eisentrauti
Avid Member
Hi,
first of all some words why I started to build aluminium cages on my own:
Here in Germany we dont have many professional suppliers for aluminium cages. Reptibreeze are available, but on really high prices (which will go up !), but I wont spend money on cages which will last just 3-4 years because of rust problems with their cheap metal screen.
The other source is Terry Thatcher from UK, their cages are excellent, the best available, but the costs are as high as the quality and for persons with bigger numbers of animals a real problem.
So thats why I started to build those cages at home, nearly all things used in the building process are easy to get, most of the tools are probably in every households toolbox.
Here are the things needed:
The only unusual thing here is the rivet pliers on the left and the rivets in the box, the other things should be known.
Here we have silicone on the left, E-profiles in the middle (for opening the front) and plastic aluminium connectors. On the top is a lil oversized big drill machine for creating the holes for the rivets, smaller drill machines, or accu drill machines are possible to, aluminium is in comparison to other metal sorts easy to machine.
For the framework I use cheap aluminium square profiles, for fixing the aluminium screen with rivets, I use flat aluminium plates which are as broad as the square profiles (in my case 20mm = 2cm)
The last parts of the "buying list" are plexiglass / glass, for cutting the front windows and aluminium screen. On the picture is a spool of alu screen and an already cut out part of alu screen.
All those mentioned materials are relative cheap:
Aluminium square profiles round 2€/meter
Aluminium flat parts 20mm broad 1,2€/m
Aluminium screen round 5€/m² (if purchased in spools)
Rivets 500/ 20-30€
E-profiles 4-6€/m for down and up part together
Glass 4mm 30€/m², plexiglass a bit cheaper
If all those things are buyed, the work can be started ! The first step is to cut the aluminium square profiles and the flat parts in the right size. This can be done by the supplier (many offer this for free!) or with a middle class disk saw. As mentioned before, aluminium is not difficult to handle.
After that the alu screen should be cut in pieces with the right size. Here its important to be careful with the screen if you are interested in perfect looking cages, if the screen has a dent its nearly impossible to get it out again. The aluminium screen can be cut into pieces with a normal household scissors.
Its a good job while watching TV or listening to the radio
Afterwards you can start to fix the screen and the flat alu parts with clamps:
Now the boring machine must drill some holes through the flat alu part and the square profile. The rivets and the rivet pliers are now needed to fix the screen:
Attention: If you have never worked with a rivet pliers before its better to test it on small remaining parts. At first I used to work with a pneumatic rivet pliers which is really easy to handle, but extremely expensive, so I lend it out from the company of a friend. When I started to build more of those cages it was no good solution for me to always take this pneumatic one when its unneeded in the company so I buyed a normal rivet pliers (this version costs me 40€, but there are cheaper available too). When I first used this new one I did it with way to much power, the result was a rivet pliers stucking right in my former perfect alu screen
After finishing the complete top of the screen terrarium it should look like this:
After finishing the first sidewall, like this:
8
And after doing this with all three sidewalls like this:
Tomorrow or on Thursday I will post pics of how to building the front with E profiles and I will explain what I use for the drainage of those cages
Hope this is helpfull for some people
Greets
Benny (and sorry for the numerous mistakes !)
first of all some words why I started to build aluminium cages on my own:
Here in Germany we dont have many professional suppliers for aluminium cages. Reptibreeze are available, but on really high prices (which will go up !), but I wont spend money on cages which will last just 3-4 years because of rust problems with their cheap metal screen.
The other source is Terry Thatcher from UK, their cages are excellent, the best available, but the costs are as high as the quality and for persons with bigger numbers of animals a real problem.
So thats why I started to build those cages at home, nearly all things used in the building process are easy to get, most of the tools are probably in every households toolbox.
Here are the things needed:
The only unusual thing here is the rivet pliers on the left and the rivets in the box, the other things should be known.
Here we have silicone on the left, E-profiles in the middle (for opening the front) and plastic aluminium connectors. On the top is a lil oversized big drill machine for creating the holes for the rivets, smaller drill machines, or accu drill machines are possible to, aluminium is in comparison to other metal sorts easy to machine.
For the framework I use cheap aluminium square profiles, for fixing the aluminium screen with rivets, I use flat aluminium plates which are as broad as the square profiles (in my case 20mm = 2cm)
The last parts of the "buying list" are plexiglass / glass, for cutting the front windows and aluminium screen. On the picture is a spool of alu screen and an already cut out part of alu screen.
All those mentioned materials are relative cheap:
Aluminium square profiles round 2€/meter
Aluminium flat parts 20mm broad 1,2€/m
Aluminium screen round 5€/m² (if purchased in spools)
Rivets 500/ 20-30€
E-profiles 4-6€/m for down and up part together
Glass 4mm 30€/m², plexiglass a bit cheaper
If all those things are buyed, the work can be started ! The first step is to cut the aluminium square profiles and the flat parts in the right size. This can be done by the supplier (many offer this for free!) or with a middle class disk saw. As mentioned before, aluminium is not difficult to handle.
After that the alu screen should be cut in pieces with the right size. Here its important to be careful with the screen if you are interested in perfect looking cages, if the screen has a dent its nearly impossible to get it out again. The aluminium screen can be cut into pieces with a normal household scissors.
Its a good job while watching TV or listening to the radio
Afterwards you can start to fix the screen and the flat alu parts with clamps:
Now the boring machine must drill some holes through the flat alu part and the square profile. The rivets and the rivet pliers are now needed to fix the screen:
Attention: If you have never worked with a rivet pliers before its better to test it on small remaining parts. At first I used to work with a pneumatic rivet pliers which is really easy to handle, but extremely expensive, so I lend it out from the company of a friend. When I started to build more of those cages it was no good solution for me to always take this pneumatic one when its unneeded in the company so I buyed a normal rivet pliers (this version costs me 40€, but there are cheaper available too). When I first used this new one I did it with way to much power, the result was a rivet pliers stucking right in my former perfect alu screen
After finishing the complete top of the screen terrarium it should look like this:
After finishing the first sidewall, like this:
8
And after doing this with all three sidewalls like this:
Tomorrow or on Thursday I will post pics of how to building the front with E profiles and I will explain what I use for the drainage of those cages
Hope this is helpfull for some people
Greets
Benny (and sorry for the numerous mistakes !)
