Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Rack holds either sterilite 28 qt. or I beleive 14 qt. boxes. IT's heated by pipe wrap heat cord. I got about $130.00 into it. Still have to mount dimmer switch and finish wiring the cord in, which will run to a GFI circuit for safety.

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RBICHLER

What kind of screw did you use and how did you cut the melamine? I am about to build a rack and should know. I am going to use particle board screws and have the guys at the store cut it.
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thanks Josh

0.0.2 sandfish skinks,
0.0.1 texas long nose luckily eating mice (has mites how do I get rid of them prevent a mite fast answers before I have a collection of mite infested animals)
0.0.1 vine snake
1.1.0 turtles
0.1.0 greek tortoise
1.0.0 ball python
1.0.0 corn snake
1.1.0 childrens python
1.0.0 het for albino san diego gopher snake
0.0.1 rosehair tarantula
0.1. black and white kenyan sand boa
some mice
and what ever lizards my vine snake hasn't eaten yet

I have used several type of screws to assemble racks. The one type that I have not tried are the Confirmats or their market clones. Those are considered the ideal screw for particle board. They are expensive and do require a special counter-sink bit, though.

I have to mention that I built racks over ten years ago with drywall screws and NO glue and they are still holding together despite being moved from Nebraska to Florida to Washington and now to Georgia in that ten year time. I guess my point is that it really does not matter a whole lot. I do recommend some sort of adhesive, however, even though I have gone without it.

Lastly, I have had hit and miss luck with having shops cut material for racks. The tolerances are very important. If you have any concerns about the $10 per hour employees at your local Home Depot I recommend tracking down a cabinet shop and having them cut it for you.

Not only with the panels be sized exactly and square, the cut edges will be glue line quality. And the melamine is better too.

Well worth the slight upcharge, IMO.

No glue is easier to take apart for those cross - country jaunts,
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"Colubrid-aphilia", adj; An inordinate love of Colubrids.

1.1 Tangerine Albino Hondurans
1.1 Tri-Color Hypos (Thanx Amro)
0.1 Het Hypo
1.1 Mike Falcon Anerys

From experience, a store can't match the quality of a cabinet shop, both in material and precision of cuts. In addition, stores don't replace/sharpen their saw blades as often as you would want for a good edge.

Heck, a cabinet shop can make the whole rack for less than you think. Give them a tub and a spacer, and they'll do it.

I used drywall screws to, I used a 1 5/8 brad gun first for assembly, just dont mess up because those brads are real hard to get back out. Then I installed the screws. And I didn't use any glue, thought about it, but didn't want to mess with it.
Thanks again; R.Bichler
http://www.webspawner.com/users/rbichler/index.html