HBP Exotics you have no idea how many rack build videos I have watched that confused me more than anything. I usually stop watching after about 3 minutes. This was hands down the best! Thank you, I may now have the courage to attempt. On the down side, I've limited myself to only a few snakes because I can't see spending all that money on basically a shelving system. But if I can build one, well I'm gonna have to get snakes for them!
When I use spacers to mark shelves in use the same spacer to assemble the shelves. Makes it easier to hold them in place square while drilling them in when you rest it on top of spacers
old vid but this is genius. i’ve been wanting to build my own snake rack and i’ve had a hard time figuring out how to heat it and now i know! awesome job
I did my hatchling rack out of melamine and built the base solely with the propose of having wheels lol I also do my heat tape different. I like having each level wired instead of one constant piece. I also use the the crimps.
@@GJLCreativeStudios I used outlet plugs I got from reptile basics. Cut each all of the flexwatt to the same length. I cut mine to an inch smaller then the actual shelves for spacing when the wire is crimped on. Cut all the plug wires the exact same length as each other. As long as your power cords are the same length and your flexwatt is the same length on all levels you should in theory have the same wattage usage across all levels. I then calculated how much wattage ech level would add up together. Then i plugged all the flex watt into a power strip which plugs into 1 appropriate sized (wattage capacity) thermostat. It's great because you can unplug levels to save energy if you dont have that many hatchlings.
I looked for the pvc for 2.5yrs and couldn't find it anywhere here in ohio or when I lived in NC w/in a 100mile radius. I just recently found some at menards. And they will deliver it to other store locations if your local doesn't have it where Lowes & home depot don't give that option. And it's cheaper than plywood @ $80 sheet. B4 the cheapest I could find was around $200 a sheet.
AWESOME video ! I can't get PVC sheets in my area either and that's Almost exactly how I built my hatchling (Iris MCB-S tubs 13.5qt) & sub adult racks (FB20 tubs) last year. When routing the channel for the heat tape I also used a dremel to cut a little groove on both sides of the channel for the heat tape so the channel actually holds the heat tape down in place, staples just scare me on the heat tape. If you place them correctly there shouldn't be problem, but I'd rather not risk it. I also just built the rack using the tubs on the shelves & a 1/4 inch piece of ply wood on top of the tubs (for a vent area instead of drilling holes in the tubs) to space out the next shelf, that way there's no miss aligned marks for the screws (I've used the "spacer" method as well & ran into the same problem you did. LoL). I also pilot drilled all the holes to reduce the risk of the melamine splitting while running the screws in & chamfered the holes for the screws so they sit flush inside the melamine, just gives it a cleaner look in my opinon. GREAT job building the rack & thanks for sharing. 👍
Honestly the way you built that there is no reason why it shouldn't last as long as pvc, it's not like you'll be sloshing water everywhere. Plus the fact that you edge banded it will keep moisture from getting into the MDF. Great job.
I've got a DIY Malamen Rak. very heavy. it's black thou, and I didn't have a router, to do belly heat, so it has just one strip of heat tape running up the entire length of the back of the rack, with that said it works just fine.
Excellent video! Aside from the weight, there’s nothing wrong with melamine. PVC board isn’t cheap and very hard to find. I bought a pvc rack w 5 tubs. I need more space so I’m making the exact same rack but using melamine instead. It’ll cost me under 80$ to make the same rack that cost me 450$. No brainer.
For what it's worth, I priced out ~12mm PVC sheets via Regal Plastics for about $120 a sheet, which as you said, ain't cheap, but it's about the best price I've managed to find anywhere (online or in person). They even offered to cut them down to save on shipping. Thinking about using it to make some larger enclosures for retics. Cool vid, thanks for the cut lists!
