construction of our sling enclosures

[Mr. Gone]

If you like the wood look you can seal the wood with a clear sealer poly,shellac. Shellac is actually made from the silk coocoons of a moth catipillar and is completley non toxic. It's what they use to coat m&m's and got baby cribs also a hard wood is less likely to mold I use a s American wood called purpleheart at work it is naturally bright purple and can be submerged underwater for decades without the slightest rot. If you know anybody that does woodworking we are always throwing away cuts the size you use as trash

We know we could have clear coated it, but we weren't really going for the wood look. Wood was just the cheapest material we could find. Also, shellac, polyurethane, lacquer, etc. are expensive compared to a can of white spray paint.
Home Depot sells a 1gal can of shellac for $30.00, and small cans of poly or lacquer for about $10.00. Wal-mart sells white spray paint for about a dollar a can, and one can was more than enough for all these projects. Actually we didn't even have to buy it because we still had it left over from the first time we made enclosures this way, making this the 3rd batch of enclosures we've made with one can of paint.

 

[Ether Imp]

Nice job on the enclosures. Wish I was this crafty. Nice toes, too.

 

[curiousme]

This might sound like a stupid question, but wouldn't something like SuperGlue work just as well? You could get a 3-pack at the dollar store, and buy up as much as you need. It's seriously cheaper than hot-glue, sillicone, or industrial solvents.

For our first round of enclosures we tried both a 'plastic' glue and super glue. Neither held worth a damn and i wouldn't use them again. The seams just popped off, because the glue turned brittle(in both cases) and the enclosure couldn't stay together.

Like you, I'm on a tight budget....

Hot glue guns are under $5 at Wallyworld, the sticks for them are under $3. We have made 11 sling enclosures with hot glue and have had no problems with it at all. We also used it to anchor limbs in our A. metallica's enclosure, it stays where it is supposed to and holds up to the test of time for us. Some of the enclosures are about a year old.

 

[Steve Calceatum]

Yeah, I've been using hot-glue as well....We shop at the same place too!!! LOL I won't deny that it's a cheap solution, but I have my doubts as to whether or not it will adhere the two pieces of plexi / acrylic and have them hold without the use of supports. Will running a bead of hot-glue down the inside edges work? I'd personally like to avoid using wooden dowels, or giving my enclosures an overly "industrialized" look, but I'm not certain that's possible without springing for the solvent. I gotta run to Home Depot today, so I'll price it out while I'm there.

 

[Zebo777]

What was the Avg cost of your enclosures when your done

 

[curiousme]

It's not PVC pipe it's a solid plastic that comes in the same dimensions as wood and can be cut and shaped just as easy as wood. Lowes and home depot both carry it here just ask for PVC plastic it's near the woodworking stuff

Well, today we made a trip to Home Depot and couldn't find anything like that. So, we asked the help desk about it and they kinda looked at us like we were crazy and told us they only have round PVC, because it's for pipes. So, we are still unsure what you are talking about, though if we could find some, we would use it in the next batch of enclosures.

 

[curiousme]

What was the Avg cost of your enclosures when your done

Let's see...... sheet of 1/8" plexi is about $7 or a little under, but you can make several enclosures out of one sheet. We only used it for two of the three enclosures, so we have left-overs for the next batch.
Glue sticks are a buck or so for a pack of ten, but we already had them. Spray paint is a dollar something(we had this too)
and the wooden dowel rod is a dollar or so also.(one was a little more than enough for all 3 enclosures)
i don't remember how much clear packing tape is, but it is not too expensive (depending upon where you get it) and we had that already too.

So this time, altogether, it probably cost us $4 or less for the little ones.

We already had the thick plexi for the larger enclosure(we found it, so it was free) laying around, so its only cost was the part of the dowel(about $.40) it needed.

We also already had a hot glue gun(less than $5 at Wallyworld), soldering iron(Radio Shack has one for $7), a plexi-knife($3) and a circular saw for the thick plexi.($40 at Wallyworld) Though you don't need the soldering iron or circular saw.

 

[Steve Calceatum]

Correct me if I'm wrong, Curiousme, but isn't that Optix plexi sheet in pic 1 of your OP .093" in thickness? Decimal thickness is as follows: .093 = 3/32, .188 = 1/8, and .220 = 1/4. Since you stated that your sheet cost you $7, I'm assuming you got it at Home Depot? A sheet of .093" 18" x 24" Optix cost me $7 at Home Depot. I had enough to do a door for a 10 gallon and a 5 gallon, and still had a bit left over.

