Building a new rack

[Terrain_pull up]

I'm going to be building my first rack and I'm wondering what a good ratio of warm to cool area should be in each tub. I thinking I'm going to house one adult gecko in a tub which is 12 qts or 12.5"w x 16.5"l x 6"h. I have some 4" flexwatt heat tape that I'm going to use. If I run one strip of heat tape along the back my plan is that will leave about 12" of floor space not over the heat tape giving about 25% warm coverage. Is that enough or should I run two strips and cover 50% of floor space?

 

[herpencounter]

I'm going to be building my first rack and I'm wondering what a good ratio of warm to cool area should be in each tub. I thinking I'm going to house one adult gecko in a tub which is 12 qts or 12.5"w x 16.5"l x 6"h. I have some 4" flexwatt heat tape that I'm going to use. If I run one strip of heat tape along the back my plan is that will leave about 12" of floor space not over the heat tape giving about 25% warm coverage. Is that enough or should I run two strips and cover 50% of floor space?

I have the same set up as that. One strip is fine. I run 1 strip 2.5 inches from the back.

 

[thegeckoguy23]

http://geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=30977

 

[Terrain_pull up]

Well I've finally finished building my first rack. I think it turned out pretty well but any constructive feedback is welcome. I basically used Nevin's model but tweaked it a bit by using melamine instead of chip board. Here's the pic's:
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For the heating I'm using the 4" flexwatt heat tape to heat 12qt sterilite tubs. I used rivets through eyelit connectors mainly because that's what I already had lying around and it seems to work nicely. As a bonus with the rivets I can rotate them so that I can have the wires exit the side of the rack conveniently with no binding.
View attachment 33688
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Here's the finished rack with it all wired up. I chose to wire each shelf independently to reduce looking for shorts if it didn't work initially...lol I also like the idea of using the power bar so that there is a cct breaker on the rack itself. The rheostat the power bar is connected to is also grounded.
View attachment 33691
Total dimensions of the rack is 4' x 4'. It should do to get me started I think with my first breeding project.

 

[Noahboa1]

Looks Fantastic! If you don't mind my asking, how much did all the supplies cost? Also, could you put them into a list.
For example:
Melamine - $30
Heat Tape - $15
Etc.

 

[Tony C]

Nice work! I would seal those exposed edges with melamine edge banding though, any moisture that gets on them will start to destroy the particle board core.

 

[Terrain_pull up]

All in it probably cost under $250. Everything is from the Home Depot (they even cut the melamine for free) except for the tubs which are from Walmart and the heat tape I bought from a supplier in Canada. That cost also included a couple small tools I bought to go with the project: counter-sink drill bit, wire stripper/crimpper

I think I'll also buy some melamine edge banding to go with the rack now as well. It will also make it look nicer too!

 

[Landen]

are the rivets exposed? I like that idea of them being able to swivel but if something connects the two points won't that be a fire/shock hazard? I've used some liquid tape on the exposed solder points on mine. You might look into that, just dab a bit on the exposed metal....

 

[Terrain_pull up]

No, all the electrical connections I covered up with electrical tape

 

[thegeckoguy23]

I think the rack is AWESOME i hate my rack lol