• Hello!

    Either you have not registered on this site yet, or you are registered but have not logged in. In either case, you will not be able to use the full functionality of this site until you have registered, and then logged in after your registration has been approved.

    Registration is FREE, so please register so you can participate instead of remaining a lurker....

    Please be certain that the location field is correctly filled out when you register. All registrations that appear to be bogus will be rejected. Which means that if your location field does NOT match the actual location of your registration IP address, then your registration will be rejected.

    Sorry about the strictness of this requirement, but it is necessary to block spammers and scammers at the door as much as possible.

Rack design

I've had problems with finding tubs. If I might make a suggestion, buy ALL your tubs before you start construction. That way, you're guaranteed that everything fits. And buy extra tubs if you ever catch them on sale. Ya never know...
 
It looks great!!

However, don't take this the wrong way, but I don't think the design will work. Mostly due to the 4 large tubs on the bottom. I'm assuming those are for 41qt (or thereabouts) sized tubs?

I made a rack of melamine with the tubs going the long way like that and it started to sag after a few months. Melamine is just too heavy IMO to have an expanse that long unsupported. It's just too heavy to run the larger tubs like that the long ways.

If you rotated them so the short side was on the front and they were supported all the way down the longer side, it would work, but then that would screw up your entire design.

I wouldn't mess with melamine and positioning the large tubs the way you have them. It will eventually sag and you'll have a rack that isn't very useable. I'd make all of the shelves like the top 3 (whatever combination of them) and build a separate rack specific for the larger tubs that will be able to fully support their weight.
 
Well i'm gonna give it a try anyway, I don't have money to built 2 separate racks and I think as long as I support it in between the racks make it 3/4" instead of 5/8" and make a back onto the rack than I have a pretty good change it will be fine. but we'll see i guess.
 
I'm also gonna move the large bins to the top to have more support near the bottom and also keep the weight of the big bins.
 
It will still eventually sag whether you use 5/8 or 3/4 melamine. If you're set on it, then go for it, but be prepared to deal with tubs that don't fit within a year.

Is there a particular reason you need to have the larger tubs?
 
yeah I mostly don't want to put my full grown snakes into a 28qt tub. Its to small in my opinion.

I'm not saying you are wrong btw, but I do want to give it a try. if it doesn't work after a year I can always change to smaller tubs then and reinforce between them.
 
I have an idea. If the design is deep enough, make small (1"x1", or even4" wide?) removable stick supports to place in the middle of the larger openings in front of the tubs. That way, these will support the long shelves and prevent them from sagging or resting on the tubs over time. Simply pull the support out whenever you need to access the tub, then put them back whenever you close the tubs. It's simple, cheap, and I don't see why it wouldn't work and prevent sagging. Actually, if you took a short section of that 18" wide melamine and cut it to the height of the tub, there is no way it could sag over time, and it would give the snake in the 41's some privacy, too.
 
looks great.. what program did you use to design it?
Click to expand...

I used sketchup from google, its probably one of the easiest 3d programs to use, but it does a great job and actually tells you the exact measurements. And its free :p
 
So I think I decided to actually just use the medium 27L bins for the full grown snakes, kinda tried it out at home and it seems to be big enough. So now just a support between every bin and it will only be a 2' span which shouldn't cause any issues.
 
I just started on it yesterday. but it will still be a while before its done because I only had money for one sheet of melamine. but at least I should make 3 working shelves on it for now so I can start using it.
So far it looks like its gonna work great, its really strong and the bins slide in very nicely.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top