How do you build a rack?!?!

I made an attempt to build one like last month. I ended up with a really messed up looking piece of melamine.

Anyways, I suck a building stuff, but I am determined to try again. So, how do you get the wood to stay even? And how do you drill in the nails the bottom part? How do you do this alone? Why does the wood keep breaking when I drill?

I know there are so many threads on this, but most assume you have at least some capability or know what a drill is :P

Thanks in advance for any advice. :)

Ok... When drilling into melamine you want to drill holes before you insert screws. It sounds like you attempted to just drill the screws themselves through the melamine.

To keep the whole thing centered and spaced correctly most people just turn the whole thing upside down and build it upside down. If you put the top shelf on the bottom then upside down tub then cardboard then the next shelf and repeat. The sheets of cardboard will insure that you have a proper amount of space between the shelves to allow the tub to slide freely in and out. Drill the holes and screw the screws in as you stack

You can see in this thread that I made how we made everything square. We made up "spacers" that we used to hold up every shelf. This way every shelf was spaced exactly the same.

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...m-Breeder-Tubs

Here's our racks. Homemade :) under $100 each.

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/12/23/berypu6e.jpg

http://img.tapatalk.com/d/12/12/23/equgury8.jpg

I'm going to be making a quick step by step on it soon. It's rather easy.

Mrl, Nice racks but I prefer the professional look of a solid rack. Im kinda picky and OCD about it. Im actually going to be selling some old racks just because they dont match our new ones. lol

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Originally Posted by Rat160

Mrl, Nice racks but I prefer the professional look of a solid rack. Im kinda picky and OCD about it. Im actually going to be selling some old racks just because they dont match our new ones. lol

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I like the closed look as well!

http://i60.photobucket.com/albums/h1...-53-48_291.jpg

There are a lot of "how tos" in the DIY here.
A good drill/screw gun, tape measure and table saw are MUST tools as far as I am concerned.

yeah my partner invested a lot of money on his table saw. Movable fences and squaring jigs so now when we cut the melamine, we know its straight and we know its the proper measurement. Just remember: measure twice cut once. lol

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Originally Posted by kevinb

I like the closed look as well!

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I completely agree with you all. If money allowed it at the time, I would have built closed. I do like open for ventilation though.

Here is how we built our baby rack :) - same apply to a bigger racks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1OaZswQ6p0g

Hope that helps :)

I'll give you the secret to building racks by yourself and keeping them square.

Clamps - various sizes. The only other tool you need is a drill. Have the wood cut at the store.

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Originally Posted by JohnNJ

I'll give you the secret to building racks by yourself and keeping them square.

Clamps - various sizes. The only other tool you need is a drill. Have the wood cut at the store.

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stores here dont do very good cuts, if they will even cut melamine at all. (most wont).

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Originally Posted by Rat160

stores here dont do very good cuts, if they will even cut melamine at all. (most wont).

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You just need to find the right person. I get exceptional service and super accurate cuts at Home Depot and Lowes. I also heard that they charge for the cuts but I have never been charged. I had one guy make 60 cuts for me which took quite some time. I only paid for the wood.

If you walk in with a cut sheet and are very specific as to what you need they will cut the wood. I also get the same service at lumber yards.

Now I cannot speak for your area, only mine. NJ has more "rear end type" people per square mile than most other states and they cut the wood for me here. I would imagine you should be able to find someone to help you in your state. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by JohnNJ

You just need to find the right person. I get exceptional service and super accurate cuts at Home Depot and Lowes. I also heard that they charge for the cuts but I have never been charged. I had one guy make 60 cuts for me which took quite some time. I only paid for the wood.

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You are very lucky!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JohnNJ

You just need to find the right person. I get exceptional service and super accurate cuts at Home Depot and Lowes. I also heard that they charge for the cuts but I have never been charged. I had one guy make 60 cuts for me which took quite some time. I only paid for the wood.

If you walk in with a cut sheet and are very specific as to what you need they will cut the wood. I also get the same service at lumber yards.

Now I cannot speak for your area, only mine. NJ has more "rear end type" people per square mile than most other states and they cut the wood for me here. I would imagine you should be able to find someone to help you in your state. :rolleyes:

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Home depot and lowes here told me that they wont cut the melamine anymore because they were burning through too many blades. Its a new policy they said. I found one place to cut it but only rough cuts. I like it that way anyway because I like to make my own final cuts..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Rat160

Home depot and lowes here told me that they wont cut the melamine anymore because they were burning through too many blades. Its a new policy they said. I found one place to cut it but only rough cuts. I like it that way anyway because I like to make my own final cuts..

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That must be a local policy because I just had two sheets cut yesterday.

BTW, my advice was for the OP who was having trouble with a drill. My advice again is:

1) Find a place to make the cuts for you.
2) Use clamps to hold the wood steady and square.
3) Don't drill too fast, too deep and keep it straight - and use the right size bit.

By the time you finish your second rack you'll be a pro.

Wow, thank you all for such wonderful information. And so kindly given!

Anyways, I did get my wood cut at home depot, and it seemed uneven? But then again it could quite possibly be me.

This is what I tried doing (try not to laugh to hard):

1. I tried to lay the wood edges together to make a rectangle (like the rack without the shelves) so I could drill them in. Everything was lying horizontal and kept drifting off or falling. I finally managed to get it steady and found that predrilling worked better. But I sometimes made holes by missing it. And then it would get unsteady and just not line up properly no matter how hard I tried. I also tried lining it up like a rack then screwing it in, but I could keep it together. It kept falling.

2. I could not drill in the bottom edge because it was too close to the floor and my drill wouldn't fit. So I tried turning it over. The thing came apart because of the weight on one panel. So I redrilled it.

3. After redrilling and some more panels, I ended up with a piece of wormanship that looked very off center with big gaps on the top and bottom of the horziontal box. I decided not even to try to put shelves in.

I did attempt, believe it or not, to follow directions from the site, but the terminology is to hard for me, such as the words "drill" and "screws" (i'm joking a little here) ;)

Overall, I decided to show up here and just ask for some advice. Because you guys are amazing builders :)