Building my first rack

I've been wanting to get a rack unit for a while and shopped around to pretty much finding racks that were not within my budget. I work at Lowe's, so when I got out of work last night I came up with a real basic design to hold 6 tubs and allow for belly heat in the back. My small rack will measure 31 1/4 tall, 33 3/4 wide and 23 inches deep and pretty much resemble a classic book shelf style.

I am using 15/32 plywood & 2x4 for framing it out. I think it may be some what heavy trying to move it around when I do eventually move, but not too bad. All the wood will be sealed with a water-based primer, then painted with Olypmpic white paint, which is zero VOC when you do not add any pigmentation.

For heating I plan on using Repti-Cable with HVAC tape. I have never used Repti-cable for anything, but the price is right and I am not really into trying to mess around with flexwatt.

The cable will be connected to a ReptiTemp 500R thermostat.

I will not place any animals into this rack until I get the results they require. So I will probably adjust temps and constantly measure the humidity levels on all the tubs, Just to be safe.

I will post a few pictures later and thank you for reading

Sounds good! But honestly I would ditch the 500r and heat cable and replace it with flexwatt and a ranco/johnsons/helix/herpstat thermostat. Just my personal opinion though..

If you're worried about the flexwatt, Reptile Basics hooks it up for you for free. He's an awesome guy! :)

I just about finished and ended up with 8 spaces for tubs rather than 6. I am now leaning towards flexwatt and am wondering if you could explain how it works.

How do I know which length I should purchase for each tub?

I am not an expert by any means but I am building myself a 10 slot rack with belly heat and this is what I plan on doing...

The shelves will be roughly 30" x 17". I will be using 4" flexwatt. 5 Shelves will be for 2x 15 qt tubs and on those shelves there will be one strip of 24"x4" of flexwatt. Therefore for each shelf I need to order 2 ft of flexwatt.

So you order your flexwatt, and if you're doing it on your own, you can follow the directions via the link below to learn how to wire it:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...148383#1148383

If you're going to order from Reptile Basics, just order what you need and tell Rich what you need done. (for example, I would need 5x 24x4" strips wired.)

Hope this made sense and feel free to correct me if I am wrong about anything. This would also be my first rack build.

Are you against the idea of using a 500r or do you not think this is suitable? I used it on two glass tank UTH now and it has been working great for the past two years.

Does each flexwatt have to have it's own power cord? That seams like a lot to be plugging into one strip. I did see the Johnsons controls thermostat on RB. What do you think of that model?

I have the 500r and am currently using it. It just isn't up to the job an 8 slot rack holds IMO.... I honestly wouldn't trust it with a rack such as that. (This is why I am switching to a Herpstat for my rack.)

If you cut the flexwatt, then yes each cut piece needs to have it's own cord. You can get say 10 ft of flexwatt.. Wire that whole 10 ft and just weave the flexwatt from one shelf to another, or hook it up as back heat. I prefer each shelf having it's own individual cords just for added security... I can unplug any shelves I may not be using or put a dimmer if I happen to get another animal that needs lower heat for example.

Heard good things about the johnsons controls, it would be a good choice. Johnsons and Rancos are on/off thermostats while Helix and Herpstats are more like controlled dimmers.

Okay I am starting to understand

So instead of having a piece of flexwatt for each tub, you just run it along the entire bottom of each shelf. So myself having 4 shelves, I should measure & purchase only 4 lengths wired and plug them into the Johnson Controls stat?

Thanks for your advice

Yep. Hook those 4 plugs into a power bar then plug the power bar into the thermostat.

Will this do the trick? No other purchases necessary?

http://www.reptilebasics.com/johnson...pre-wired.html

Besides the flexwatt and connectors.. Don't think so. :gj:

Bad quality... I apologize

http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/1...1500184000.jpg

Looking good. :)

Thanks, it's getting there!

Gotta order heat, and fill in the gap on the bottoms of the shelves with ply. I didn't take into account that I needed space to fit tub covers, so now they only fit without them! Which is good because it's a nice fit. Then prime/paint. It will be a few weeks until I get everything going.

Also, I checked out your iHerp page and created my own. I like how I am able to track the feeding, cleaning etc, it's kind of cool and will help me with expenses greatly. Not sure what else I can do with it, but very neat.

I've been getting the itch to attempt to build a rack myself. (I went and built a nice custom enclosure, but now wish I had a rack instead.)

I think that is probably a good thing that you can't fit the lids on -- I think most people do that intentionally.

I was wondering about heating the rack that I might build. I live in Minnesota, and during the winter we keep our thermostat at 68 degrees. I don't want to get a space heater or anything like that. Would just using belly heat keep the ambiants in a rack system where they need to be (for a BP).

I am using a herpstat II currently -- so I can control two heat sources. Has anyone used flexwatt for belly heat with a strip on the warm side, and a strip on the cool side, for a total of two pieces of flexwatt per shelf?

Thanks,

George