Thanks for the kind words. It's not my best work but it certainly does the job. You could absolutely do a similar rack with nothing more than a circular saw and a drill. Just takes some slight changes
Looks awesome bro I'm looking to get into breeding so great video for me .. only tip I could say is measure twice cut once if I learnt anything from my apprenticeship lol
This is excellent solid information! I'm surprised you are doing this for free,this is patreon type content IMO. Thanks for an excellent video! New sub here
So you will have that heat tape plugged into a thermostat. Where will you place the sensor and I’d assume all the animals in the rack have similar heat requirements?
Love the video man alot of useful information for me I do have a question about something. What kind of router bits are you using and how deep do you go when routing out for the heat tape
Thanks for the video! Great work. I'm excited to start this project. What is the length of the heat tape? You mention 15ft in the beginning and 16ft at the end.
Edge banding is better done before screwing it together. And it looks like you need a saw blade with much smaller teeth. To stop all the edges braking out . Otherwise great work.
Oh sorry to hear that have you tried checking Home Depot.com and maybe seeing if they would ship it to you I mean by all means do what your doing your racks look amazing and I actually plan on building some of my own out of the melamine as well just figured sometimes they do free shipping on orders of $100 so might be possible and that’s again only if your interested like I said your racks look great just thought I would share sorry for my poor punctuation
Soo I wish I knew the overall cost of this adventure. I try to call my local Lowe's and they say that i can get 4'x8' plank of melamine for like 30$ but at home depot its like 60$ a piece.. I'm confused if I'm looking at the right stuff.
Great rack and video! Can you please advise the brand and size of tubs used in the combo rack. I’m about to start mine and want to have the tubs to ensure fit as building. I like your tubs better then the sterilite ones I currently have.
Thanks. These are Sterilite as well. They are specifically the "Clear View Latch" from Target. The latches come in all kinds of colors. I use the 15qt and the 32qt
Try Home Depot they sell textured pvc 4’x8’x1/2” pvc one side is textured but they have it my Lowe’s doesn’t sell it either but Home Depot has it for between $76 in Maryland and $67 in Pennsylvania so might want to check that I’m going to try and build a melamine rack here soon to get the hang of it and see how much material it takes me personally to do it then I’ll try the pvc board thanks for all the info your doing great
k3 beatz illest16 you can get the 4’ by 8’ melamine sheets for 30.48 a piece at Lowe’s and the 4” heat tape is 2.20 per foot, plus you would need a thermostat capable of running all that tape which would be between 85 and 100. Then obviously the tubs can be fairly variable
So I build this rack and routed out a 4” section for heat tape. My heat tape came in the mail today and is only 3”. Do I need to send it back, or do you have any other ideas?
You should avoid using one long strip of heat tape. Its unnecessary and doubles the power consumption (also the amount of watts your thermostat has to regulate). They will cut and wire each shelf for you. I did the math for mine and going individual strips vs one long strips allows me to run an entire second rack off the same thermostat channel, instead of taking up a second channel or buying another thermostat.
That’s not accurate at all. I have built a bunch of racks, both one piece and separate, and there is negligible difference. The total output for this rack is around 50w and most quality thermostats are rated 500w+. But if you want to use separate pieces, be my guest.
@@MorphMixologyReptiles It might not be accurate with this rack using 4" heat tape, but with a 41qt 10 tall rack using 6" heat tape its nearly 20ft to use one strip (240w). Versus 1ft per shelf, which is 10ft (120w). All the multi channel thermostats I've seen (VE or Herpstat) are 400-500w max per output. Id prefer not to push the max output. Either way if you can achieve the same goal using less power I dont see why you wouldnt want to. Its not a huge deal with a smaller rack like this because its only 2ft or so extra, but with bigger racks or tape it adds up.
I would recommend not having it touch the heat tape for much longer. The rubbing can cause a fire. Is there any room to put a shim under the tubs? You only need like 1/16" or 1/8". Just a couple strips on either side that run the whole length of the tub for the tub to slide on
Nice information I was even able to take a few of ur ideas and see how they work with ones I have done check ForTheBalls channel he has some good stuff on there for diy as well
Wish I was smart enough to build stuff like this I can’t even properly read a tape measure. Guess I kind of stupid... everything I build comes out fucked up
Awesome video man...now I need to go check out your rat rack build...I have one rack but need to build another....awesome job...
