So you think you can build a rack like Pwilliams58?

[Peter Williams]

As requested by many, here is a step by step guide to how I build my adult racks.

Materials needed:

• Two (2) 5/8” 4x8 sheets of white melamine
• Eleven (11) Sterilite 28qt storage tubs
• One (1) 10’ ½” conduit pipe
• One (1) bag of ¾” conduit pipe brackets
• One (1) box of 100 8x2 particle board screws
• Six (6) feet of 17” flexwatt heat tape (20 watts per foot)
• One (1) box of 1 ¼” ringed underlay flooring nails
• One (1) roll of electrical tape
• One (1) roll of clear packing tape
• One (1) extension cord
• One (1) roll of solder
• One (1) Proportional thermostat

Tools needed:

• Soldering iron
• Sharpie permanent marker
• Iron
• Veneer trimmer
• Chalk line
• Two power drills
• Drill & screw bit set
• Six CDs (spacers)
• Pipe cutter
• Pencil

Tubs:

Step 1: Buy eleven 28qt sterilite tubs. Make sure you buy them all at once, because you never know when your supplier will stop carrying them, or the design will change. I personally own three different generations of this tub, sterilite changes little things about them often. I found these at Wal-Mart.



Step 2: Peel off the labels. My biggest pet peeve is seeing these left on, I think it degrades the final look of your rack. I like to save one label for a reference when buying more of the same tubs for another rack.


Step 3: Melt your ventilation holes. I use a cardboard template cut out of a cereal box, I’ve had this one since the beginning, and I’ve used it on every one of my racks. I punched holes in it with a hole punch ½” apart. As you can see I have some slots cut into it to fit around certain plastic notches on the tubs. I use a sharpie, and put a tiny dot on the plastic, in every other hole of the template, so the dots are 1” apart.




Step 4: Once you do all the dots on all the tubs, its time to start melting. I use a ratty old soldering iron, because doing this could potentially ruin the tip. Once you’re done it should look like this. As you can see I have left a small spot in the middle at the front and back of the tub with no holes. This is so I can look in the tub and see the animal better.





Now you’re ready to go get your melamine!

Melamine:

[I]Step 1: I get all my cuts done at Home Depot. This particular rack requires two 4x8 sheets of 5/8” white melamine. I don’t know about elsewhere, but in my area, a 4x8 sheet, isn’t really 4x8. It is 4’1”x8’1” (49”x97”). So, get your two sheets, and get them to cut them to the following specs (this gets complicated so read carefully):

First Sheet:
1. Cut 2’ 7/8” off one side. Keep in mind that the saw blade is 1/8” wide. This will leave you with a piece exactly 6’x4’1”. The 2’ 7/8” piece is scrap, but save it, because you can make the shelves out of it for another rack, but it is not needed for the rest of this rack.
2. Cut a ¾” strip off the top of this piece. This strip will later act as your back stop for the tubs. This will leave you with a piece exactly 6’x4’ 1/8”.
3. Cut straight down the middle lengthwise to give you two pieces, both exactly 6’x2’. These two pieces will be your upright side panels.

Second Sheet:
1. Cut a ¾” strip off the top of this piece. This strip is scrap. It is only to get rid of the extra 1” on the sheet that most people don’t know about. This will leave you with a piece that is exactly 4’ 1/8”x8’ 1”.
2. Cut down the middle lengthwise. This will leave you with two pieces, both exactly 2’x8’1”.
3. Stack these two pieces on top of each other, the saw should be capable of cutting through both simultaneously. Cut these 2 pieces into pieces exactly 16” wide. You should end up being able to cut into 16” six times. Because you doubled up on the sheets, this means you now have twelve pieces, all exactly 2’x16”.

If that confuses the hell out of you, which I’m sure it did because it confused me, just know this, by the end of all these cutting shenanigans, you need to have exactly:

• Two (2) pieces that are exactly 2’x6’
• Twelve (12) pieces that are exactly 2’x16”
• One (1) thin strip exactly 6’

Step 2: Now you need to iron on your veneer strip. Another pet peeve of mine, if you’re going to take the time to make the rack, just take that little extra time to make it look good, and put on the strip. Make sure it’s white, just like your melamine, and make sure it’s slightly wider than your pieces, so you can trim it. I found this huge roll at home depot. For the stand up panels, I iron the strip on one side and one end. This is all that is needed, because you won’t see the bottom of the rack, or the back.





Step 3: Once all your strips are ironed on, trim off all the excess. Make sure you buy the special tool for this, don’t hack it up with an exacto knife. You should find the tool near where you find the veneer strip.




Step 4: Take each of your side panels, and mark three vertical lines with your chalk line. Mark two 3” from each side, and one straight down the middle. You only need to do this on one side of each panel, make sure it’s the side you want to be the outside of the rack.




