Enclosure plans

[treysik]

Hey folks,

I was wondering if anyone had building plans for enclosures? I am terrible with measurements. All wooden enclosures I have, I bought used and just refinished. I want to build say, 7x3x3. I have no problem constructing it, I just screw up measurements.

Amy help would be great! Thanks!

 

[maguire01]

Make a 4x8 an get them to cut the 8 ft pieces in half. Then if you need to move it or you move or something you can just take it apart. That's my plan anyways

 

[treysik]

I thought of that, but that takes a huge chunk of space. It's housing a Colombian so the 7x3x3 is good. I might do the 8x4x4. Will see.

 

[Josh]

Are you looking to make something like this but (obviously) bigger? Have you tried going to the reptile/pet shop to spy on their designs to see how they do it? I'd assume it's pretty basic box construction but you may need to be aware of how to work with those materials specifically...

 

[Tannaros]

What types of measurements do you seem to have difficulty with?

For the most part the only real measurements you need are those of the top, bottom, back, and sides the former three being identical and the latter two being identical.

ex. If you're doing an enclosure out of 3/4" plywood - you could use 4 8x4 sheets in total

You could do a cross cut for the 12" off the end, and a rip cut for the 12" off the width. I personally would do a rip cut along the entire sheet for the 12" width, then do the cross cut of 12" for the length. This would just give you some nice 8x1 pieces to potentially use as your substrate dam/basking shelf/etc. These would be the top, back, and bottom.

You could then make the sides by taking a sheet and doing a cross cut to shorten the length to 6' - then do another center cross cut followed by a 12" rip cut to make both sides. You could also do the cuts in reverse for potentially better scraps

Then all you'd really need to do is piece everything together.

I'm sure there's a more efficient way of doing this although.

If you don't like plywood you can always use a planer to joint some dimensional lumber together instead. Though that would make the enclosure exceedingly heavy.

 

[ArizonaTegu]

My brother use to be a carpenter so will have him build mine.