Thanks man! Glad you like it
HBP Exotics you have no idea how many rack build videos I have watched that confused me more than anything. I usually stop watching after about 3 minutes. This was hands down the best! Thank you, I may now have the courage to attempt. On the down side, I've limited myself to only a few snakes because I can't see spending all that money on basically a shelving system. But if I can build one, well I'm gonna have to get snakes for them!
Glad you liked the video. Thanks!
The rat rack video is top notch! Built one and am now building two more!
Your a trip to watch man. I enjoyed it. Thank you for the video.
Thanks for the video! Hoping to do a rack system for next year's breeding season and will be following this tutorial! Really appreciated!
When I use spacers to mark shelves in use the same spacer to assemble the shelves. Makes it easier to hold them in place square while drilling them in when you rest it on top of spacers
old vid but this is genius. i’ve been wanting to build my own snake rack and i’ve had a hard time figuring out how to heat it and now i know! awesome job
I did my hatchling rack out of melamine and built the base solely with the propose of having wheels lol I also do my heat tape different. I like having each level wired instead of one constant piece. I also use the the crimps.
" I like having each level wired "
can you elaborate, please?
@@GJLCreativeStudios I used outlet plugs I got from reptile basics.
Cut each all of the flexwatt to the same length. I cut mine to an inch smaller then the actual shelves for spacing when the wire is crimped on.
Cut all the plug wires the exact same length as each other.
As long as your power cords are the same length and your flexwatt is the same length on all levels you should in theory have the same wattage usage across all levels. I then calculated how much wattage ech level would add up together. Then i plugged all the flex watt into a power strip which plugs into 1 appropriate sized (wattage capacity) thermostat.
It's great because you can unplug levels to save energy if you dont have that many hatchlings.
I looked for the pvc for 2.5yrs and couldn't find it anywhere here in ohio or when I lived in NC w/in a 100mile radius. I just recently found some at menards. And they will deliver it to other store locations if your local doesn't have it where Lowes & home depot don't give that option. And it's cheaper than plywood @ $80 sheet. B4 the cheapest I could find was around $200 a sheet.
Its an awesome instructional video. I will be building a couple soon! and a hatchling rack too. Thank you for explaining it all so well
AWESOME video ! I can't get PVC sheets in my area either and that's Almost exactly how I built my hatchling (Iris MCB-S tubs 13.5qt) & sub adult racks (FB20 tubs) last year. When routing the channel for the heat tape I also used a dremel to cut a little groove on both sides of the channel for the heat tape so the channel actually holds the heat tape down in place, staples just scare me on the heat tape. If you place them correctly there shouldn't be problem, but I'd rather not risk it. I also just built the rack using the tubs on the shelves & a 1/4 inch piece of ply wood on top of the tubs (for a vent area instead of drilling holes in the tubs) to space out the next shelf, that way there's no miss aligned marks for the screws (I've used the "spacer" method as well & ran into the same problem you did. LoL). I also pilot drilled all the holes to reduce the risk of the melamine splitting while running the screws in & chamfered the holes for the screws so they sit flush inside the melamine, just gives it a cleaner look in my opinon. GREAT job building the rack & thanks for sharing. 👍
Can you give me the cutting diameters plz
@@devontaypeoples9813 I don't understand the question... cutting diameter to what ?
Only issue with this build video is the patriots cooler in the garage. Great build. GO BILLS!
😂
You are a sad strange little man -buzz lightyear
Loved the video
Great video!
Love DIY builds, awesome vid once again. Keep them coming.
Absolutely! Thanks for the support!
