Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been tring to reasearch info on HDPE and PVC sheeting. I am needing to knowWhere the best places are to buy the sheeting and which is better for use. I am interested in the PVC, due to cost. I have seen in past forum posts on this matter about bending, how do you bend the PVC and what is the best thickness to use? I have found HDPE 1/2" 4' x 8' sheets for 92.00 each, but that will require a lot of sheets just to build a 10 tub rack for my Ball Pythons. I would appreciate any and all help. Thank you in advance.

I will take 2 sheets to build one 10 hole rack. Depending on the size of the tubs.
1 sheet cut it the long way in half. leaves you 2 pieces 24 by 96. You can cut 2 shelves from the ends of each sheet. The rack will be approx 76 by 24 by 17 1/4.
second sheet cut the same way. Then cut the shelves a little wide than the tubs Approx 16 1/4.
You will be able to get 10 pieces 24 by 16 1/4. Contact me if you have any questions.

>>I have been tring to reasearch info on HDPE and PVC sheeting. I am needing to knowWhere the best places are to buy the sheeting and which is better for use. I am interested in the PVC, due to cost. I have seen in past forum posts on this matter about bending, how do you bend the PVC and what is the best thickness to use? I have found HDPE 1/2" 4' x 8' sheets for 92.00 each, but that will require a lot of sheets just to build a 10 tub rack for my Ball Pythons. I would appreciate any and all help. Thank you in advance.
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Thomas Jones
aligatorhunter@earthlink.net

No one is to be trusted

I also think you could build a 10 tub rack with less than 2 sheets of 4x8 material. But it depends on the size of your tub.

I'll post a pic of a large box rack I built to quarantine a group of snakes. I was not initially worried about the durability of the design but it ended up surviving several months of use, a 700 mile move in the back of a U-Haul, and even was still together and straight after it was submerged under water for several hours during a flood. I had to take it apart with a sledge hammer simply because the shelves had swollen to the point where the boxes did not fit.

Yet I only used simple edge bonds attached with nails and wood glue.

At any rate, this picture might give you an idea of how to use some of your scrap material to make vertical sides for your rack. If you're worried about heat or a sense of security for you snakes you could sandwich cheap polystyrene foam in between the verticals and on the back.

Personally, I'd use additional vertical supports regardless of the material being used, but especially with plastic. Mine came out this way simply because I only had 1 sheet of plywood and because the rack was only supposed to be temporary.

Good luck and let us know how things go.

I have been manufacturing my own line of rack systems for over a year now. I started out in a similar way except that I thought I could do them better while hopefully making them at the same price or cheaper. I think I've done that but that's not either here nor there (or the place to do it). Bottom line, EPVC is the way to go in my opinion.

We started with HDPE and ended up with EPVC. HDPE bowed way too easy and scratched if you looked at it wrong. We actually bought the HDPE for about $10 sheet less than we buy EPVC for. The EPVC runs about $85-$95/sheet (whereas the HDPE was $75-$85/sheet), obviously the more you buy the better. I usually order 10-20 sheet quantities so get it closer to the low end. Those prices are for 1/2", you can cut them in half for 1/4".

Cutting either plastic can be done with a normal table saw and tools. The HDPE cuts just like wood and the residue is easy to cleanup. The EPVC on the other hand is actually easier to cut but leaves a fine dust that almost has magnetic properties as it wants to stick to everything

The main reason that manufacturers can demand such a high price for their plastic racks is not only the plastic itself but the tools required. Most manufacturers use a plastic welder and/or a melting/bending table, both of which are expensive items. A decent welder will set you back at least $400 and a melting table will set you back at least that much. Good welders can run upwards of $1000. I'm still using one on the bottom side and am pretty happy with it. To make one or two racks, that's obviously a big investment and you're better off just buying from a manufacturer (which is how people like myself stay in business). A lot of people are building stuff out of melamine and those are great racks (although HEAVY) for the money, but generally speaking, melamine racks won't hold up much more than 18 months or so, then those people will be looking to move on to something else (or build bigger melamine units)

Good luck on your building endeavors,
Jason @ Jason's Jungle