Step 5: This is hands down the hardest step out of the whole construction. I’ve found it is impossible to do this without an extra pair of hands and eyes. You need to lay the pieces down on the ground, and screw in your top shelf. It is critical that this shelf be level. Otherwise your entire rack will be screwed up. I use two drills to screw in the shelves, one with the drill bit, and one with the screw bit. If you only have one drill, you’ll end up going insane switching the bits back and forth. You must drill a pilot hole otherwise your shelf will split. Refer to the label on your box of screws for the correct pilot hole. To drill the pilot hole directly into the middle of the shelf, I put down another chalk line, this time horizontally. I eyeball the middle of the shelf and snap the line. Drill right where the two chalk lines cross.





Step 6: Once your first shelf is screwed in, very carefully stand the rack up on end. I use six CDs as spacers. Lay down your CD’s put a tub on top of them, and then put another shelf on top of your tub. Mark another chalk line and screw in that shelf.





Now repeat until you run out of shelves! Once you’re done, you should have something that looks like this:




Conduit Pipe:

Step 1: Buy a 10’, ½” conduit pipe. If you can find them smaller that’s even better, you only need 6’.

Step 2: Mark a line at 6’ from one end of the pipe



Step 3: Break out your pipe cutter and cut it at your mark.



Step 4: Buy a bag of ¾” pipe brackets. You want ¾” so it’s not a tight fit, and you have some room to move the pipe.

Step 5: Screw the brackets in the center of the top and bottom shelves.




Step 6: Put your pipe in the top bracket first, and then put it in the bottom bracket.



This pipe acts as a stopper for any really strong snakes that might push out. It is not completely necessary. However I have two large dogs and it gives me peace of mind when they’re around the racks. And yes, the idea came straight from Ralph Davis’ youtube videos.

Heating:

For this rack, I’ve chosen to go with back heat for cost effectiveness and ease of installation.

Step 1: Take an approximately 6’ long piece of 17” flexwatt and wire it.



Step 2: Tape the end of your flexwatt that doesn’t have the cord attached to it, to the top of your rack. Pull it taught at the bottom and tape it there too, this is to hold it in place while your nail it on.



Step 3: Take your flooring nails, and nail one through the clear plastic of the flexwatt on each side of the flexwatt, on each shelf. The nails are thin enough that no pilot hole is needed. The reason I chose these nails is because of the rings on them, it is nearly impossible for the flexwatt to come loose. Make sure you get your thermostat probe in there and taped down tight before you nail everything down for good. Try to put your probe as close to the middle of the rack as possible. (I do not show probe placement here, because this rack will be plugged into a helix already controlling a rack with an identical heat configuration).



Step 4: Run a strip of clear packing tape all the way down the back edges so it completely seals in the back. This is in case for some crazy reason, if a snake ever did get out, it wouldn’t be able to squeeze out the back and get behind your racks. The tape is a little bit unsightly, however, I do it because this rack will be between 2 other racks, and the back won’t be visible at all.

Step 5: Take the 6’ long strip you had left over from your cutting, and line it up in the middle.



Step 6: The 20 watts per foot flexwatt that I used, has small gaps every couple of inches. It should line up with about 5 of the shelves; this is plenty to stop your tubs when you push them back. Screw it into every shelve that’s lined up with one of the gaps. Don’t forget your pilot holes.



Step 7: Tape your extension cord out of the way for easy carrying.



Step 8: Put your rack in place, and mount your thermostat.



Now fill those tubs! To build this rack should run you a little more than $200, not including the thermostat, or tools. Thank you for reading this and I hope this was some help to those of you confused about building a rack.

[Mr. Constrictor]

Great thread. I do have a question. How is it at holding in the heat with the back wide open?

[Peter Williams]

Great thread. I do have a question. How is it at holding in the heat with the back wide open?

Well, the back may be open, but its almost right up against the wall with all my other racks giving off heat right beside it. I keep the helix at 100, to achieve a balmy 92-94 inside the tubs.

[Bruce Whitehead]

Is the cool end a room temp? Or does the hot end make that happen...?

Great thread.

Gonna get me a few of those.

[tmartin2347]

WHAAAAAAAAAAT!


you rock!

everytime I think about making a rack I always end up just buying one. nice racks you got there, how much to send me one?

[AaronP]

Very nice setup. What's teh biggest snake you keep in those racks? 28Qt is a tad too small for say a 2000G girl.

[seeya205]

I would just add foam insulation board on the back to cut operating costs!

[Alice]

Hey Peter. Awesome rack! Do you have the cut measurements for the hatchling racks in the left of your pic? I would really appreciate you posting that info.

[SilverBlaze]

I know this is an older post and everything but I had a question. I was wondering that instead of having Melamine sides if I could use like boards kinda like what was done here with the baby rack. http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...6qt.-Baby-Rack
It would be a lot larger of course. Would it even be worth it to cut all the extra boards needed or should I just stick with Melamine?

[King's Royal Pythons]

Just out of curiosity, why does everyone build the racks for tubs with no lids? I use 32 qt tubs with locking lids, and just made the space between the shelves 7" apart, that way IF they stop making the particular tub that I am using, there are plenty more that are out there that fit into the 7" slot, plus, I can use smaller tubs of different heights in the same rack for babies. The locking lids also do not allow condensation to collect directly on the melamine, which will eventually degrade it.