Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have been all over the internet looking for a good strip heater that i can afford.

i am looking to bend pvcx or hdpe and i am trying to find a strip heater that i can bend wider pieces (like up to three or four feet)i know thats probably hard to do for under 300$ but if anyone knows of a place i can get one i would appreciate it, even better i like the sandwich kind that heat both sides of a thick sheet.

i know hdpe is more ridgid than pvcx and was wondering if i could get away with 1/4" hdpe where i would normally need 1/2"pvc.(example:if a 1/4" pvcx sheet 4'x2' being used as a cage top would sag, how would 1/4" hdpe do?) i have some pvc , but havent been able to get my hands on any hdpe yet.

what about the weight? im guessing hdpe is heavier due to its higher density, but if i can use 1/4" hdpe in place of 1/2" pvc its worth it.

and lastly is there any other way to bond hdpe other than using a plastic welder? pvc glue wouldnt work would it? what about gorilla glue or liquid nails?
thanks
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1.1 Gargoyle geckos
1.1 leucistic leopard gecko
0.0.1 asian golden tree frog
1.0 oriental firebelly toad
0.1 european firebelly toad
1.0 albino betta
1.0 orange tabby
0.0.1 asian painted frog
1.0 broad headed skink
0.0.1 fowlers toad
1.1 red eyed tree frog
1.1 red eared sliders
476.769.47 feeder crickets

>i know thats probably hard to do for under 300$

I've looked around at the strip heaters and haven't found any that were cheaper than $300 to make bends of the sizes you're talking about.

>i know hdpe is more ridgid than pvcx and was wondering if i could get away with 1/4" hdpe where i would normally need 1/2"pvc.(example:if a 1/4" pvcx sheet 4'x2' being used as a cage top would sag, how would 1/4" hdpe do?)

HDPE is much more dense than PVCX - considerably more dense. A piece of 1/2 PCVX in the large size you're talking about is probably going to have less flex than the HDPE. I'm only going off of what I've seen in regards to some items made out of both materials. Also, you can make fairly strong cages utilizing PCVX in sizes smaller than 1/2 inch. Sintra comes in 6 and 8 mm sizes, and I think the 8mm would be a nice balance of thickness and strength for all but the largest cage designs.

>what about the weight? im guessing hdpe is heavier due to its higher density, but if i can use 1/4" hdpe in place of 1/2" pvc its worth it.

Again, I'm guessing that the HDPE will sag too much in the greater thicknesses.

>and lastly is there any other way to bond hdpe other than using a plastic welder? pvc glue wouldnt work would it? what about gorilla glue or liquid nails?

Gorilla glue will probably be useless. I've found polyurethane glues to be great on porous materials like would but all but uselss on non-porous materials like glass and plastic. Liquid nails is good but again tends to fail more often on non-porous surfaces. Plastic-specific epoxies like Devcon Plastic Welder might be something to look into or simply drill pilot holes and use screws. A good all-around screw I've been using a lot lately is SPAX brand screws. They will work in almost any material even masonry, and are realtively cheap. I've gone to using SPAX almost exclusively for my latest cage construction projects.

Hope all this helps.
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Matt Campbell
Animal Keeper, Small Mammal/Reptile House
Lincoln Park Zoo Chicago, Illinois

Assistant Curator
Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, Illinois

>I've found polyurethane glues to be great on porous materials like would

would=wood

Duh! That's what I get for not previewing my message first.
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Matt Campbell
Animal Keeper, Small Mammal/Reptile House
Lincoln Park Zoo Chicago, Illinois

Assistant Curator
Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, Illinois

>>i have been all over the internet looking for a good strip heater that i can afford.

I've never looked into these much. I've only seen them at plastic shops when I went to pick up material.

If I were to mess with thermal bending I'd probably use a combination of routed V grooves and MDF forms. Then just a heat gun to warm it up.

I agree with Matt's comments on PVCX vs. HDPE. The only thing I'll add is that HDPE seems to vary greatly in quality. There may very well be a 1/4" product out there that is more rigid, but I haven't seen it.
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Current snakes:

0.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.3 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

3.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

Chris,

That's exactly what I was thinking. I noticed at a show last year that the Boaphile cages were using a routed V groove and then obviously some kind of heat source to melt the plastic allowing the bend. I'm still thinking long and hard about PCVX caging, and would like to have a design that gets away from using the rigid corner bracing material. I've been thinking over a complex but potentially very strong method of construction utilizing a series of bends around tabs designed into the material resulting in all glue joints being face joints - the strongest type of joint when gluing PCVX with cyanoacrylate glue. The only thing is I sold my router years ago, and even a hair dryer will blow the breaker in the crappy apt. I live in now, so my cage experimentation will have to wait a few more months until I move to a better wired, bigger place.
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Matt Campbell
Animal Keeper, Small Mammal/Reptile House
Lincoln Park Zoo Chicago, Illinois

Assistant Curator
Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, Illinois

>> ...resulting in all glue joints being face joints - the strongest type of joint when gluing PCVX with cyanoacrylate glue.

Actually these types of joints are so strong (I assume you essentially mean joints where the surface of one piece is bonded to the surface of another piece??) that cyanoacrylate is totally unecessary. You can just clamp the overlap joint in place and inject that water-thin PVC solvent from IPS into the joint.

It's cheaper and you don't have to worry about the margin of error so much. With the super glue you have to put your pieces together perfectly as the joint sets up so fast.

Another thing to consider is making your tabs out of solid PVC. With PVCX tabs small sections of the foamed interior will be exposed to moisture and readily absorb it. Probably not a structural concern but it would be a haven for microbrial growth.

>>The only thing is I sold my router years ago...

LOL, me too. Trying to get my shop done and wired before I start buying tools again. That's if I have any money left.

But back to PVCX, I do believe that learning to work with the 6mm or 8mm is the way to go. It's light, fairly cheap, and readily available. The 1/2" stuff is actually more dense and gets very expensive. Maybe you'll have better sources in the Chicago area. I just can't see building an expensive plastic cage unless it's light.
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Current snakes:

0.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.3 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

3.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)

that v-groove would be on the inside right? then heat up the outside with a heat gun and bend in a jig?

i found some long plastic strip heater strips and some plans to make my own strip heater with the heating strip, plywood and foil as insulation, ill post this later tonight
the heat strip is around 30$ and heats to 250F
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1.1 Gargoyle geckos
1.1 leucistic leopard gecko
0.0.1 asian golden tree frog
1.0 oriental firebelly toad
0.1 european firebelly toad
1.0 albino betta
1.0 orange tabby
0.0.1 asian painted frog
1.0 broad headed skink
0.0.1 fowlers toad
1.1 red eyed tree frog
1.1 red eared sliders
476.769.47 feeder crickets

>>that v-groove would be on the inside right?

My understanding is that among the various plastic cage companies some use grooves on the inside, some on the outside.

I've not seen most of the current offerings from the various companies so I have no idea.

I can see the advantage of having it on the inside, I think it would be easier to form. But there would always be the risk of water getting into the cut edge of the groove. This can cause swelling and cracking of the interior.

I believe I have heard of this problem happening with some of the new Boaphiles so I assume their groove is on the inside.
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Current snakes:

0.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

3.3 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

2.1 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

3.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black & Tan)