There has been much talk about buying vs. building racks and which ones to get, etc. I’ve done both, I have a Boaphile sideways blanket box rack as well as one I built. I can’t really say which one I like more, because both have their merits. The Boaphile rack is lighter than my melamine, but it heats from the back, whereas the melamine one I built heats under the tubs. The Boaphile rack is cooler on the bottom shelves than on top, whereas the one I built has two dimmers that control 3 shelves each.

Here’s how I built mine. I don’t have all the receipts, but I believe it cost around $150, but you can do it cheaper and I’ll point those areas out in the description. Most of this stuff can be purchased at Home Depot/Lowe’s, but I could only find the precut melamine shelves at Lowe’s. By using these, I didn’t have to cut any out from large pieces. They’re the perfect size.

Parts List –
Melamine Shelves (Letter J, see pic below)(7) – 16”x24”x3/4” Made by SysDesign/Weyerhaueser – About $5-6 each (from Lowe’s)
Melamine Shelves/Sides (Letter L or I, I think) (2) – 16”x48”x3/4” Same company, about $7-8 each
Screwhead covers (28) – White plastic circles, about $2 (not necessary, just looks nicer)
Screws (28) – I think they were 1 ½”; sold next to the shelves
Blue Plastic Electrical Conduit Boxes (2) I got these because they have 2 ‘zip’ fasteners so I didn’t have to be exact on my measurements. You can see them closer in the pics below - $1.87
Extension Cord (3)– 12’, $1.79 on sale at Home Depot
Foil Tape - $6.47
White Slide Dimmer – 600w (2), $9.99, you can get cheaper ones, but I wanted sliding ones instead of round; just get one that you can turn all the way off in case you aren’t using those shelves
Lightswitch covers (2) - $1-2, get size that fits your conduit box and dimmer style
Electrical Tape
1”x 36” aspen/wood strips (2) - $0.94 each, for the back of the rack, or pegboard if you choose to use it. I only use this to stop the boxes from pushing too far back in the rack
Small tacks for the aspen strips
3” FlexWatt/Calorique Heat Tape (12ft) – $2.25/ft at Bean Farm
Clip Sets (6) - $2.50 ea. at Bean Farm
Electric Thermometers (2) - Target $9.99

Tools Needed –
Drill w/ bits
Jigsaw
Hammer
Scissors
Measuring Tape
Flexwatt Crimper or pliers/vice grips, etc.
C-Clamp or other big clamp (see picture)
Pencil
Screwdriver

This is the shelf I used for the rack


I used my living room floor, but any large area where you can lay the complete rack out will work. Start out by lining up the top and one side and matching up the corner. You can use the pencil to mark 3/8” down from the top of the side where you want to put the screws in. If you have an angle clamp like in the fourth pic, you can use it to maintain the 90 degree angle you need. If not, you can safely eyeball it at this point.



Once you get the top on, you need to use a blanket box with a spacer to get the right distance to accommodate a box and the heat tape. Rather than route a groove for the heat tape, I used ¼” pegboard to create a gap so the box doesn’t rub the plastic off the heat tape when it is pushed in and pulled out.





Just clamp it down and then measure the distance on the front edge from the top edge of the rack to the center of the next shelf. Then measure down from the side and mark the drill spot with your pencil



Once you drill the holes, use your screwdriver to put at least 2 screws in each shelf. I used 2, but 3 would probably be more secure. I’ve had no problems.

When you have all the shelves installed, tack the wood strips to the back so your boxes don’t push too far back. You could also use Pegboard, but I didn’t want the rack to be too heavy. I chose to not put an 8th shelf on the bottom to keep it off the floor. I don’t think you’d have a problem putting one down there, and I may put one on in the future and run it off the bottom dimmer.



I used pushpins to hold human heating pads to the back until I got my heat tape in. It worked pretty good, and this is what it looked like.



To install the heat tape and dimmers, lay the shelf on its side and draw an outline of the conduit box on the side of the rack just above the top and fourth shelves as in the picture. Then use the Drill to make a pilot hole for the jigsaw to cut out the space for the conduit box. It needs to be next to the shelf so it doesn’t interfere with the boxes, which are wider at top than bottom.



Secure the conduit box into the sides with the screws on top and bottom.





Drill holes on the shelves at the rear to run the extension cords through. Wire the heat tape in a parallel circuit with three tapes per dimmer. I find that this keeps any of the shelves from getting too hot up top and cold on the bottom.



And this is the final product. I used the double wide conduit boxes because I was going to put a pilot light next to the dimmer, but it was too difficult so I decided to nix it and just have the dimmers. The rack works excellent, and I’ll build another one later this year.



If you have any questions, let me know. These directions can be modified to suit your needs. I found that it was nowhere near as hard as I thought it would be. In fact, I didn’t even have a drill until I cut out the sides, so I used a Dremel to drill the screw holes for the shelves and that worked fine.





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Rob Jenkins
http://herpcam.com

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