Eric Adrignola
Avid Member
I'm looking to make some nicer cages for my montanes. Originally I was going to go with a glass/acrylic panel and a wood frame. then I decided to get cheap and simple.
I want to keep this as simple as possible, with as few components as possible.
My current idea involves longer sheets of thin acrylic. I had originally considered cluing acrylic panels into a box shape, but I'd need thicker acrylic for that to work.
So, the thought involves taking a readily available sheet of acrylic (24"x48", for example), and - using heat and a 90degree angled surface, bend the sheet twice. This would form the back and sides of a 24" tall 16" deep 16" wide cage. The other details (attaching aluminum screen vents and top, acrylic door panel and bottom) would be relatively easy to figure out.
the issue is if it's worth doing. Will it work? Anyone ever bend sheets of acrylic like this? It's not very expensive for thin sheets of this size. Keeping it a single piece would retain enough strength (I think I think), whereas thicker material would be necessary if I were cutting and gluing(I'm pretty sure).
It'll only cost $12.00 to practice with material that would yield an 18" tall, 8" deep and wide cage (not counting additional height gained by adding ventilation in the form of screen panels on top, as well as a bottom drainage basin). Not a large cage, but great for baby geckos and tiny chameleon babies.
IF it works, this might be fun to play with. Or, I'll burn my house down.
I want to keep this as simple as possible, with as few components as possible.
My current idea involves longer sheets of thin acrylic. I had originally considered cluing acrylic panels into a box shape, but I'd need thicker acrylic for that to work.
So, the thought involves taking a readily available sheet of acrylic (24"x48", for example), and - using heat and a 90degree angled surface, bend the sheet twice. This would form the back and sides of a 24" tall 16" deep 16" wide cage. The other details (attaching aluminum screen vents and top, acrylic door panel and bottom) would be relatively easy to figure out.
the issue is if it's worth doing. Will it work? Anyone ever bend sheets of acrylic like this? It's not very expensive for thin sheets of this size. Keeping it a single piece would retain enough strength (I think I think), whereas thicker material would be necessary if I were cutting and gluing(I'm pretty sure).
It'll only cost $12.00 to practice with material that would yield an 18" tall, 8" deep and wide cage (not counting additional height gained by adding ventilation in the form of screen panels on top, as well as a bottom drainage basin). Not a large cage, but great for baby geckos and tiny chameleon babies.
IF it works, this might be fun to play with. Or, I'll burn my house down.
