Enclosure Design Considerations

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MrSpectrum

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Who'da thunk....

So there I am, standing over the little puddle of "that which shall not be named" that I had just poured out. ...And I'm a-speadin' and a-brushin' and a-speadin' and a-brushin' and a-speadin' and a-brushin'... when up walks this l'il brown scout ant, big as he pleases, and walks right across my board--right through the just-brushed-out "that which shall not be named"! He gets to about the middle of the board, and stops--stuck in the sticky stuff.

Now I've gone out after waiting for a coat to dry, and found an occasional dead gnat lying on the dried finish, but a quick dusting sweep has so far taken care of it. This was different. I had to stop and tweeze the l'il bugger off (and of course he wouldn't come in one piece). :x

Made a mess of the wet finish, but a little more brushing eventually smoothed it out.

Why don't they put warnings on the can that, "Bugs may walk across your hard work and ruin it"? :roll:

(And this could still have happened if I'd sprayed it!) :lol:
 

Claudiusx

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They do it on purpose it's horrible. The worst is they seem attracted the most to the bright white surfaces.... which I'm doing lol.

I came back once and I swear I caught a whole colony of gnats on my board once lol.
Luckily for me this project has been relatively gnat free. I got 1 on there but it happened literally 5 seconds after I finished. So I just flicked it off and refinished that area real quick. lucky me lol.

-Brandon
 

MrSpectrum

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Original Poster
FINISHED! (For now...) :blob5:

Just put the 3rd coat on the 5th board. Temp's 10° cooler, and Humidity's 10% higher, than it's been all week. You wouldn't think it's all that much, but it's taking a whole extra hour (3 hrs vs. 2 hrs) for each coat to dry. :bleick:

Still got that false ceiling to do, but can't do that until I get the UVB fixture, and figure out if I'm going to need a supplemental white light for viewing. It's possible that I may cut down from the planned 48" UVB to a 36" to make room for a supplemental fixture. Gotta look at the plans and rework if necessary.

In the meantime, I got plenty of slate tiles to play with. I found this for inspiration:
105703-4673346989.jpg
Obviously can't copy/reproduce with square & rectangular tiles, but I should be able to come up with something... :roll:
 

Claudiusx

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How's the slate tile cave going? Im curious to see some pictures of what you've done with your tank so far and your deco.

-Brandon
 

MrSpectrum

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Original Poster
The "tank" is still a stack of finished-on-one-side plywood leaning up in the back hall. I want to do all the cutting & fussing on the false ceiling before putting anything together. It'll also give the "that-which-shall-not-be-named" more time to cure.

The stonework... is running into problems. The first adhesive I bought wasn't suitable for stone, so I exchanged it for one that was. This one has the consistency of milkweed sap, and takes 24 hrs just to set. :x
I should probably use epoxy or cyanoacrylate. Unfortunately my track record with epoxy is abysmal, and cyanoacrylate is danged expensive in the quantities I need it.

I did create a little jig of sorts for gluing the stones into a curved stairway. I drew it up in Visio, printed it out on an index card, cut it out, and folded & taped it into a shape where it'll wrap around one of the stones, and give me a guide to gluing the next one on at a 15° angle. 6 stones glued together should then give me a 90° turn. I'll post a pic of that when I can get something that works for gluing these goram (a little Firefly reference there :wink: ) stones together. :banghead:
 

MrSpectrum

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Original Poster
PICTURES!

Here's the little jig I created in Visio (any drawing utility will do) for building a curved staircase.
The angle is exactly 15°. Six steps will total 90°, making a full quarter turn.
I printed it out on an index card.
If it wears out, I can print more.
For building a stair that curves in the opposite direction, just flip the drawing before printing.
105703-5868739150.jpg
After cutting along the perimeter, I folded down the tabs and taped the corners.
It fits snugly on each stone.

And here it is in use gluing a step onto the curved staircase.
105703-5403916463.jpg
The 2 stones on the right just serve to hold the staircase up while the adhesive is setting.
For each subsequent step, I'll add another "support" stone.

Then moving it in place for the next step.
105703-7440582225.jpg

Easy-peazy-lemon-squeezy! :lol:
 

Claudiusx

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Nice!
I like those slate stones. Did you get them from the big orange store?

