Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was thinking about building an enclosure from melamine and was wondering if one style of joints was preferred over another. I own a table saw so I could do butts or miters. Rabbetts/dados seem overly complicated for me since I don't own a specialty blade. So, what type of joint is ideal when building one of these cages? Thanks.

I use only Dado's in my melamine cage construction. It I believe is probally the best joint for the job.

Here's a few reason's;

The cage holds itself together better with a dado, with a little help from glue and brads.

It is easier to keep the joint straight.

It's easier to seal the interior with silicone, mostly do to the staight joint.

When silicone fails and it will, the joint is buried within the melamine itself, so when it expands due to moisture content it doesn't pull the cage apart.

With a table saw and a Dado blade or a router and straight bit dado's are really easy. Just need to pay more attention as to what goes where in the assembly and cutting process.

Take your time and draw out the plan with what and where the dado's are to be cut. I have no doubt that it can be done, it just takes more patience.

Good Luck

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Jeremy

"I am become death, the destroyer of worlds" July 16, 1945 Robert Oppenheimer

1.1 Double Het "Sharp" Snow RTB's
1.1 Hypomelenistic RTB's
0.2 Pastel Hypo RTB's
2.0 Double Het Stripe Albino RTB's
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0.1 Anerthrystic RTB
0.0.11 Red Bearded Dragons
1.1 Rhinoceros Iguana's
1.0 Green Iguana
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1.0 Pomeriaian
0.3 Catus Terribilis
0.1 Spouse
0.0.1 Youth -coming soon-

i am doing the samething, and with help from Jeremey *aka BigJurt* ive got it going. im dado cutting everything right now using a circular saw and dado blades, using a straight egde clamped to the melamine board, and 2 more clamping the board to saw horses. pretty easy so far. and i dont have much experience at all building anything using dado cuts
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Beach Beardies

3.4.11 bearded dragons
1.0.0 Turquoise x Sunburst Veiled Chameleon
1.1.0 Sugar Gliders
0.1.0 Miss Queen Athena (Cat)