Honestly the way you built that there is no reason why it shouldn't last as long as pvc, it's not like you'll be sloshing water everywhere. Plus the fact that you edge banded it will keep moisture from getting into the MDF. Great job.
I've got a DIY Malamen Rak. very heavy. it's black thou, and I didn't have a router, to do belly heat, so it has just one strip of heat tape running up the entire length of the back of the rack, with that said it works just fine.
Awesome. Yeah back heat is another option for sure.
Great video! Rack came out nice 👍🏼
Thanks!
awesome video looks great and nice that you including a plan list to
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it
Thank you
Awesome vedio
That was a really good DIY video
Thanks!
Amazing. Thanks dude
If you seal the edges, after you cut them, to stop tge absorption of fluid, they will last twice as long.
Melamine, is JUST heavy, when done properly.
Good video
Excellent video! Aside from the weight, there’s nothing wrong with melamine. PVC board isn’t cheap and very hard to find. I bought a pvc rack w 5 tubs. I need more space so I’m making the exact same rack but using melamine instead. It’ll cost me under 80$ to make the same rack that cost me 450$. No brainer.
It looks pretty nice!
For what it's worth, I priced out ~12mm PVC sheets via Regal Plastics for about $120 a sheet, which as you said, ain't cheap, but it's about the best price I've managed to find anywhere (online or in person). They even offered to cut them down to save on shipping. Thinking about using it to make some larger enclosures for retics. Cool vid, thanks for the cut lists!
Ya I wish I could get plastic. Oh well
Well done sir!
You should use your spacer blocks to hold the shelves while you're putting them back in.
GOOD JOB SIR
It looks very professional thats a great looking rack imo id like to build one but seems to require Alot of tools thanks for the video!!
Thanks for the kind words. It's not my best work but it certainly does the job. You could absolutely do a similar rack with nothing more than a circular saw and a drill. Just takes some slight changes
soldering iron, a table saw and a router
Nice video man. I wish I would have had this a few years ago when I started building racks. I would have wasted as much wood I did.
Great video man !!
Thanks man!
Looks awesome bro I'm looking to get into breeding so great video for me .. only tip I could say is measure twice cut once if I learnt anything from my apprenticeship lol
Nice video man, you should try a dado stack on your table saw to cut those heat tape recesses it will make it way faster with less set up too.
You should use your spacers as you put in the heat tape and shelfs
I feel you bro! It's way cheaper to use the melamine sheets! That's what I am using for my rack builds.
Awesome!
How deep are you setting the router for the heat tape? It looks like 1/8”?
Awesome video man! Found you on instagram, and im glad i did! Keep up the great work
Thanks
What kind of ruler you using as you router guide and how deep do you make the channels?
I shared it so u can get more subs your awesome
Thanks man!
This is excellent solid information! I'm surprised you are doing this for free,this is patreon type content IMO. Thanks for an excellent video! New sub here
thanks. i dont believe in the patreon model. i dont like charging people for my diy stuff im making up as i go.
@@MorphMixologyReptiles God bless you
So you will have that heat tape plugged into a thermostat. Where will you place the sensor and I’d assume all the animals in the rack have similar heat requirements?
Love the video man alot of useful information for me I do have a question about something. What kind of router bits are you using and how deep do you go when routing out for the heat tape
Man i really wish I can make this with the tools I have... great vid!!!
I hope you taped up the exposed bus bars on the bottom shelf of the heat tape off camera.
Of course
Love the build. I was wondering do you pre-drill the screws. Do you have any issues of the shelves splitting from the screws?
Yea pre-drill
Nice vide very eazy to follow along..can you please let me know were can i get the tubs for a snake rack im building.
Great video, what size blade did you use?
Just curious why you didn't hole punch and crimp the heat tape and wire?
A couple questions what height is the rack, and how much would you say it costs
Thanks for the video! Great work. I'm excited to start this project. What is the length of the heat tape? You mention 15ft in the beginning and 16ft at the end.
