Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am thinking of building a cage out of some poly (i think it has a bigger name but thats all i have been told) I have access to a welder and someone who knows how to do it...and i can get 1/4" sheets for 60 bucks.
I am having trouble deciding how i want to do a door, if i end up doing this..i like the sliding doors but i am not sure how i would go about using them on a cage like this....any ideas??
If it works out well i may ditch the aquariums and melamine and go with this

Thanks Jason

>>I can get 1/4" sheets for 60 bucks.

Have you seen the product in person? 1/4" of either material can warp and sag quite a bit. You might support all the junctions with aluminum corner angle.

I would look into expanded PVC (Sintra or equivalent). It's considerably lighter, likely more rigid, and less likely to be warped. And you have more options for working with the material.

>>I am having trouble deciding how i want to do a door, if i end up doing this..i like the sliding doors but i am not sure how i would go about using them on a cage like this....any ideas??

Make a face frame from the material and laminate two layers together. This will give you a 1/2" thick face frame which you can attach glass track to - glass track for 1/8" glass. If you want to use 1/4" glass then laminate three layers together and go with the 3/4" wide track.
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Current snakes:

1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

2.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

4.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)

Lots of poly's lol

>>I am thinking of building a cage out of some poly (i think it has a bigger name but thats all i have been told) I have access to a welder and someone who knows how to do it...and i can get 1/4" sheets for 60 bucks.
>>I am having trouble deciding how i want to do a door, if i end up doing this..i like the sliding doors but i am not sure how i would go about using them on a cage like this....any ideas??
>>If it works out well i may ditch the aquariums and melamine and go with this
>>
>>Thanks Jason

Well i'm not sure exactly which one..LOL....its a hard plastic kind of stuff. I work at a semi conductor plant and they use it all over there...We have carts made from the stuff so it seems pretty sturdy. The carts ar thicker obviously but they hold alot of weight also. I just want to build some arboreal cages that dont rot and arent aquariums. The expanded pvc is the same price..i have looked into that also. I like the poly because it has a smooth finish instead of the kind of rough finish the pvc had

ive built cages with the expanded pvc much better material lighter and more rigid for smaller cages up to 24"-30"long by 24 high you could use the 1/4" material fine and can be chemical welded no plastic welding unless your very good youll waste alot of material if you e-mail me i could send you an almost finished pic of arboreal cage

I'm sure it's high density polyethylene or high density polypropylene. If you like the quality of what you have access to, neither is a bad choice.

Just understand there is a weight penalty and potential sagging, not to mention the more difficult joinery. Again, I don't think you can go wrong.

>>Well i'm not sure exactly which one..LOL....its a hard plastic kind of stuff. I work at a semi conductor plant and they use it all over there...We have carts made from the stuff so it seems pretty sturdy. The carts ar thicker obviously but they hold alot of weight also. I just want to build some arboreal cages that dont rot and arent aquariums. The expanded pvc is the same price..i have looked into that also. I like the poly because it has a smooth finish instead of the kind of rough finish the pvc had
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Current snakes:

1.1 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Silver/Yellow)

2.2 Gonyosoma oxycephala - (Green)

4.3 Gonyosoma janseni - (Black)