Doors ?

[xbluex]

I am going to be building new tanks soon and have been putting them together in my head, still trying to get info though lol
So I've been having a problem with one of my current tanks and sand getting into the tracks for the sliding glass. All of my tanks have sand(all reps are adults and its washed/sifted playsand) and I don't want to have to deal with that for the rest of their lives. So I'm thinking about making regular doors with glass in the middle.
My question is how do you put the glass in the door?? I am very bad with construction and any type of building, so if someone could give me a 'building a door for dummies' kind of instruction I would really appreciate it!

 

[kevindeeley12]

I'm also building an enclosure with 2 opening doors in the front. We have the idea to cut out a slot in the middle of the frame that you can slide the glass into them close it up with the last piece. If you dont understand this ( its hard to understand ) you basically make a 4 piece frame with slots in the inside parts of the wood, then u put the 3 parts together and slide the glass in, but you will have no bottom, so you will finish it by putting the bottom piece of wood in.

 

[norbertbd]

If you have the right tools you could route out the inner edge with a rabbeting bit. Then check out the hardware stores for glass retainer clips. If you know someone with a china cabinet with glass doors, check out the inside to see what they're using to hold the glass in. Usually there's a nicer, more compact version of mirror retainer clips.

 

[NickZafo]

Sliding doors are nice but have you ever thought of a pane of glass that opens with a hinge at the top?
It would be like the lambo of vivs

 

[xbluex]

It would be like the lambo of vivs

LOL!!
I did think about it but there are going to be 3-4 tanks stacked (well, someday) and we want to be able to have them all be open at the same time, if that makes sense.

I get what you mean about there being the frame with the slats for the glass to go in. But how would you piece them all together, just with wood glue? You obviously wouldn't be able to use nails/staple gun with the glass inside.

 

[RioReptiles]

I made a wood frame and drilled holes through the plexiglass and nailed it to the wood. It looks nice.

 

[kevindeeley12]

Apparently, you are not supposed to be using plexiglas, as it gets blury ( i forget the word ) when its been under heat for a while. And also something about scratching but.. who knows. sounds nice though, thats what i was thinking about aswell.

 

[RioReptiles]

I have pictures, actually a whole instruction sheet on how I built my enclosure. It's 34mb so I'm trying to make it smaller so I can post it. I think I'm just going to make a website for everything.