Thanks! Not sure honestly
Do you make air holes in your tubs?
Hey man nice video bro. I'm gonna give it a go so hey got a quick question. Just wondering what size router bit your using? Thanks man.
Honestly not sure
Edge banding is better done before screwing it together. And it looks like you need a saw blade with much smaller teeth. To stop all the edges braking out .
Otherwise great work.
Oh sorry to hear that have you tried checking Home Depot.com and maybe seeing if they would ship it to you I mean by all means do what your doing your racks look amazing and I actually plan on building some of my own out of the melamine as well just figured sometimes they do free shipping on orders of $100 so might be possible and that’s again only if your interested like I said your racks look great just thought I would share sorry for my poor punctuation
Aewsome video! What kind of router bit is it called that u used for the 4" heat tape channel?
k3 beatz illest16 Its a straight bit.
Should I leave 1/8 of an inch gap above each tub or make it tight?
Which size router bit did you use on your snake racks
Heat tape, ha, I just keep my house at 80 degrees and everything is just fine been that way for years
No way in hell I could survive with my house at 80.
Morph Mixology Reptiles When you live in Arizona and it's 115 outside, 80 feels damn nice.
Fair enough. My a/c broke a few weeks back and it was 85 in my house for 8 days. I thought I was gonna die
Soo I wish I knew the overall cost of this adventure. I try to call my local Lowe's and they say that i can get 4'x8' plank of melamine for like 30$ but at home depot its like 60$ a piece.. I'm confused if I'm looking at the right stuff.
What kind of tubs? Where did you get them? Please
just subscribed
Thanks!
Great rack and video! Can you please advise the brand and size of tubs used in the combo rack. I’m about to start mine and want to have the tubs to ensure fit as building. I like your tubs better then the sterilite ones I currently have.
Thanks. These are Sterilite as well. They are specifically the "Clear View Latch" from Target. The latches come in all kinds of colors. I use the 15qt and the 32qt
How did you made that cut for heat tape?.. I have that tool.. But don't know what kind of thing didi u put on that
Try Home Depot they sell textured pvc 4’x8’x1/2” pvc one side is textured but they have it my Lowe’s doesn’t sell it either but Home Depot has it for between $76 in Maryland and $67 in Pennsylvania so might want to check that I’m going to try and build a melamine rack here soon to get the hang of it and see how much material it takes me personally to do it then I’ll try the pvc board thanks for all the info your doing great
Not an option in Montana
Aewsome tutorial! I'm new getting into ball pythons and was curious How much was the total cost for the wood, & flexible heat tape?
k3 beatz illest16 you can get the 4’ by 8’ melamine sheets for 30.48 a piece at Lowe’s and the 4” heat tape is 2.20 per foot, plus you would need a thermostat capable of running all that tape which would be between 85 and 100. Then obviously the tubs can be fairly variable
What size casters do you use?
Damn, I love the simplicity of this rack! Anybody could do this....jk lol. This is mad impressive.
what are those black wires for on @20:35?
That's the temperature probe for the thermostat. It just hadn't been routed out the back yet
What thermostat was being used
What size racks would you recommend for breeding hognose snakes?
No clue. I don’t breed hognose. No idea what they need
So I build this rack and routed out a 4” section for heat tape. My heat tape came in the mail today and is only 3”. Do I need to send it back, or do you have any other ideas?
Should be fine
Are your tubs supposed to sit on top of the heat tape or right in front of it ?
Sits above. It should not touch the tape but you need it under the tub. That’s why there’s the routed channel
Could you use 1/2 inch melamine sheets or no?
Awesome video man, I’m about to make an adult ball python rack. Should I use 12 inch heat type or should I use 6? Thank for the content.
I don't use anything bigger than 6" except on incubators
Morph Mixology Reptiles Thank you so much! That helps a lot, would I also use 6 for a hatchling rack as well?
No I typically use 3" for hatchling, 4" for this rack, and 6" for adult (longer) tubs
How much did you pay for the role of heat tape?
