thickness of perspex

[smileysnake]

i know some people dont like using perspex its for smiley so i dont think it will get scratched..my enclosure needs 2 doors being 1200mm x 350mm each i was just wondering how thick would the perspex have to be to avoid sagging so to speak i found one place who can cut these 2 doors for me being 6mm thick. with freight for $110..much safer and cheaper than glass will 6mm be thick enough or do i need something like 10mm to be sure any thoughts....thanks in advance......smiley

 

[animal805]

IMO 6 mm just thick enough. I use 6mm on my indoor diamond house, but she is only ever in it when temps are above 35 outdoors.

 

[thomasssss]

if your making it a swinging door then personally i reckon 3mm would be fine , so long as you use a nice solid timber frame around the side of the door that takes away most of the flex , ive got 6mm in one of my enclosures and the other with 3mm and with the frame on the outside you cant tell a difference between them and neither flexes

 

[damian83]

wouldnt you be able to get them made from 4-6mm float glass or 3-4 mm toughened for that price? id stick with glass as the perspex with uv light will fade into an opaque yellow colour and will flex if the snake tried to get between the pieces(assuming there for a slider)

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wouldnt you be able to get them made from 4-6mm float glass or 3-4 mm toughened for that price? id stick with glass as the perspex with uv light will fade into an opaque yellow colour and will flex if the snake tried to get between the pieces(assuming there for a slider)

 

[Pythoninfinite]

Acrylic sheeting (Perspex) is a pain in the butt for reptile enclosures. It does cratch easily (even wiping it down will leave fine scratches from the dust it attracts because it is highly electrostatic. It flexes so it makes using it impractical for sliding doors, and it absorbs moisture from the air, so if you have a water spill on the inside (snake tips its water dish over) it will expand on the inner side, causing it to bow.

You are mistaken in believing it's cheaper than glass. If you shop around, you should be able to get 5mm clear float for half the price you've been quoted for Perspex, but you have to ask around the smaller glaziers are often far cheaper because they will cut it from their offcuts which they would otherwise throw out. The larger glass suppliers such as Pilkington have a fixed price per square metre and will overcharge hugely because they're not interested in small jobs like yours.

Technically, acrylic sheet has something like 10 times or more clarity than glass, but only for a very short time - as soon as it starts to get microscopically scratched it loses this doubtful advantage.

Jamie

 

[smileysnake]

ok guys so i am at 50/50 at the moment anyone else want to chuck in some pro's and con's.i will be using these as swinging doors..Thanks again for your opinions i appreciate it and will take it all on board...Pythoninfinite i had a sheet of glass cut for my green tree snake it is 1200mm x 600mm with an aluminium frame handle and hinges this cost me $130 so yeah your right for price and durability glass is the way to go......

 

[thomasssss]

if there swinging doors then perspex will be alot easier to set up then glass , glass will require routing out groves then fixing the glass where as perspex can be screwed from the back side into the wood frame making it so much easier and you only see the screws with the doors open

jamie , ive had one piece that was new when purchased a year ago and is still going strong no scratching and the dust isnt really that much of a problem

as for the yellowing ive seen that when it was used in a boat on the front window and it was absolutely crap after about 2 years maybe less, but at the same time a mate of mine has had his coastal in an enclosure with a perspex roof and front that cops minor sun but not much as it is indoors for around 4 years and his still looks great few scratches and stuff on the top piece i think but the front looks fine i really think it is the intended use with this stuff , i wouldn't how ever use it in a sliding track way to much flex but i dont really like sliding tracks for a number of reasons and prefer a well set up swinging door with good locks

 

[Pythoninfinite]

if there swinging doors then perspex will be alot easier to set up then glass , glass will require routing out groves then fixing the glass where as perspex can be screwed from the back side into the wood frame making it so much easier and you only see the screws with the doors open

jamie , ive had one piece that was new when purchased a year ago and is still going strong no scratching and the dust isnt really that much of a problem

as for the yellowing ive seen that when it was used in a boat on the front window and it was absolutely crap after about 2 years maybe less, but at the same time a mate of mine has had his coastal in an enclosure with a perspex roof and front that cops minor sun but not much as it is indoors for around 4 years and his still looks great few scratches and stuff on the top piece i think but the front looks fine i really think it is the intended use with this stuff , i wouldn't how ever use it in a sliding track way to much flex but i dont really like sliding tracks for a number of reasons and prefer a well set up swinging door with good locks

Hi thomassssss, as framed and hinged doors, a couple of the problems of acrylic are minimised or eliminated, but I still have an aversion to the stuff for this use. It became the rage in museums for smaller showcases a couple of decades ago, and the cleaning staff hated it, the more you wipe it, the more it attracts dust, which can be quite abrasive, and this is especially bad in dry weather. If you have a dusty substrate, wiping it will just pull all the dust off the floor onto the inside of the acrylic. I guess I'm just a grumpy old man when it comes to acrylic vs glass , which I admit is heavy and can break if carelessly handled, but it has no other drawbacks, and quite a few advantages...

Jamie

 

[thomasssss]

Hi thomassssss, as framed and hinged doors, a couple of the problems of acrylic are minimised or eliminated, but I still have an aversion to the stuff for this use. It became the rage in museums for smaller showcases a couple of decades ago, and the cleaning staff hated it, the more you wipe it, the more it attracts dust, which can be quite abrasive, and this is especially bad in dry weather. If you have a dusty substrate, wiping it will just pull all the dust off the floor onto the inside of the acrylic. I guess I'm just a grumpy old man when it comes to acrylic vs glass , which I admit is heavy and can break if carelessly handled, but it has no other drawbacks, and quite a few advantages...

Jamie

i get what your saying , if its sliding tracks it would be a no brainer to use glass , acrylic has to much flex its good when used with a solid frame in a swinging setup , as for the dust thing i don't really have to much of a problem with it although i do polish it up with one of those micro-fibre cloth things after a clean

i don't really have a problem with glass either i just think people should steer clear of float purely for the fact that when it breaks it goes every where but laminate on the other hand holds shape float is really intended to be used in a window type setup where the glass is held evenly and firmly on all edges plus covering them over which reduces the risk of breaks 10 fold compared to when its used in a sliding track and the edges are free and exposed i remember the few trophy cabinets i made when i worked as a glazier all either had toughened glass or lam we never used plain float for sliding tracks

i just think when it comes to housing an animal every reasonable precaution should be taken to ensure safety ,its not like im talking about padding up all the walls incase the animal falls just a slight change in materials