New Furniture Grade Rack

[ItsAllNew2Me!]

Hello All,

My names Lee. I have been an extreme lurker around here for the last couple of years. There is so much info all my questions pretty much have been answered just running through the forums. I have gotten into ball pythons around three years ago with my first ball Python Chaos. I thought I liked snakes then but my excitement for them has blown up recently. My "collection" has increased from him to Ghost (my ghost pastel) at the end of last year. This year my collection has jumped up 6 more beautiful snakes with 5 more on the way!! Frankly plastic totes all over the house is no longer an option(fiance hates it as it is)...time to move up to a rack system!

I am building a rack that will fit into the dining room (lol which is only used for holidays) that will fit in with the rest of the room. It is to look like a book shelf and be made out of cabinet grade hardwood plywood. The design is to have 7 levels to house snakes and a small level on the bottom for storage. The outside dimensions are 4.5'H X 3'W X 19"D. This will hold 3 15qt sterilte clearview tubs on each level.

So far we (my father and I) have gotten the wood. It took 3- 3/4" Sheets of 4X8 Maple hardwood Plywood to get all of the panels we need we had most of the cuts made at the store but had to make a few of our own.

3' X 19"- 9 (top bottom and shelves)
4.5' X 19"- 2 (side panels)
4.5' X 3ft -1 (back panel made of thin board found laying around garage)

I have also already started coating the wood with clear Varathane Satin Water-based Interior Polyurathane. I am using clear as the natural maple color looks nice to me . I will take some pictures this evening of the work so far and update as we move along.

[Ax01]

sounds like a plan. have fun building! don't forget to post pix.

[ItsAllNew2Me!]

Thanks...I will post as many pics as I can. Its fun building things like this. I have also built a 4 level rat rack a few months back that I am very happy with. Can't wait to see this beauty when it is done.

[Ax01]

i built one. it wasn't fancy. got some pix of it and some advice here - http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...-a-Rack-System

also dont forget to post your snake pix in the Picture forum.

[ItsAllNew2Me!]

Thanks a lot that is kind of where i am going with mine. I am going to have it fully enclose though (except the front) i figure it would hold the heat better. I am also going to be putting toggle switches in line with the different levels of heat tape so that i can turn off levels not in use (no point in heating those). I really want to get rid of the lids for these tubs so my gapping is going to be a tad tighter. Thanks again.

[Ax01]

yeah, I was debating whether or not to put a sheet in the back of my rack. but then i thought 1) they will be in tubs, 2) the rack will be against a wall. i think those two points addresses heating/humidity and security, but going the extra step is to providing a fully enclosed space provides extra assurance.

u should provide a DIY/how to how the on-off toggle switches. i would love to know how to add that to my next rack when my BP's outgrow this one.

[ItsAllNew2Me!]

Update from last night:

Didn't do much but continue staining the panels. Took a few pictures of that. I will be sanding down these last layers with steel wool tonight to get a good smooth finish on the panels. Taking tomorrow off for Turkey Day but should have it assembled on Friday and have it wired up! Can't wait till its done!

[ItsAllNew2Me!]

tried to add pics but didnt work from photobucket. going to use tapatalk.

[ItsAllNew2Me!]

My Dad has some thin board laying in the garage so I am just going to slap that on. As the toggles go i will definitely be taking pics of that. I am going to wire the heat tape from the bottom shelves to the top. So the toggles will allow me to turn off the three bottom shelves that are unused. I think i am going to cut holes in the side towards the back to have easy access to them.

[ItsAllNew2Me!]

Pics
This is a pick of me sealing the wood with poly the right side is stationed the left is not




Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk