Hi Moo, yes I did use a piece of 1/2" thick foam board with the reflective foil as a backer.

The element is three pieces of 3" flexwatt. This gives me 30 watts, and it is working better than I could imagine in a 24" cube cage.

I made the frame out of 1/2 xpvc and the flat panel that covers the element is 1/8" pvc. You could go really inexpensive and build what you see in the first pic and wrap the edges with foil tape. I insulated the connections with liquid tape because the crimp connectors are too bulky. Be careful.





I saw a sheet of thin plastic at Home Depot that has that dimpled texture on it that may make a good flat panel to cover the heat element, but I am not sure how it wold react to heat. The label says it is recycled plastic. I worry about offgassing. PVC could be an issue with offgassing as well, but so many people are using it with pvc cages, I figure it must be OK.

The flexwatt is 2.10 per foot from Bean Farm, the foam board is around 10 bucks for a 4x8 sheet I think, so figure a couple bucks there, and I buy a 16g extension cord for $1.24 to use for a cord to the thermostat. I assemble the cord after I pass it through the cage hole, otherwise buy the cord separate from the plug end.

So my total cost w/o the pvc is around 10 bucks. The pvc is all scrap, if you bought this separate it would be a little more, but not much. HD sells a pvc type trim for houses that would work fine for the frame, and that plastic sheet was around $16 for a 4x8 to use as a cover.

I take full responsibility for the safety of this setup for myself, but cannot recommend anyone copy what I have done unless you are willing to do the same.

Hope this helps.

Larry