New Rat Rack

We took about 3 days to build this thing. I am really excited about this new rack. Let me know what you guys think!
Construction
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/pict0033.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/pict0034.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/pict0035.jpg

The Rack
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/pict0040.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/pict0038.jpg

Finished Product
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/pict0050.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/pict0051.jpg
http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...p/pict0052.jpg

If they breed rats on the Death Star, they would have used this rack. Seriously cool...and evil looking, hehe! :gj:

whoa!!! that's one bad ass rack! thats the best rack ive seen so far! it looks even better than the freedom breeders!:O:O:O

Nice rack :D, all that's missing is a good DIY write up!

Jesus!

That thing is bullet proof! Well, if they drop the big one... and just about everyone and everything dead... and you survive and are forced to live on rats... your rack will still be there, and you will be good to go!

Love it!

I am in the process of drawing the plans up for the "snake racks" .

Thanks everyone for your kind words! :gj:

Daniel,
The rack looks great, but I have one question. How do you get the tubs out with the sipper valve sticking down in the back? I have never seen a sipper in the back. It is usually in the front, and the rails stop short in the front, so that the tub can drop down prior to coming into contact with the sipper. I was just curious how you got around this problem, or if you had not tried to pull a tub out since you put the sippers in.

p.s. I do love your idea for a water reservoir. It is very innovative. Great job, and you got SKILLZ!

Awesome rack!

nice job on the rack.a few Q's :

will you have to disconnect the water nipples to pull out the tub for cleaning?

what size PVC pipe is that,what's the capicity in gallons?

why did you run a line for each tub?


again awesome rack,i'm sure it cost a fraction of what a similar set up would cost,freedom breeder etc.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by twh

what size PVC pipe is that, what's the capicity in gallons?

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Obviously I'm not Daniel, but comparing the pipe diameter to the tub depth, I would guess he's using 6 inch pipe. If so, the capacity would 1.47 gallons per foot. Since pipe is usually slightly oversize, the actual capacity would be a little more than that.

Any chance you could get a pic of the front view so I can visualize how you did the sliders?
Two pieces of angle back to back? I've been plaing with the idea of welding a good rack together instead of my wood one!

Looks great! How much does it weigh?

that freaking cool
where u get the xpaned metal:bow:

are those cement mixing tubs?, thats what i use on my rack

Quote:

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Originally Posted by muddoc

Daniel,
The rack looks great, but I have one question. How do you get the tubs out with the sipper valve sticking down in the back? I have never seen a sipper in the back. It is usually in the front, and the rails stop short in the front, so that the tub can drop down prior to coming into contact with the sipper. I was just curious how you got around this problem, or if you had not tried to pull a tub out since you put the sippers in.

p.s. I do love your idea for a water reservoir. It is very innovative. Great job, and you got SKILLZ!

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Ok I see what you mean. We just pull all the nozzles out from the back on cleaning day clean the tubs and put them all back in. It takes about 30 sec. I understand your point.



On a side note the next rack will be built lighter with some different metal and measurements to maybe set up for shipping purposes. This being the first one and for my personal use we did things a little different.

Thanks for the awesome feed back!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by twh

nice job on the rack.a few Q's :

will you have to disconnect the water nipples to pull out the tub for cleaning?

what size PVC pipe is that,what's the capicity in gallons?

why did you run a line for each tub?


again awesome rack,i'm sure it cost a fraction of what a similar set up would cost,freedom breeder etc.

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I will not DISCONNECT them I just simply remove them. The holes they sit in are perfectly drilled for that nozzle. The nozzle has a groove in it. There is about 1/64 in. gap between the nozzle and the actual hole.

The PVC pipe is a 6 in pipe. For the length that we have made it out for it holds 12.5 gallons of water which is what we wanted. We have roughly about 85 lbs. of water pressure with a full tank.

We made the individual lines and we used clear tubing as well so we could see if we had any blockage. Also if we had a problem with one tub not getting water we could trace the problem down with individual lines without running through every fitting in the rack if the rack was "T" off at every tub. This rack has 20 tubs so it was much more convienent for me and my personal use to do it this way.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by AdamJB

Any chance you could get a pic of the front view so I can visualize how you did the sliders?
Two pieces of angle back to back? I've been plaing with the idea of welding a good rack together instead of my wood one!

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We used 3/4 in. Angle iron for our runners that is correct. But if you build it with a different tub than we use you will probably need something smaller.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Pork Chops N' Corn Bread

Looks great! How much does it weigh?

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It's very heavy. Roughly 250 lbs. It's on wheels. The next one we build we have already figured how to drop a bunch of weight.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by ozzypython

that freaking cool
where u get the xpaned metal:bow:

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I got it from a local source.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by atp151415

are those cement mixing tubs?, thats what i use on my rack

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Yes they are the cement mixing tubs. We love those things after using the caT litter pans for a couple years. These tubs are the greatest for breeding or brooding. Awesome. That was the biggest part about this rack it wouldn't have those small freedom breeder tubs that crack :colbert:. Also if we started to market these racks someone could get there own tubs at home depot. Much more convienent and cost effective.



Thanks everyone for the wonderful feedback!

I think its great! the only thing I would suggest that others have said as well is to move the watering system to the front of the rack and put some bars on it to separate the food area on top of the levels from the general vented area.

Sweet rack!

Justin

very nice rack

Real nice rat rack Daniel.:gj::gj:

Damn, I cant believe I missed this. What an amazing rack! I love the metal idea (i hate wood).

Very professional, VERY!

So How much would you say that this thing cost you to build in materials?
3/4 x 3/4
3/4 angle
1/2 expand metal

Thanks Richard

I just found this old post about welding up a rat rack, man that really gets me thinking about doing the same thing. I just ordered an ARS-5032, only five levels because it's all I could afford, but I'm thinking I could easily make another level or two using the same design and stacking on top. Maybe I could even weld up a grow out rack using ARS 70 series tubs. I could probably weld up a level in a weekend! Not quite sure where to get the materials though, I used to do a lot of welding and got most of my metal from a junk yard. Anyone know a good source for expanded metal and square tubing?