-Brandon
 

MrSpectrum

Gray-bearded Member
Original Poster
Yup. These. I bought 5 sheets of them. To separate, you have to soak them in warm water (overnight seemed to work best), peel them off the net backing, then spend hours shaving, scraping, and scouring the residue off the individual stones (photo on page 2). Some of the "rust" came off in the process, but adhesives wouldn't stick to that anyway. :|

[EDIT]
If I hadn't found the 1' x 2' large slate tiles for the floor, I probably would have used these and dealt with sealing the grout afterward. The backsplash stones for the back wall match. They look kinda like these, but bigger (same thickness as above).
 

MrSpectrum

Gray-bearded Member
Original Poster
NOTES TO MYSELF:

Six 15° steps does add up to 90°, but it depends on how you measure it, and where they start/stop. It actually takes a 7th step for the top step to be rotated a full 90° from the bottom. In some cases, the top landing/platform will serve as the "top" riser.

4" wide may not be wide enough (steps) for an adult BD. I found a silhouette of a BD online, blew it up until it was ~23" long, and printed it out (it took four 8½ x 11 sheets--some assembly required).
Whoa, it's bigger than the image I had in my head--even after seeing many adult beardies at the shows.
Now I'm thinking 6" wide stairs & platforms at the minimum. I can get larger basking rocks--no problem, but I'll have to do some cogitating on tile implementation.... :silent:

Work is slowing due to some health & weather issues.... :(
 

Claudiusx

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MrSpectrum":7unm4sx6 said:
Work is slowing due to some health & weather issues....

Sorry to hear. Hope everything turns out better for you soon.

-Brandon
 

MrSpectrum

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Original Poster
Like all my older (now elder) siblings told me (and verified by various sources), "It's All Downhill After 30".

YMMV (I hope) :D
 

MrSpectrum

Gray-bearded Member
Original Poster
MrSpectrum":19ej1e1m said:
I found a silhouette of a BD online, blew it up until it was ~23" long, and printed it out (it took four 8½ x 11 sheets--some assembly required).
Whoa, it's bigger than the image I had in my head--even after seeing many adult beardies at the shows.
Here's the silhouette I found. To get it the right size, I enlarged it to 20" x 12"
https://dejpknyizje2n.cloudfront.ne...ard-silhouette-sticker-1539298318.7941844.png

I keep staring at the silly thing; it's on my desk right in front of me between the keyboard & monitor.
DANG, that's one big 'zard! :shock:

Still cogitating... :|
 

Power5

Member
Where is the finished picture? Need pictures in this thread. I am thinking I will be primering and then painting the inside of my box white. The poly experience you described is not what I want to do. But I will be going to the big orange store and picking out the slate so I can design around that instead of cutting tiles. Thank you for that good foresight.
 

Gormagon

Extreme Poster
MrSpectrum":12kv536u said:
Like all my older (now elder) siblings told me (and verified by various sources), "It's All Downhill After 30".

YMMV (I hope) :D
WHAT???
I wish I had known about this 32 years ago, this explains everything, lol!!!
 

MrSpectrum

Gray-bearded Member
Original Poster
Power5":1k0zx7ma said:
Where is the finished picture?
I did say I hadn't updated in quite a while. I haven't posted pics because--even now--it's a work in progress. Despite how well you design, as in life, stuff happens. Unfortunately, due to climate, I have to wait for spring to finish some things up (when I can work outside or in the garage--fumes).

But hold da phone...

Sorry I'm not really a photographer, and these were quickies. Here's the enclosure; the glare from the 48" plant light is obscuring the vents in the back wall, and there's a compartment on top for wiring & supplies. Some of the plants are hidden behind the basking tower (bricks capped with slate tiles).
The weird little guy (on occasion) climbs the side of the brick tower all the way to the top, but he won't/can't climb the slate backsplash :?: The 5x2x2 enclosure sits on a 6' folding table; more supplies & accoutrements are stored underneath.
full


Here's a shot of the basking light & UVB. I didn't like the idea of a big honking floodlight hanging down from the ceiling, so I hid it in a recessed aim-able eyeball fixture as shown. There's a temperature probe hanging down that controls the ventilation fan behind the vent shown--turns on @ 90°F and off @ 88°F.
What looks like tape on the probe isn't; it's a reflection in the plate glass.
full


Things change as need and opportunity arise. The holes in the tower are mostly to reduce weight. I found another 2 bricks I can remove when I get the chance.
 
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