Quigs said:
Sag, no they shouldn't. Warping and swelling is always a possibility when you have wood in the space as moisture/humidity. Even more present when you are dealing with a partical board product (melamine)
In the meatime, plug them in and throw a thermometer probe in there.
You were right, Quigs! The temps with the lights on were 142F directly beneath the light, 95F 1/2 way down, and 85F floor. Gebhart received a good scolding for not testing the lights first. I also received a nice burn from touching the plastic covering the light...Silly me. Do you think, to salvage these lights, I could make a sort of plexi spacer to prevent any critters from touching...and maybe venting it considerably around the lights to get some of that heat out of there? You obviously wouldn't be able to run the Heat Tape at the same time as the lights, but you could set it up on a timer to switch them on/off. We can not actually remove the lights (because of how he installed them evidently) with out damaging them (I'd prefer not to cut the cords of a $15 lighting unit). With the lighting how it is, the cages would be perfect for leopard geckos.
They cages are made from plywood, tileboard is lineing the interior. He wants to make them out of an expensive high-grade Oak plywood (which will then be sealed with polyurethane sp?). I'm afraid though, with the extra costs...No one would purchase them even though they would be SWEET. We're looking at making two lines though...One made with the higher-grade Oak, the other with the Melamine to give two different price options (they'll be 4 different options for the exterior look).
I had originally wanted to install flurescent lighting in, but couldn't seem to find any that wouldn't put the cost of these cages any higher (these prototypes I'm selling at cost because they were just an experiment and have a few minor flaws. $400 for the three of them). Once I figure out a way to protect the lighting (rather the animals that are in the cage), we'd be willing to deliver them within a 50 mile radius of Gettysburg, PA. We're considering shipping these units for interested parties...The shipping price would be really high though, I'm sure...
So let's see...We need to change...
- Doors to pull downs
- Lights to flurescents
I like making a single multi cage unit. Would anyone be interested in something like that??? Wireing heat would be so much easier that way...Less cords!
I was thinking of the same thing; have them hinged to pull down. These of course are just prototypes to test a few things out. The outside of these actually match my "furniture quality" rack. I'm going to make my one piece set out of melemine I think (with of course the fancy outside).
