a guide to building your own rack

nevinm

Moyer's Monsters
Messages
2,584
Location
bethlehem PA
Hi every one, I'm doing this because I've seen the question asked so many times..."does anyone have directions on how to build my own rack?" So I put this little step by step guide togeather for everyone. This is the most basic, and cheapest way to build a rack. Man is it easy if you can work a saw, you can do this, i have faith in all of you ;). I did not include a list of supplies because it will vary depending on what you want and how big you want the rack to be. In these directions I built a baby rack, it holds 21, 6qt containers. So all you need to do is expand upon these derections.

First thing, dicide what size containor you want, and how many. I would'nt recomend going more than 3 across, to meny can cause the shelfs to bow.
DSC03161.jpg


Next make messurments to know how big each shelf needs to be. I messured and added an extra 1/2" to the exact messurement, giving me a 22 3/4" messurment.
DSC03162.jpg

Front to back is 13 1/2" so i made the shelfs 14".
DSC03163.jpg


From the top to bottom we will need 8 shelfs including the "floor" panel. All of them are 14" X 22 3/4".
DSC03167.jpg


Next dicide how fancy you want the rack. As I said this is the cheapest and most basic way so instead of using full sides I am only using 2" strips.
DSC03164.jpg


You will have to figure out how tall the rack will be by measuring the hight of the containor, and the thickness of the boards you will be using. The mesurment that I got 37 1/2" high becuase I am using 3/4" CCB (compressed chip board). I cut the side strips a couple inches bigger just incase I made a mistake with my messurments.

(Optional) paint the rack. I painted this one black just because it is a good, proffesional color.

Next attach the 4 srips (or full sides depending on what you want) to the bottom peice.
DSC03169.jpg

choose the side that you will have the heat tape wired one and give your self 4" from the back of the shelf to the back strip.
DSC03170.jpg


Stand the rack up and place 3 containors on the bottom pannel and place the next shelf ontop of the containors to insure you have a snug but not too tight of a fit. Screw the second shelf to the strips. These 2 pictures are from the back of the rack.
DSC03171.jpg

DSC03172.jpg


Repeate this step for how ever many shelfs you have.
DSC03174.jpg
(almost finished!!!!)

Once all the shelfs are attached you should have some extra left on the srips (of again, as I said a full side).
DSC03175.jpg


Use a jig saw to cut these off.
DSC03176.jpg


Finally all the building will be finshed
DSC03177.jpg


You can take what ever paint you have left and tuch up any spots that you may have missed or nicks or cuts that you may have made.

Make sure you put breathing holes in each containor.
DSC03178.jpg


Attach the heat tape or cable with thermostat and your ready to house so Herps!!!!!! I like to hold the heat tape down with a type of HVAC fiol tape.
DSC03179.jpg


Other vareations include adding backing to make sure you dont push the containors to far back or full sides (already mentioned). If you are going to build this for snakes make sure you use another type of building material such as melamine. It is the same thing that kitchen countertops are made of and is water resistaint. CCB, MDF, and partical board are not good in high humidity conditions.

I hope this comes as a help, and I am open for questions if you dont understand something particular.

good luck :main_thumbsup:
Nevin Moyer
AKA....Nev
 
  • Like
Reactions: MUD
P

project1

Guest
nice job the only thing i would improve on is sanding the wood and that will help your paint to come out smoother looking
 

HepCatMoe

Escaped A.I.
Messages
758
Location
Tempe Az
thought you might like to know, googled how to build racks for geckos, and this popped up in the top 5 hits.

looks good.
 

nevinm

Moyer's Monsters
Messages
2,584
Location
bethlehem PA
hey thanks lamarr, i accually recomended making it a sticky, but never got a response. so i figured... what ever so much for me trying to help
 

larry26

New Member
Messages
328
Location
MA
I was looking on bean farm for flexwatt and i didnt under stand how you bought it in lengths. Do you only buy it in 1ft sections or could you get it in say 4ft sections?
 

larry26

New Member
Messages
328
Location
MA
So say i wanted four 4 foot sections would i have to specify that to them when i order or would i have to make four separate orders of it?
 
G

Guillaume-G

Guest
I don't really know anything about rack so don't mind the stupid question, but how do you heat those and keep them at a regulated temperature? I have a 10Gal with the smallest UTH (8watts) and without a rheostat it goes to 99 degres and even with the rheostat at low it's still at 94.
 

Visit our friends

Top