You should avoid using one long strip of heat tape. Its unnecessary and doubles the power consumption (also the amount of watts your thermostat has to regulate). They will cut and wire each shelf for you. I did the math for mine and going individual strips vs one long strips allows me to run an entire second rack off the same thermostat channel, instead of taking up a second channel or buying another thermostat.
That’s not accurate at all. I have built a bunch of racks, both one piece and separate, and there is negligible difference. The total output for this rack is around 50w and most quality thermostats are rated 500w+. But if you want to use separate pieces, be my guest.
@@MorphMixologyReptiles It might not be accurate with this rack using 4" heat tape, but with a 41qt 10 tall rack using 6" heat tape its nearly 20ft to use one strip (240w). Versus 1ft per shelf, which is 10ft (120w). All the multi channel thermostats I've seen (VE or Herpstat) are 400-500w max per output. Id prefer not to push the max output. Either way if you can achieve the same goal using less power I dont see why you wouldnt want to. Its not a huge deal with a smaller rack like this because its only 2ft or so extra, but with bigger racks or tape it adds up.
Which tub or area does the thermostat probe go?
I route a channel into one of the middle shelves and tape the probe to the under side of the heat tape. I choose not to put the probe in a tub.
Any particular reason that you do not put in the tub?
I don't like the snake having access to it or the inability (lack of convenience) of pulling the tub all the way out
Is pvc board the same as foam board
not that im aware of
What’s your website for your snakes?
morphmixology.com
Where do u buy heatstrips ?
Reptilebasics.com
@@MorphMixologyReptiles ty bro
So I have my tubs directly on my heat tape how can I fix thise and how long can I keep it directly on heat tape
I would recommend not having it touch the heat tape for much longer. The rubbing can cause a fire. Is there any room to put a shim under the tubs? You only need like 1/16" or 1/8". Just a couple strips on either side that run the whole length of the tub for the tub to slide on
@@MorphMixologyReptiles deff room ima look into that so something like a aluminum plate of some kind
No just like 1/16" birch sheet cut to like 1-2" wide strips
Is building 2 VE6 racks enough space for a first year opperation?
Depends how many babies you produce
@@MorphMixologyReptiles we would have 24 8QT tubs.
Between 3 females I would probably be able set up temp enclosures while I build a few more.
I can't get PVC here either 🙄
would you sell those rack systems ?
No sorry
How much would this all cost my man ?
I can get pvc sheet at home depot for $65 any day of the week....... 1/2"x4-ftx8-ft
How deep should the dado be?
???
@@MorphMixologyReptiles the groove for the heat tape
Just enough that when you tape or staple the heat tape down the tub can't touch it.
@@MorphMixologyReptiles best rack build I've seen so far. Thank you.
Thank you!
Nice information I was even able to take a few of ur ideas and see how they work with ones I have done check ForTheBalls channel he has some good stuff on there for diy as well
PVC board?
Melamine
Why not just use plywood?
Where to get pvc
I don't know. I don't have access to pvc
Also only one side is textured sorry should have said that still way more expensive for the pvc but just wanted to give you that option
Link or reference to the router bit you are using ?
Wish I was smart enough to build stuff like this
I can’t even properly read a tape measure.
Guess I kind of stupid... everything I build comes out fucked up
Do you sell this? If not you should.. If you do how much would one of this run me for ??
Exactly the way you did this one with the heat tape...
No I generally don't build for sale. They aren't that finish quality and they weigh A LOT
Can you give me to cutting diameters please🤙
Why the melamine over plywood??
What was the total cost on that build
I admire people who make their own racks but that’s not for me. I’ll just buy one and save money and time lol.
It doesn't save money if you are buying commercial racks but it certainly saves time 😂
Morph Mixology Reptiles for me it saves money because I only have a screwdriver lol
Haha fair enough
$500 for a sheet of PVC in AUS