PVC/Polyethylene plastic enclosures!

[JungleGuy]

Would you be able to screw it together or would it have to be welded? I can imagine it would be significantly cheaper and lighter.

 

[Hoplophile]

Anyone looked at black acrylic? A plastics fabricator here in Melbourne is going to make me a prototype. I'll post some pics when its ready.

 

[Russ2]

What about molded plastic, Ie: like a water tank or horse water trough?
You fill up a mold with granulised plastic, put it in a furnace and hey presto you got something that is UV stabilized, approved and tested to hold water for human consumption and no joins whatso ever?
Just a thought

 

[JungleGuy]

What about molded plastic, Ie: like a water tank or horse water trough?
You fill up a mold with granulised plastic, put it in a furnace and hey presto you got something that is UV stabilized, approved and tested to hold water for human consumption and no joins whatso ever?
Just a thought

Yeah i thought about that but i figured the cost to produce the mould would make it very expensive unless you were to produce a large number of enclosures, not sure how true this is but i assume thats how it would be anyway.

 

[Russ2]

Give me a little time and I'll let ya know

 

[JungleGuy]

Give me a little time and I'll let ya know

Cheers, definately interested to see what you find out.

 

[Russ2]

Should be able to make a cube, rounded corners on the inside and square on the outside with an open top.
The only join would then be the roof.
Cut a hole in one of the sides for your door or sliding glass then hey presto.
Sorta light weight, strong, stack-able and easy to clean.
let ya know in a few weeks.

 

[maddog-1979]

Should be able to make a cube, rounded corners on the inside and square on the outside with an open top.
The only join would then be the roof.
Cut a hole in one of the sides for your door or sliding glass then hey presto.
Sorta light weight, strong, stack-able and easy to clean.
let ya know in a few weeks.

why not just make it so the front of the enclosure is the top of the mould? save having to cut out a peice of the plastic for you glass then

would that work?

 

[JungleGuy]

why not just make it so the front of the enclosure is the top of the mould? save having to cut out a peice of the plastic for you glass then

would that work?

Yeah i'm thinking that would be better too and maybe get them to just put two strips of plastic one up the top and one down the bottom for extra strength similar to how melamine enclosures are. Hopefully that would minimise bowing especially when stacked.

 

[tyson001]

it would be possible to make for about $500 for a 4x2x2

 

[wokka]

I have a lot of celluka enclosures from when i used to have a lot of gtps. I looked into importing eskies without lids, with the idea of turning them on their side and replacing the lids with sliding door track. We ended up going for celluka for the breeder's enclosures, and your standard kitab tubs on their sides with plastic track and glass doors for the juveniles. All our animals live in cool room panel buildings so heat loss is not a big problem, but in normal houses lack of insulation is a problem as plastic and glass are lousey insulators.

 

[-Peter]

You do realize that the sheet of hdpe will grow 24 and 12 mm respectively for every 15 degrees c above 20. 10mm per 1000mm exp rate.

This causes the the welds to snap and the sheets to warp. The additional problem of hdpe is nothing sticks hence why it is used for grease lines so you cannot use silicone or similar to provide a flexible joint to cater for expansion. It is also quite heavy. PVC lead free is a better option. Make sure you specify lead free as it does release small amounts of lead especially under heat

Cheers
scott

This means your sliding doors fall out and your Pseudechis guttatus get loose.

 

[eipper]

Good reason to have herps in an escape proof room Peter.

 

[-Peter]

Good reason to have herps in an escape proof room Peter.

Very much so.

 

[kr0nick]

Lol . Also I got an email back from the plastic welder they can do what I want but I am waiting on A quote.
Russ sounds like A plan I will definitely keep an eye open for this

 

[euan]

Here are some photos of my cages.
I find them very easy to clean and robust.
Celluka has very similar insulative properties to plywood.
If one looks at the enclosed environment we keep our animals in, in general, and compares that to our own living area it is similar.
Basically very few people keep their animal enclosures in areas of extremes.
Thus worrying about how insulative a material is for enclosure construction is not normally necessary.
Obviously how we can do things in the great state of Queensland is different to those suffering living in southern states

Whoops I pushed the wrong button
Here are the photo captions left to right top to bottom.
1 outdoor goanna cages, made from alu profile and stainless steel mouse mesh
2 python cages 1m x .5 x .5 with different colours this rack is on wheels
3 venomous hide box under an unfinished cage. It allows the snake to be locked in the hidebox or the cage while removing the hidebox or vice versa
4 60cm cube cages
5 in floor routed heat cable
6 the same cage with astroturf over the heatcable and showing the water bowl which is also routed into the base
7 I tried building German style cages from alu and glass but the correct profiles are not availalbe in australia
8 python cages again
9 sames as 4 but with built in glass dams for using with rodents and dasyuirids
10 sames as 4

 

[JungleGuy]

They look good euan, do you happen to know how much it would cost to make a 4 x 2 x 2 with the thickness of the materials used in the second pic?

 

[kr0nick]

Wow Euan are those all Celluka?
I am thinking of using this, What is the strength like for stacks like yours?

 

[euan]

The problem with using the alu skin as in pict two it flexes to much. I strengthen it with alu angle which is fine for 1m lengths. With 1.2m lengths if you drop the cage or bash it too much it can bow.
I guess it depends on how clumsy you are
But about $350 for a 4x2x2 cage only, no heating or lighting.

 

[kr0nick]

Lol good idea mate, I might look into that.