Rack materials

[PitOnTheProwl]

Melamine is heavy and is why you should know what your doing when building one. You are not gonna find a lighter rack of equal quality any cheaper then what it costs to built one with melamine. Go price a 6 ft high 10 tub adult rack. I can build one with heat and tubs for just shy of 300 bucks. Good luck beating that price with a lighter equal quality rack. Oh and if ya do please email me cause ill buy 20 of them.and replace.my heavy racks and give you a finders fee lol

Dont make a promise you cant keep





Right at $50 or $60 with back heat
For me to build and sell, I could do $100 to $150 each and clean them up enough to match the furniture in your house (So how many you want??)
Its hard to tell in the pic but it does hold 24 6.5 qt tubs and a couple S&Ws too.
David saw this one in person

[snake lab]

They are nice but looks like to much bare wood for moisture to ruin.

[Lucas339]

1/4 should work.................. its a hatchling rack he is wanting to build

doesn't matter. i work with this stuff quite a bit. the 1/4" won't hold up to much weight unless you brace each shelf like boaphile does. that alone drives cost up when you can have better strenght with the 1/2" PVC and not have to brace it. the only thing i use 1/4" for is false walls in incubators which requires no weight to be put on it.

ABS or HDEP you can use 1/4" but it costs alot more and is a little tricky to work with. Cutting ABS is not that fun. Tends to chip and sling the chips across the shop.

i agree with the above. alot of bare wood in that one.

[Lucas339]

BTW animal plastics sells the same rack you made out of wood in plastic for $125 with heat.

[kitedemon]

doesn't matter. i work with this stuff quite a bit. the 1/4" won't hold up to much weight unless you brace each shelf like boaphile does. that alone drives cost up when you can have better strenght with the 1/2" PVC and not have to brace it. the only thing i use 1/4" for is false walls in incubators which requires no weight to be put on it.

ABS or HDEP you can use 1/4" but it costs alot more and is a little tricky to work with. Cutting ABS is not that fun. Tends to chip and sling the chips across the shop.

i agree with the above. alot of bare wood in that one.

I have an old rack that is ten maybe 12 years old that is 1/4 PVCx it isn't sagging I don't know whom build it but it is completely fine. Almost all the custom enclosures around are 1/4 too with little or no bracing.

[kitedemon]

wait my mistake it is 8mm thick just over 1/4 about 5/16 or so.

[Lucas339]

what does it look like and are you sure its PVC and not HDEP? where did you get it? does it have braces inbetween the tubs?

5/16 is ok but 1/2 is better. there is no way i would make stacking cages in 5/16 or smaller, especially the four footers i make. smaller material can lead to slight sagging in cages and makes the doors hard to slide open if they use sliding doors. smaller cages.....yeah thats a little different.

boaphile uses 5/16" HDEP for their baby racks and it works well. but it is a lot stronger than XPVC. Dragons for you uses 1/4" ABS but triple layers the shelves.

[PitOnTheProwl]

They are nice but looks like to much bare wood for moisture to ruin.

Didnt want it finished, doesnt get wet either.
I keep lids on all my tubs

[PitOnTheProwl]

BTW animal plastics sells the same rack you made out of wood in plastic for $125 with heat.

Yes, BUT will they build it the way you want it?
I just did 12 tall because its what my brain was stuck on at the time.
Next one will be 5 wide and 5 tall to fit on top of my 28q racks

[kitedemon]

I am fairly certain it is pvcx I have two one older than the other and 8mm one newer that is closer to 11mm (3/8) I don't know where it was made I bought it from the breeder I usually get my animals from when he shut down. He had it for ages and he also bought it used. There is no label but it is well designed and has tracks for cable that run along each shelf and up the sides too. It really looks like all the PVCx I have used in the past (I am a photographer and have had prints mounted on it rather than mdf)

Hosted on Fotki