[splimmy]

Hi Guys

Thought I would post some pics of IKEA racks that we made a while ago

Cant recommend these enough for racking and very versitile

Hope you enjoy

I had been looking to make some racking for a while and found that IKEA sold "Doorless wardrobes". These are only about £55 and come in a variety of wood effects. Its VERY heavy nice quality chipboard. You can then buy as many shelves as needed for £12 a pair. This one here measures appx 210 cm high X 100cm wide x 58cm deep

Before assembling anything a routered out 2 channels in both the tops of the shelves and also on the inside of the sides. I then put on some "Thermawrap" sticky foil tape which will reflect heat up from the heat cable when thats put in

I made the 2 channels about 2" apart and made first one about 2-3" from back of shelf. By having these routered I was then able to thread the heat cable up and along one channel then crossover and come back filling the other empty channel

We will eventually incorporate 3 vivs into the racks. These house 3ft vivs perfectly and we will have one at the bottom of each

2 of the bigger 100cm wide racks done. If not using a viv at the bottom you can fit 20 33L RUBs however the top you cant fit another shelf but can still stack 4 on the one shelf. You can probably fit about 14 50L RUBs on one. Theres also room to fit 4 33L on top of the unit (Depending how tall your ceilings are)

One drawback is that you cant go lidless as the RUBs stick out about 2" however this helps to give a nice amount of light in one end and also gives a nice cooler open end rather then the enclosed dark warm end

I have just enough room to fit another big "double" rack in and also IKEA do ones exatcly half width which fits 10 33L or 7 50L which will then make one whole wall of racking.

Pic showing one of the 50L RUB gaps. Note all the predrilled shelving holes which allow you to customise width of gaps nicely

Close up of the untidy bit of heat cable where I started threading the heat cable, went round the whole of all the groves and ended up with pretty much perfect length. (Note you will need to leave a fair amount from plug as this does not heat on the heat cables. I bunched my cold end up and tided behind the viv

The thermostat which all of them will have in same postition (Might be wise to have higher incase of knocks) I have mine lower as my probe is set in RUB higher up. Have mine low so I can take the RUB out and gives enough length on probe cable to put on floor.

Had to cut a small square in the back board to be able to get to plugs. (You really are NOT going to be able to move these easily once you have a full wall lol

And there you have it. Not the best of pics. When I make the last 2 I will take pics as I go to show how I do it a bit clearer

Here are links for the 100cm Wide 210cm Tall ones:
IKEA | Wardrobes | PAX system | PAX | Wardrobe frame

And the shelves:

IKEA | Wardrobes | PAX system | PAX | Shelf

Cheers

Alan

 

[lnrak]

Good stuff :2thumb: Shame you can't go lidless. Makes for a very cheap racking system though!! I suppose as you say gives the bright half and the dark half of the RUB.

Is that a real spider in the 5th picture!!! :gasp::gasp::gasp: I wouldn't like to meet him in the sink:gasp::gasp::gasp:

 

[splimmy]

Cheers mate. Yeah def cheap. For a big rack with 8 shelves its just over £100.

Lol no thats just our wrought iron Tarantula, even I would be worried if our spids were as big as that lol :gasp:

 

[rutters1983]

Looks very tidy, nice work

 

[lnrak]

Lol no thats just our wrought iron Tarantula, even I would be worried if our spids were as big as that lol :gasp:

PHEWW!!!! :no1:

 

[xXxLynnxXx]

Looking good Al ! didnt realise how big your collection had got matey :2thumb: xx

 

[splimmy]

Cheers Rutters, not as tidy as it should be but not been done that long lol

lol yeah thank god its just Iron

Hi Lynn, yep thats about half of the collection lol. Need to desperately get the other 2 racks done before we get any hatchlings :mf_dribble:

 

[Becky]

Looks great Alan! I defo think i need to get onto this

 

[splimmy]

Cheers Becky . Yeah they are def worth the money and effort. Saves me tons of time now too :2thumb:

 

[Nightfirez]

there are plenty of rubs which fit in to these lid less

33l crystal boxes for a start ive got 4 in mine for subadults

if you need larger there are a few ikea do them selves which fit perfect
only draw back being that you do loose out on 2 rubs per shelf with some of them

 

[tricky]

great job there

can see youve done a lot of work but its all well done :no1:

 

[brownj6709]

Looks great Alan! I defo think i need to get onto this

Just dnt let chris I think hee'd break the shelves haha

Nice work alan mate looks well smart!

 

[ndixon7868]

nice racks, could i ask how you keep ambiant air temps in the tubs up? do you heat the whole room. i always found with a rack system as yours i needed to keep the whoile room at a high temp and then the heat cable/mat as the hot spot only.

 

[Ruddy]

Do you know the name of these "doorless wardrobes" in ikea. I've just had a look online and can only find PAX wardrobes which seem a bit more expensive.

Thanks for the post - I'm so jealous of how tidy they look I'm going to try to make my own!

 

[splimmy]

Thanks for all your kind comments guys

Yeah our rep room is pretty warm anyways lol, pics only show a quarter of it lol

Should be links at the bottom of the racking post and I believe they are called Pax wardrobe frames. The size ive got should be about £55 :2thumb:

 

[johnc79]

Cracking job!:2thumb:

Would the shelves take the weight of a 3ft viv higher up?

 

[quadrapop]

I use these, if you go with asda/homebase tubs that are slightly smaller than 33l rub you can go lidless.

 

[RedGex]

Thanks for sharing, these look really good - defo going to give them a try!
One question - are the backs made of the contiboard stuff or the thin hardboard?

 

[BenjaminBoaz]

Nice one! Thanks for sharing.

 

[The Vivarium]

whats better at heating a rack, cable or mats? i know cable would probably keep energy costs down due to less plugs. can you get cheaper garden/green house heat cable that works just as good?

do you use your own router aswell?