DIY Arboreal enclosure prototype

[WolfSoon]

Don't be fooled. There're a lot of smears. My acrylic glue is quite good, but its texture is awful... it's too liquid to handle it without dripping sometimes, but still too viscous to use it with a syringe.
But I guess it'll have to do.

I dripped quite a bit of acrylic cement on mine accidentally, but luckily it’s mostly on the bottom and got covered with substrate eventually.

 

[Doc Ebola]

Great looking enclosures. Top work. I'm seriously thinking about having a go at this. I'm very interested in how people cut the acrylic and drill it, or if they bought it precut. Also looking at Tensol 12 for bonding.

 

[Thekla]

I get my acrylic sheets pre-cut, but without holes. I could get pre-drilled holes as well, but that's quite expensive.

Tensol 12 looks promising, but:

"No sellers are currently delivering this item to Germany - Mainland"

Sometimes I hate living in Germany.

 

[Doc Ebola]

I get my acrylic sheets pre-cut, but without holes. I could get pre-drilled holes as well, but that's quite expensive.

Tensol 12 looks promising, but:

"No sellers are currently delivering this item to Germany - Mainland"

Sometimes I hate living in Germany.

Yeah, I was thinking precut for my first attempt. Best to learn how to walk before I try to run. And did you get the edges of the sheets polished? That seems to be an option that's offered, but I wasn't sure if that helps with bonding the sheets together or not.
I've visited Germany and thought it was lovely

 

[Thekla]

I have the edges never polished. IME it works well without doing so.

 

[WolfSoon]

I had mine precut as well, with routed edges. That seemed the easiest for my first time (but more expensive).

I used a special drill bit made for acrylic. I got a piece of scrap acrylic to practice drilling and had problems with melting the acrylic, so to ensure the extra neat holes I used water + baking soda to cool down the drill bit. I’m sure it’s not needed if you find the right speed with your drill. It just made it easier for me as a noob.

I lived in Germany for a few months on exchange and would love to go back sometime.

 

[JohnR]

You guys have nice custom enclosures! I will probably go the same route building adult acrylic enclosures for my Ts in the future because my little ones are still growing so I am in the cheaper version making enclosures using display cases from Hobby Lobby.

Below are my 2 arboreal enclosure prototypes I just built for my slings who are outgrowing their current containers and will need a rehouse after their next molt.

This one is for P. cambridgei




For my (3) C. versicolor

 

[obg]

Congrats. Nice looking build!
Thought this was going to be a "mod job" thread. Great to see scratch build projects. Drilling the vent holes is the most tedious task, for me, on builds. Practice makes perfect!
I build all my arboreal enclosures, 3 sizes, for uniformity and weight. Thinnest acrylic used is .080", thickest. 220" most are .160". The acrylic thickness is determined by the size of the enclosure I'm building. I prefer side hinged doors and use brass decorative hinges and latches. Plastic 2 part epoxy is used as the bonder. Some of my builds.
View attachment 262185

Question: Where can I buy Acrylic panels that I can cut on my own? I tried home depot and the big panels were kinda expensive i thought. Is there an online store that I can get a good deal from that has a good selection of thicknesses and square footage? Thanks in advance!

 

[MrTwister]

Most online places will cost a lot for shipping. Best bet would be finding a local plastic fab shop.