• 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.

DIY Front Opening Aquariums

Hmmmm yeah those are great!..
I have a few 10 gals that I wanted to do this with...
soo.. you should just come do this for me..before I break something!.:smash:.LOL..jkjk..thanks for the tips!



~~'manda:cheers:
 
This is an older post, but it is really an awesome idea and I have a question... probably a stupid question, but oh well! :) What are rivets, and why don't you just use screws?
 
nivek5225 said:
This is an older post, but it is really an awesome idea and I have a question... probably a stupid question, but oh well! :) What are rivets, and why don't you just use screws?
Click to expand...

Rivets are kinda like a permanent bolt. In the photos they look like what are called pop rivets. I'd imagine the problem with using screws is making sure there is nothing sharp for the snake to injure itself on.

This really looks like a great idea. I may look into this.
 
That's a really sweet idea. It actually gave me an idea. Looking at your pics, the lip of the aquarium allows you to put a certain amount of substrate in there without it spilling over. I was wondering what could be done to allow it to hold even more substrate, and came up with this idea. I appreciate the insight...I probably would have never thought to turn an aquarium on its side, and install something like this.

PlextankdoorLowerRidge.jpg


Have you thought about adding something to the door to keep it from swinging inward? I assume the hinges prevent this from happening right? In the event of some form of impact or excessive force applied to the door, would the hinge crack the plastic where it attaches? I added two black rectangles to the door. These are some sort of tabs that would prevent the door from swinging inward. I am not sure how to make them, or what to make them from, but I figured they would add some stability to the door when closed. Let me know what you think.
 
Nroc said:
Have you thought about adding something to the door to keep it from swinging inward? I assume the hinges prevent this from happening right? In the event of some form of impact or excessive force applied to the door, would the hinge crack the plastic where it attaches? I added two black rectangles to the door. These are some sort of tabs that would prevent the door from swinging inward. I am not sure how to make them, or what to make them from, but I figured they would add some stability to the door when closed. Let me know what you think.
Click to expand...

I thought about this some more, and realized that the aquarium ledge would actually serve the purpose of those two tabs I spoke about. Does the door rest on this part of the ledge?
 
Rivite instead of screws, basically what bkelm18 said....no sharp edges exposed. And being aluminum they don't rust or corrode if high humidity is needed.

The litter dam, I've actually made several now with a wider litter damn pretty close to what is shown in that diagram, running another small piece of plexi along the bottom edge of the litter dam alievates the swinging door issue you observed. Without the litter dam the lid will rest in the lip of the tank when closed.

~B~
 
This is really amazing. I think I'll be converting a couple of my tanks this way. Thank you so much for posting!
 
OK, so I have the rivet gun, rivets, plexiglass and hinges.

And questions...

I'm not 100% in love with the industrial look of that vent. Can't I use something more like this: http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay...roductId=3017509&catalogId=10051&cmRelshp=sim secured with silicone or something? (more rivets?)

Also, the dood at the Home Despot said you can't cut plexiglass with a saw b/c it will split, etc. and recommended this scoring/popping method. But I bought the thick plexi so that's going to take forever. Or is this guy full of crap and I can use a saw? b/c I would rather have my buddy cut it for me.

no one seems to have the cam locks w/o keys (though I do have a couple more stores to try). I'm afraid of locking my babies and losing the keys!
 
The vents should work as long as there isn't too much play in loovers I think I looked at those once and decided against it bacause I thought (for my tastes anyway) they bent out to easily....I'm kind of security nut though so I tend to over think escape routes.

Yeah you'll be scorring all day if it's 1/4" LOL Jigsaw with a metal blade and water bottle to cool down the blade...works pretty slick.

here's the ones I use at the bottom of this page...I order them from these guys because as you've found no one carries the non-key types: http://www.mcmaster.com/#cam-latches/=5t1muw

~B~
 
OK, sorry to be a pest but I have a couple of friends to help with this and a couple more snakes coming in March from the Repticon show ;).

What size Cam Lock did you use?

This is so great b/c I have a bothersome feline who likes to sit on top of the screened top and it's always making me so nervous.
 
A question came to mind. Those rivets look large compared the lip width. At its thinnest point, how much plastic surrounds the rivet? I suppose marking the location of these is something that will take a triple check before committing to.
 
Well remember that the rivets are actually thinner than what you see b/c there's a lip that goes all the way around. Also Plexiglass is clear so my plan is to drill the holes in the tank lid first then mark the plexiglass and drill those holes (all after everything is cut).

I'm having reservations about cutting the plexi b/c I'm clumsy and scared of power saws.
 
I use 1/8" aluminum rivits in the corners so there is about an 1/8" area around them...more than enough to hold it securely.

Jigjaws aren't too bad....the variable speed ones help because you can slow them down and it doesn't heat the blade up quite as bad.

~B~
 
This is truly fantastic, Guru! Simple, clean, and very professional looking result!

Seriously living up to the name :)
 
girthta said:
OK, so I have the rivet gun, rivets, plexiglass and hinges.

And questions...

I'm not 100% in love with the industrial look of that vent. Can't I use something more like this: http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay...roductId=3017509&catalogId=10051&cmRelshp=sim secured with silicone or something? (more rivets?)

Also, the dood at the Home Despot said you can't cut plexiglass with a saw b/c it will split, etc. and recommended this scoring/popping method. But I bought the thick plexi so that's going to take forever. Or is this guy full of crap and I can use a saw? b/c I would rather have my buddy cut it for me.

no one seems to have the cam locks w/o keys (though I do have a couple more stores to try). I'm afraid of locking my babies and losing the keys!
Click to expand...
just leave the key in the lock all the time
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top