I know Home Depot sells Optix sheets at thickness of .093 and .220 in various sizes. The only sheet of .188 plexi that HD sells (unless you're doing a custom order) is 36" x 72" for about $45. Other than a small handful of custom acrylic shops, the only place around here that I know of to get plexi sheets is at Home Depot. However, I will continue to call around and get prices from said acrylic shops.

I did manage to price out adhesives as I said I would. $10 - $15 for a pint of the good stuff, but a little it goes a LOOOONG way. Applicator bottles / syringes are about $3 - $5. My initial rough estimate is that I could probably make WAY more than 10 adult enclosures with that pint, but time will tell. At a fairly conservative estimate, that works out to be less than $2 per enclosure for adhesive alone (including the purchase of the applicator).

IMHO, I would much rather take the extra time, and spend an extra few bucks to do it right and have something extremely nice to show for it. And being on a tight budget requires a little extra foresight, so I'm not scrambling at the last minute trying to scrape up the last $15 I need for whatever I'm short on, or making unattractive compromises that I'm going to regret later. Not saying your enclosures are bad-looking by any means, so please don't take it that way....You guys are on a budget, same as me, so I'm just throwing my ideas out there for any future projects you may have.

 

[Zebo777]

I got my PVC plastic at lowes most of the guys working there never knew they carried it or what it was for it is mostly used for outdoor trim to replace wood since it can't rot and doesn't need paint. Lowes might call it something else like solid vinyl of solid plastic it's also used for lattice work. I will look at the brand name next time I go

 

[JimM]

I don't get it...acrylic solvent cement is not that expensive, and you hardy need any at all on an enclosure that size.

I just don't see the need for extra step, extra work and extra expense of the wood pieces.

I'd be willing to bet that you're spending more using the hot glue and wood than just simply using solvent cement. I just did a quick search and found a 4oz bottle of cement for $4.00, and a 16oz bottle for $9.45. I KNOW you you'll get much more done (if anything at all) than with spending the equivalent amount in glue sticks. You'll have acrylic that's actually welded together, and a much cleaner end result to boot.

Your enclosures are nice, and we appreciate you taking the time to post this thread. I just have my doubts that you're saving any money, and think you're over-complicating the job.

 

[curiousme]

I'd be willing to bet that you're spending more using the hot glue and wood than just simply using solvent cement. I just did a quick search and found a 4oz bottle of cement for $4.00, and a 16oz bottle for $9.45. I KNOW you you'll get much more done (if anything at all) than with spending the equivalent amount in glue sticks. You'll have acrylic that's actually welded together, and a much cleaner end result to boot.

Is that place online? Do you have to pay shipping?

i guess i need to explain what 'on a budget' means for us........... Mr. Gone was laid off the day after xmas and we have been surviving on unemployment and food stamps since then. We live in a factory town and most of them have to do with cars, so there are no jobs. i have MS and am currently having a relapse, wearing an eyepatch and have to take extra meds; in addition to that, i am bipolar. So, without insurance, we have to pay for my many medications. (without them i am a mess, to put it bluntly) Plus, we have an 8 year old daughter who needs clothes and school supplies. So, the difference of $1 to $10(which is the cheapest i have seen the glue locally), can pay for one of my many medications, or another outfit for Dria. So, yes it is cheaper for us to use a) what we have already and b) to just spend $1 for a wooden dowel rod. We know there are ways to make them look better, but this is what we made with the materials we had/ funds available to us.

Your enclosures are nice, and we appreciate you taking the time to post this thread. I just have my doubts that you're saving any money, and think you're over-complicating the job.

We posted the thread, because with the economy the way it is, i doubt we are the only ones on a budget and these enclosures are easy and cheap. We do save money, because we already had many of the supplies. Yes, i wish we didn't have the dowel rods, but in order to make them as sturdy as we could, they are needed. The people that have the extra cash to spend, can skip the steps involving the dowels.

i don't see how $4 for the small enclosures and less than $1 for the large can be beat..........

 

[Zebo777]

They look better then my solo cups

 

[curiousme]

Just an update on this thread......... We ended up putting screws in the dowel rods, because the gloss paint did not work with the hot glue. Next time we will use matte, like we did the first time. They are still in use though!

 

[smallara98]

Beautiful enclosures these are My dad is a construction worker , and knows how to use tools , so he can make me a few cool enclosures soon