7387/15fu2.jpg

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Lets see it:taz:

alright, let me get some pics and I'll post em.

On this rack, I'm just curious, do you think I could do the bottom two racks with 6qt hatchling tubs and the top with the 32 qt tubs? Also another question I had was I know some of the tubs I see sold from other companies have the dividers, where can I pick up some dividers for the 32 quart tubs for juvies, or would I need to build them myself, and if I do need to build them myself does anyone else know the specs I would need to build them to as to insure the snakes can't get from one side to the other? Thanks.

personally, if it were me, i'd simpldo some careful trimming with scissors on a piece of cardboard. take your time and make it fit like a glove. Then, when your done, grab some particle board or something else inexpensive and use a jigsaw to cut it to shape. Then, grab some little metal elbows or something from the harware aisle and simply screw it in the top of the board, it should act as a clip to hold the middle in place with the cent of the tub...it wouldnt be too terrible..

as for the smaller tubs, follow the exact same procedure, simply instead of using the 32qt tubs when creating the bottom levels, use the 6qt tubs. it will end up leaving you a little extra room on the top level, but thats no big deal as thats just extra storage anyway.

On this rack the 32 qt #1756 and the 15 qt #1754 are the same height. you can use 4 15 qt tubs to cover one row.

I think my next rack is going to be a 15 qt #1754 24 tub rack using 3 inch flexwatt. It will be 4 tubs across and 6 high.

I was thinking of copying this rack but instead of making it 4' high, I would make it 6' high. Since the melamine comes in 8'X4' pieces, I could have the first sheet cut into 2 pieces that are 2'X6' and 1 piece that is 2'X4'. Then 2 more sheets cut into 8 more of the 2'X4' pieces. That gives me the 2 6' tall sides and 9 4' wide shelves. I could probably do a few rows of 74qt tubs on the bottom, then maybe 4 rows of 32qt tubs in the middle and a couple rows of 6qt tubs on top. I might even have room for one more shelf actually. Depends on how high I make the sides of my storage area on top I guess... Will this idea work? Any advice?