Molded drip tray

[Vegas Chad]

We have some prototypes for our molded drip trays…

Tomorrow we are going to pick up a few of version 2 of them, but the pictures will give you an idea of what we are going to be offering soon. This one lacks the divot in the center where the drain bulkhead may be installed. Also, the final tray will probably be clear.

Sheesh... busy day off!

 

[Kevin1873]

Wow those are coming along great Chad, do you plan to make them in different sizes or just the one?

 

[Brad]

These look nice. How deep are they?

 

[Vegas Chad]

We are getting them made in all of the “standard” cage sizes which LLL reptile, myself and like places sell.

16x16

18x18

24x24

We (Jason and I) will be possible to do custom sizes as well, however of course they will not be as cheap as the sizes we will be able to stock. All of the trays will have an oversize of roughly ¼” ‘ish’ so the cages will be able set in snugly but still have a little wiggle room.

They are going to be roughly 1.5” deep with the top lip having a radius and the bottom edge with a 90.

 

[Justin Carl]

do they go inside or does the cage sit on top of the tray?
If they went on the inside you would have plants, hopefully of plant stands, inside the tray.
How would you drain it without pulling the plants out?
Sorry, I dont mean to shot anything down just questions...

 

[Vegas Chad]

The cage will sit inside the whole thing… Like you being inside a tub… The center is going to have a inset where a bulkhead will sit flush where you can attach a tube to drain the water to where ever you so desire… You will need to lift the plant up a bit to allow for the water to get to the drain. Anything that will lift the plant up will do. If you don’t have easy access to the center of a cage because it is sitting on something you will have to lift it up a bit so you can route the tube.

Another plus to it is that you can remove the bottom of the cage. I know several people; myself included that when you put a large plant in the center of the ABS bottom the sides flex up enough allowing crix to escape… With the flat bottom you will not have this problem.

 

[Justin Carl]

Sounds great!
I wish you the best of luck.
Here is a spell check for ya....Entrepreneur

necessity is the mother of invention.....

 

[Vegas Chad]

haha... Thanks... Jason and I are really looking forward to getting them out and about for sale... Not too sure how well they will sell, but heck I will use em! I'll make a point tomorrow to bring my little cam that can take videos to the place. Watching them get made is super cool with the vacuum mold.

 

[Kevin1873]

Hey Chad, maybe we can watch it on, 'How It's Made,' on the Discovery Channel?

 

[Justin Carl]

Sounds like it would be fun to see something you invented being made a reality.
I would contact large suppliers like LLL, Flchams, BlueBeast and BigApple to sell to.
I talked to LLL today for about 10 mins.
They were super nice, and I also thanked them for supporting our forum.

 

[dodolah]

Chad.. don't forget my 28"X18"
I'll be the first guy who order the custom mold.
I need the drainage system

 

[LaserGecko]

dodolah, I talked to him about that today, actually. It will be CNC cut, bent, then welded. I couldn't remember the size for sure, so will relay the info tomorrow.

maybe we can watch it on, 'How It's Made,' on the Discovery Channel?

Well, it wouldn't be too exciting for our things, but some of the stuff they do is really cool! If you saw the video game awards this year, they made the gigantic joystick by forming the ball in two halves, then welding them together....and man, whoever ordered that 300 gallon aquarium in his shop is going to be tickled pink when they see it!

The cool part about the clear plastic is that it's significantly more affordable, it heats, molds, and cools faster than the ABS. It may have taken a lot longer to get to this point than we would've liked, but he is making us (therefore, everyone else) an incredible deal on the price. Normally, for small production runs like this, they charge five times the material cost for the part, but that would kill the product in its tracks. He knows it, we know it, and you all know it. Everyone involved knows how important it is to make it the best way possible while maintaining a realistic final price. Heck, I've driven over a hundred miles in the past few weeks just to get to this point, but I think it's going to be worth it for everyone in the end.

 

[JimNPHX]

Hey Jason/Chad,

Good job getting to the point that you guys are at now! Any idea on pricing yet? When will a product be ready to order?

Keep up the good work. You guys are making my life a lot easier!!!
Now that we will have misting and drainage taken care of, when are you guys going to create an auto-feeder?


Jim

 

[Vegas Chad]

Hey Jason/Chad,

Good job getting to the point that you guys are at now! Any idea on pricing yet? When will a product be ready to order?

Keep up the good work. You guys are making my life a lot easier!!!
Now that we will have misting and drainage taken care of, when are you guys going to create an auto-feeder?


Jim

For a small fee I will come sleep at ur home, eat ur food then feed AND DUST your chams food then feed it to them at set points during the day.

Auto feeder... *check*

 

[Kevin1873]

For a small fee I will come sleep at ur home, eat ur food then feed AND DUST your chams food then feed it to them at set points during the day.

Auto feeder... *check*

That's freaking funny Chad. LOL. How much do you charge per house? Wait forget the pay, feeding you should cover the costs. hehe

 

[Vegas Chad]

Pfsh... Sounds like something the little woman would say... She got all mad the other day because she made a dinner (real nice too!) and then after I made her take out the trash and mow the grass. I have a note from her that says I can make jokes about her when she is not around. And nooooo I did not make her do that, still working on the nice dinner part! *ouch* she just hit me…

 

[dodolah]

For a small fee I will come sleep at ur home, eat ur food then feed AND DUST your chams food then feed it to them at set points during the day.

Auto feeder... *check*

hmmm.... if you don't mind sleeping in a 24"X24"X48" enclosure, i will consider it

 

[Vegas Chad]

hmmm.... if you don't mind sleeping in a 24"X24"X48" enclosure, i will consider it

I happen to have an extra one here so ill try to take a nap in it today... Im kind of a big guy (6'-220lb) so I might need an XXXL cage to give me enough room for a proper temp gradient... Im also a desert type of person so I need care close to that of a Veild... Hmmmm I guess I am just an oversized veild!

 

[LaserGecko]

Eh, still in prototype mode. I did find out that my 24" cage is smaller than Chad's 24" cage, though. His fits this tray perfectly.

Do you all like the shallow or the deeper trays?

 

[Dave Weldon]

Howdy Jason,

Although I haven't had any drain stoppage that had water back-up deeper than 1/4", I do like drain pans between 1" and 2" deep. I like to have my enclosures lifted about just below the rim of the pan. My spacers lift the enclosure about 1.5" off of the bottom. That way things drain nicely and dry-out underneath relatively quickly so that bad things don't grow down there....