Building a rack for my balls! Could use some advice.

[JesusBuiltMyHotrod]

I currently have 13 ball pythons. 10 are in a rack I built out of wood, and 3 are in glass aquariums. I would like to move my guys out of their glass aquariums (the furniture I built for these is huge) and discontinue use of my wooden rack, which is also bulky since I built it to fit two 41qt Sterilite containers per row. I can't move it out of the room without totally dismantling it and I'm also concerned about the application of flex watt to the wood, and would like to minimize the chance of fire.

I really like the racks over at http://www.apcages.com. But, for the price of two racks (which is what I need) I can get the materials for two adult racks, one sub-adult rack, and one hatchling rack. So, that's what I'm going to do.

My plans are here (http://imgur.com/a/s4ZqD). Each rack is going to be 72" tall, and be constructed from 1/2" XPVC from a local plastic supplier. I'm going to have them cut it for me.

My main concern is that the sheets come in 4'x2'x.5" and the racks are going to be 6' tall. I have to find out some way of joining the upright supports that wont leave the rack fragile when it gets moved.
I'm thinking of taking two 3"x36"x.5" boards and chemically welding them to three 3"x24"x.5" boards. I'm hoping that it will reinforce the joint between the two 36" boards.

The adult rack will be built to hold 41qt Sterilite containers. The sub-adult rack will be built to hold both 15qt and 32qt Sterilite containers. And, the hatchling rack will be built to hold Iris 330 containers. The adult and sub-adult racks will be heated with one continuous piece of flex watt on the bottom (belly heat). And, I'm going to heat the hatchling rack with heat rope on the back (back heat).

Here's how many boards I will have after the cuts:
22 – 18” x 36” (used in Adult racks)
40 – 3” x 36” (used in all racks)
60 – 3” x 24”(used in all racks)
18 – 12” x 24” (extra)
2 – 6” x 36” (extra)
15 – 14” x 24” (used in hatchling rack)
5 – 6” x 24” (extra)
22 – 18” x 24” (used in Juvi racks)

I'm going to use the extra boards to mount on the bottom for casters.
Any thoughts? I am going to order the supplies soon, and will post the results once the adult racks are built. I probably won't create the sub-adult or hatchling racks for a little while longer as I don't need them right now. I will be building an incubator next.

Thanks!

[Rickys_Reptiles]

So, just to understand you.... you're planning on stacking 2 racks and then joining them together to give you the full 6' height?

[JesusBuiltMyHotrod]

So, just to understand you.... you're planning on stacking 2 racks and then joining them together to give you the full 6' height?

I'm planning on building two adult racks. The main issue that I'm having is that the legs/supports on the side are not going to be long enough as the rack will be 72" tall and the boards are only 48" long.

I'm thinking of combining some of the boards to extend the leg/support length. I think if I do the chemical welds and screw the legs to the rack, it should be durable enough to move. But, I don't really have any technical knowledge.

[Rickys_Reptiles]

I'm planning on building two adult racks. The main issue that I'm having is that the legs/supports on the side are not going to be long enough as the rack will be 72" tall and the boards are only 48" long.

I'm thinking of combining some of the boards to extend the leg/support length. I think if I do the chemical welds and screw the legs to the rack, it should be durable enough to move. But, I don't really have any technical knowledge.

If the supports on the side are too short I'd do this. Double them up, stagger the joints.

[JesusBuiltMyHotrod]

If the supports on the side are too short I'd do this. Double them up, stagger the joints.

Ha, well, either great minds think alike, or two fools think the same. That is what I am planning on doing. I think I'm going to stagger them at different places so that when it gets moved it at least wont break in the same spot.

[scooter11]

If you don't want to do that, you could always build the two and use dowels to have them sit together. I have two racks that wouldn't fit up the stairs. So I built them in two halves and the top half sits on the bottom and stays in place with dowels

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[JesusBuiltMyHotrod]

If you don't want to do that, you could always build the two and use dowels to have them sit together. I have two racks that wouldn't fit up the stairs. So I built them in two halves and the top half sits on the bottom and stays in place with dowels

Sent from my EVO using Tapatalk 2

That's also a great idea. I had a bunk bed that used dowels between the two levels as a kid. Thanks!