DIY cage door latches?

[Silvergrin]

I've been getting rather tired with my system of aquariums used for housing corns; not very heat efficient, and worst of all, not very space efficient! So I did some research, priced materials, and figured I could probably build my own stackable, front-opening cages for not too much (want it to be under $50/cage, since I want to build 20 total).
I used this page for reference.
Decided to go with Melamine as my design is small enough that they'll still be movable (36x15x12).

So here's prototype #1:

I like the looks, seems sturdy, main problem is the latches suck and it's not escape-proof In retrospect I should have gotten some of the (more expensive) thicker acrylic so that it wouldn't be so bendy/easy to push out. Well I think it can be worked around, but I still need several latches to hold the acrylic in place; any ideas for cheap, simple ones? A simple tab of metal with a hole in it (if it is thin enough) ought to suffice, but I don't know if there's a special name for that/what section of a hardware store they might be....

 

[Drizzt80]

You could get glass cut for sliding doors. They make plastic runners that go in the bottom and top of the opening. Around here, glass is fairly cheap as long as you don't have them sand the edges down (it actually doubles the price!). The edges are sharp if you don't, but you can use colored duct tape over them as a solution and saving money.

One suggestion on the prototype design you shared, I'd put in an actual air vent (Lowe's, Menard's, etc.) for air instead of the holes. I don't think that design has enough airflow for a snake cage. :shrugs:

Here's what I had created once upon a time:

Hope that helps in some way, shape, or form.
D80

 

[Blue Apple Herps]

Look in the isle with the window hardware and cabinet hardware, there are lots of latches and what not that will work very well. I'm going to disagree with Drizzt and say that I think you'll have enough ventilation. If you don't you can always add more holes, or get cabinet vents, but I think you should be fine in that area.

Here's a write up I did for one very similar to yours. You can look through it and see the little mini latches that I used, I think they'd work and look better than what you're using now. And you'll want to use at least 1/4" acrylic to be sturdy enough: http://www.blueappleherps.com/page13/page5/page5.html

Here's a pic of one type latch that I used with acrylic with success. I used this as a "locking" latch and then several mini ones that you can see in the above write up.

 

[sbourget]

What I did for my cages is I made doors that had a wooden frame with the lexan sheet attached with low-profile screws. Done properly this is easy to do. (took me about 10 minutes with a 2 year old 'assisting' to do each door) And it makes a nice snug fit.

Here's a picture of my double cage with one door open and one closed:

Here's another angle:

And of course my little helper:

 

[Silvergrin]

Thanks for the responses!

I should probably add that I'm really limited by any precision cut woodworking right now; the only power tool I own is a drill. I have had shop classes and know how to use the equipment, but don't own a table saw or anything. I really don't have the room or time to justify buying that equipment; I am considering getting a circular hand saw or something though. If you've got any recs, let me know! I am going to try to see if the university I work at will let me use their shop, but I get the feeling this is pretty unorthodox. What I would really like is if there was some machine shop I could pay to go in and use from time to time, but I don't know how to find any?
Also going to look into rentals.

Ventilation: I did see that the example cages had those big vents, but personally I find them rather ugly, as well as difficult to cut. If that's what a corn needs then I'll do it of course, but I don't see why a row of small holes wouldn't be enough? If anything, I thought they might be superior in keeping out drafts (not that the room they're in now is drafty).

I do like the wood frame door better... the main reason I didn't go with that is because it requires a lot of precision cuts. I'm going to look more into a shop or rentals this weekend though.

 

[sbourget]

You may not be able to see it easily in the pictures, but I managed to avoid being to precise with my cuts by using 90degree corners and mending plates. I also bought a small hand plane for ~$10 at Canadian Tire and used that to plane down any places that were binding. I chose the large circular vents because I'm to lazy to drill lots of holes, and I would be forever unhappy with it if they were visibly uneven. Also the vents I chose are backed with a fine mesh, so there's absolutely no way any size snake could escape from my enclosure when it's locked up.

 

[Drizzt80]

I chose the large circular vents because I'm to lazy to drill lots of holes, and I would be forever unhappy with it if they were visibly uneven. Also the vents I chose are backed with a fine mesh,

I like the reasoning on all 3 accounts . . .

D80