Bought a full sheet of acrylic and rolled up my sleeves to build more arboreal enclosures. Only power tool used was a drill press (small bench top type). Materials: 1 sheet 48"X96"X.180" acrylic, 4' straight edge, razor knife w/h blades, Loctite plastic bonder epoxy, painters tape, 5 pair 1"X1" brass hinges, 5 brass hasp and staples, tape measure and 2 salvaged 8"X72"X3/16" acrylic strips. Total time cutting and drilling acrylic about 1 1/2 hours. Costs: $65 for acrylic sheet, $6 epoxy and $11 for brass hardware. Still have a piece of acrylic 36"X25"X.180" left for future use.
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Last week's builds.
- Thread starter Therasoid
- Start date
- Messages
- 10,917
- Location
- Malton, UK
They look great, well done
Very impressive. Good work fella.
- Messages
- 204
- Location
- Manchester, UK
Very nice! What's the best method for cutting acrylic?
depends on who you ask
I've used a few different methods making trophy/souvenier cases. usually i just score it and snap it like glass. I've used a skill saw with a fine laminate blade also with good results. Could probably do the same with a table saw. Laminate blades on a jig saw work well but you wouldn't want that for a straight cut, use the scoring or skill saw.Will be fun to get back into it to make my adult T cages
awesome! so u had $65 bucks in the acrylic sheet to do all of those enclosures?
yep, you can buy full sheets from acrylite-shop.com for that. They'll also cut to size and polish the edges if you want to spend a few bucks more.
Only downer is they won't cut smaller than 12" so you may have to trim them some. I'll be making my brachy's adult enclosures 12x18x8 so i'll be trimming them down a bit.
If one has access to a laser machine, these are ideal, produce straight ready-to-bond edges.
I did these with common inexpensive tools to show that its possible for anyone to fabricate their own enclosures.
Normally I'll use my table saw, router and drill press for faster builds.
All last week's are 8"X8", 3 are 14" tall, 2 are 16" tall. Saturday will be rehousing large juvenile P. Striata, S. calceatum (granddaughters) and a P. hanumavilasumica. Should prove to be an interesting morning.
Thanks.
Should have clarified the S. calceatum are 3rd generation of my breeding them. My bad!
- Messages
- 550
- Location
- Lake Elsinore, CA
I am weeping with jealousy- these are perfect! Great job
- Messages
- 339
- Location
- New York
That is awesome! I really want to try this but I feel like it's going to turn out terribly.
- Messages
- 1,082
Impressive. You have far more patience than I do!
Thank you all for the kind replies, much appreciated.
@ leaveittoweaver, try making a small one at first. I build 3 sizes for shelf height and uniformity. Only drawback, my corners aren't crystal clear, but the tarantulas don't care. Lol!
@ SasyStace, thank you dear.
@ Denny Dee, I know you've got quite a bit of patience when it to setting up enclosures from a few of your past postings. Not fooling me! Lol!
@ leaveittoweaver, try making a small one at first. I build 3 sizes for shelf height and uniformity. Only drawback, my corners aren't crystal clear, but the tarantulas don't care. Lol!
@ SasyStace, thank you dear.
@ Denny Dee, I know you've got quite a bit of patience when it to setting up enclosures from a few of your past postings. Not fooling me! Lol!
- Messages
- 1,082
Lol. Fair point! But there is always something special about a DIY project that gives you that extra bit of satisfaction. Pretty impressive time on constructing it as well. Love the bark and the touch of green on the plants as well. Going to be some happy T's living in there I can tell.
The last 10 or so I've used Locktite 20 minute epoxy, available at most DIY centers. Cost is $4 and enough to build 6-7 large enclosures. Parts are given 2 hours in a jig to allow a firm set up, still requires 24 hours to fully cure. FYI, when using a jig, its good to place wax paper on the outer surface to avoid bonding them together in the event too much epoxy is applied. [emoji6]
Thanks Denny.
The satisfaction is rewarding in itself. Plus the fact if I were to purchase homes for all my arboreals, I would be bankrupt,.[emoji6]
- Messages
- 1,082
Another great benefit to this hobby is that the investment in enclosures is completely up to the hobbyist. Jars, plastic containers, glass, high end and high end acrylic all work great if you can provide the right temp and humidity. The nice thing is that now that you have the acrylic, they should last a LONG time. Most likely longer than your T's and they can be re-used over and over. I would recommend that anyone that interested in this hobby should consider high end displays like yours. I truly believe that it keeps your interest over the long run. Not only are the pets interesting, but much more visible. This can really assist in noticing maintenance issues, molts and empty water dishes. Really helps when you share your hobby with others and increases the chances of expanding the hobby. Nothing wrong with containers and I know many people have no problem religiously performing maintenance on their T's but this is a long term hobby as many species can live 10+ years.
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