another DIY tv cabinet/enclosure thread

[Porkbones]

Sorry guys was having a nosey around the site and thought bugger it i might as well put up pics of my cabinet i got an turn it into something for my 20 month old bredli to live in until he gets to big for it.
so it's pretty much all done.i just gotta add the pics. I took pics for myself just so I could have something to show the transformation from start to finish.
so first of all here is Blaze I hope the photo works doing this all off my phone

 

[Porkbones]

Awwww gawwwd.tht was a fail.looks like my pics are going to be turned.trying to find out how to get them the right way up.all my pics are on my phone

 

[Porkbones]

Here goes nothing.so here is th cabinet I got off gumtree. Then the same day I happened to be in bunnings and saw in the clearance section 3 strip of led lighting for $15.not bad considering a single strip extension was $17.not tht I'm complaining .couldnt wait, so the first night in went the led lights

 

[J-A-X]

I will fix the pic for you, but you'll have to wait until I'm on the PC

 

[Porkbones]

View attachment 286291View attachment 286292T

Thanks jax will see how long I last with the mucking around I have to do to get them turned lol
anyway next was the background.i seen hints on APS as to where to go.rang my local Harvey Norman an the guy said come take what I needed.i jumped in the car and grabbed a whole heap.i wanted backgrounds for the back wall and the 2 angled sides.i want to leave the actual side bits for vents and to screw branches into.so I laid down the styrofoam an with liquid nails (suitable to use with styrofoam ) I glues bits here and there and cut out grooves and outlines for individual rocks

 

[Porkbones]

I hope the last lot of pics worked. it came up with (attachment) an not actually showing the pic.but when i click on it, the pics do come up, dont know what i did there.

so back to the build.i put the 3bits of background in the cabinet just to make sure all was going to fit and to make sure I had left enough to allow for render.
i also drilled out the air vent holes on the sides ready for the little round vents from bunnings.
also in 1 of the pics you will see a piece of pine tht I will stain and clear coat.that is for my bottom glass track to sit on

 

[Porkbones]

So after I had all 3 pieces cut out,stuck together shaped and moulded it, it was time to cover and strengthen it with sand/cement mix
So I mixed up a rather sloppy mix of sand cement and used a watery mixture of bondcrete/water to bind it all. It didnt take to long to dry as the days at that time were quite warm here in qld as it was summer.i did use a hint I had seen on APS an I added acrylic paint to the sand cement mix for each layer so I could easily see what was the 2nd or 3rd coat an if I had missed any areas.so after the 3rd coat I was left with a brown coloured background ready for painting.
I thought ild go for a dark grey rock with light grey highlights an done some areas with patches of green for a moss like effect

 

[Porkbones]

so after I painted each section I sealed them with a mixture of bondcrete & water. I tried them in the enclosure, put the led lights on to see what it would look like.once I had them in place I screwed them from the back so they are very secure

 

[ronhalling]

Looking gr8, tks for the pics keep them coming, looks like it is going to be a stunner, well done.......................Ron

 

[Porkbones]

Looking gr8, tks for the pics keep them coming, looks like it is going to be a stunner, well done.......................Ron

Thanks.wasnt going to but glad I did put some pics up

 

[justin91]

Awesome job man, makes me want to do another DIY project.

 

[Porkbones]

Awesome job man, makes me want to do another DIY project.

Thanks. Can't wait till I make him his final enclosure . This is his house till the little spotted hatchie can move into here

 

[Porkbones]

So I had pre drilled the holes in the bottom shelf to hold the piece of pine that ill have my bottom track on it.had also attached the top glass track

 

[Porkbones]

I knew it was going all too smoothly.sat the piece of pine in the gap an sat the bottom track on it.wanted to put glass in an test it to see how it looked & worked.well it turned out it wasn't square.when closed there was a 5mm gap at the top of right hand side and a 5mm gap on the bottom left hand side.so with the lack of tools, some ingenuity and a knife and alot of patience I sliced,chipped an sanded away till both sides sat flush

 

[Bart70]

View attachment 287971I knew it was going all too smoothly.sat the piece of pine in the gap an sat the bottom track on it.wanted to put glass in an test it to see how it looked & worked.well it turned out it wasn't square.when closed there was a 5mm gap at the top of right hand side and a 5mm gap on the bottom left hand side.so with the lack of tools, some ingenuity and a knife and alot of patience I sliced,chipped an sanded away till both sides sat flush

Great work! Thanks for posting. I have a cabinet almost identical that will one day become an enclosure.

As a sidenote, on a recent TV cabinet conversion I had the same problem with the glass not being square. I decided to run the plastic glass 'track' vertically up the sides as well as top and bottom. The track was wide enough to hide the small gap, and made it look all neat and tidy.

Good work...I will be recalling this thread when I do my near identical cabinet in the future.

 

[Sarah.c192]

Awesome 3D background.... I love it....

How sturdy is the styrofoam? after you sealed it can you clean it and is it safe to use? sorry for all the questions lol but thinking of doing something like this in my smaller snakes enclousure's. Dont know if it would support my 6ft python tho lol

 

[Porkbones]

Great work! Thanks for posting. I have a cabinet almost identical that will one day become an enclosure.

As a sidenote, on a recent TV cabinet conversion I had the same problem with the glass not being square. I decided to run the plastic glass 'track' vertically up the sides as well as top and bottom. The track was wide enough to hide the small gap, and made it look all neat and tidy.

Good work...I will be recalling this thread when I do my near identical cabinet in the future.

thanks I manages to get it gap free.looks ok too.infact I have only just set up the new thermostat in his enclosure an he will be put in there once I know all is running well

 

[Porkbones]

Awesome 3D background.... I love it....

How sturdy is the styrofoam? after you sealed it can you clean it and is it safe to use? sorry for all the questions lol but thinking of doing something like this in my smaller snakes enclousure's. Dont know if it would support my 6ft python tho lol

the intention when I first started was to buy a yearling spotted an put him straight in.i ended up getting a hatchling, so no need for a large enclosure.bout a month later I got a 20 month old hypo bredli. So i started doing it up for him until the spotted is ready to go in.in the last shed the skin of the bredli was 167cm so he's over 5foot. The styrofoam is very strong, the layers of sand cement mix I use strengthen it, I haven't used render so I can't comment on that but have seen a lot of posts of people using it. I thinks that's strong too but easier to apply.there is noway he will break any part of my background. in saying that tho I haven't really got big ledges for him to curl up on,but if I did do a big ledge(and I will in his next enclosure) I would make sure there was enough support under the ledge to take the weight
yep easy to clean and safe to use

 

[Sarah.c192]

the intention when I first started was to buy a yearling spotted an put him straight in.i ended up getting a hatchling, so no need for a large enclosure.bout a month later I got a 20 month old hypo bredli. So i started doing it up for him until the spotted is ready to go in.in the last shed the skin of the bredli was 167cm so he's over 5foot. The styrofoam is very strong, the layers of sand cement mix I use strengthen it, I haven't used render so I can't comment on that but have seen a lot of posts of people using it. I thinks that's strong too but easier to apply.there is noway he will break any part of my background. in saying that tho I haven't really got big ledges for him to curl up on,but if I did do a big ledge(and I will in his next enclosure) I would make sure there was enough support under the ledge to take the weight
yep easy to clean and safe to use

Thanks for the reply =)
im so excited to give it a try, keep posting its interesting seeing the progress and your doing a amazing job

 

[bohdi13]

the last shed the skin of the bredli was 167cm so he's over 5foot.

just thought i would let you know that a shed of a snake can be up to 1 3rd bigger than the snake so i would say around 4ft.