# Another furniture conversion (for a Diamond Python) with some questions



## ajwill (Mar 20, 2015)

Posthumous apologies to my antique-loving Grandmother for this post. 

We just picked up this lovely cabinet from the local tip shop on the weekend and are converting it for our new DP. I've got a fair bit of restoration experience and love antiques, so we're going to try and keep the outside looking as authentic as possible but also make sure it's as homely for our python as it can be. Cabinet is solid wood with masonite top and bottom. Back is going to be replaced with a double layer of 6mm masonite to hold all the vents and fittings.

This is it with the back, shelves and windows removed.




Am currently at the stripping back and re-varnishing stage but wanted to check a few things before I get too much further in. 

1. Thickness of perspex for windows

Originally I looked into getting safety film for the glass (60 year old thin glass didn't fill me with confidence) but after a long convo with a film fitter (pressure is used to bond the film to the glass and this is impossible on the curved bits), we've decided to go with perspex for the windows. Will be using the thicker of the two curved windows as a jig to shape the perspex. I love my heat gun. Aware that persex isn't going to keep quite as well as glass but the cost of getting curved safety glass is prohibitive. 

Am currently looking at 3mm perspex. I wouldn't use this for sliding doors because of the flex factor, but since these are framed windows I thought it would be thick enough. Any opinions on that?

2. Floor/wall size of cabinet

Total back wall surface area is 0.861 m2 (990x870mm), which I think is big enough for the NSW guidelines (0.625 min) since DP's are climbers (but then, the table in the appendix makes it a bit confusing). The floor space is only 990x290mm and I'm worried this might not give her much wandering room on the ground. There is an option to extend the back of the cabinet to make more floor space but it will dramatically alter the lines of the cabinet and I don't want to get into that unless it's essential. There will be at least two basking shelves installed across the back and a few other climbing options. 




Is this big enough or should we extend the back by 200-400mm (or so) to give her more wandering room?

3. Quality of lock




Cabinet came with this very sexy original lock and since I collect keys I just happened to have one that fits and works. Had to chisel out the catch a bit to get it working but lock is now working perfectly. I've pushed at both the top and bottom of the door and it gives a little bit. But, is it strong enough to hold the door closed if a full grown python pushes on it? 

Should we install extra latches at top/bottom just to be on the safe side?


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## ajwill (Mar 21, 2015)

After reading the guidelines more closely, I've decided to extend the back by 300mm but am going to wait till she's 18 month's old. Unless she gets past 150cms before then.


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## ronhalling (Mar 22, 2015)

I was going to post that i thought the enclosure did not have enough depth until i read the last part, it is a beautiful piece of furniture and i hope you will be sympathetic to it when you increase the depth, that top lip will lend itself perfectly to the use of LED stip lights and will be hidden but able to bring out the best in your decorating, I will be watching this 1 as you go so plenty of update pics as i have access to a cabinet very similar to that 1 that i might use for my 2 spotties if yours turns out as nice as i think it will.  ..............................Ron


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## ajwill (Apr 3, 2015)

Thanks [MENTION=36030]ronhalling[/MENTION], Yep, definitely going to be sympathetic - my first job was in an antique store and I fell in love with this cabinet the second I saw it. Just lucky the missus trusts me enough to shell out for my crazy ideas! 

And yes, I also had similar thoughts re: LED strip lighting. I was thinking about taking it one step further and also installing them down the verticals at the front so we have light from above and the front. 5ms RGB just arrived (if anyone's looking for quick local stock, I got them in 3 days from seller gutedealscom on ebay).

And double yes to the updates. I got every single idea for this from other similar threads in here, so intend to track the whole thing in this thread. And I'm a writer, so I do detail and description well. 

Okay, next update: so I've had a smashingly good Friday thus far. 

Since we had to replace the back anyway, I decided to go all out. In keeping with my neurotic attention to detail, I noticed the cabinet was made in Hurstville and Daryl is a local DP, so I decided to make a Sydney sandstone-esque fake rock wall. This will be movable so when the extension go in, we can keep the wall. It's loosely modeled on the walls of the cemetery in Newtown/Camperdown (just without the graffiti). 

I'm doing the wall in two sections, with the top panel hinged to give access to the heat lamp. Started on the bottom panel.




The curves in the shelf are to make room for the tree to go up the middle and because I like the idea of replicating the cabinet's curves on the inside. Was going to make three but put in two and liked them enough to stop. Bricks are strips of styrofoam that I picked up during council clean up and then hacked into bricks with the trusty electric knife. Seriously, if you ever work with foam, get an electric knife for your tool set. Glued on with PVA.

On the advice of my friendly Bunnings' guy, I then coated it all with a watered down coat of PVA glue to give the grout something to stick to.

And this is with a couple of coats of grout (Davco Colourgrout in truffle).




This was my first go playing with grout and I learned a couple of things. 1. You don't need to worry about trying to be neat. 2. This is exactly like both icing a cake and making mud pies. 3. This shade of grout is identical to thick milk chocolate ganache and it's a constant struggle to remember not to lick the spatula. 4. Fingers really are best for getting into the tight bits.

Between coats I whipped up a box to hold the heat lamp and did a bit more scraping on the cabinet. 




Stupid pic won't load in a sensible manner, but this shows the top. It's only taken about 5 hours with a scrubbing brush and paintscraper but I've managed to get most of the old varnish off the top without damaging the veneer. 

Tomorrow I'm painting the wall and hoping to varnish the inside. Probably need to ban the cats from the courtyard for that bit.

Anywho, now I think it's cider time.


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## Bart70 (Apr 3, 2015)

Your skills as a writer have assisted you as a reader.....You are one of very few who have actually interpreted the CoPs enclosure measurements as they have been meant to be written (...and I agree that the table in the appendix is very confusing - moreso for those who don't take the time to read the document itself and choose to interpret the table as the defined regs).

Good luck with the refurb/refit....you are on the right track.


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## ajwill (Apr 4, 2015)

Thanks [MENTION=36726]Bart70[/MENTION], I'm having fun so far. And yeah, I've read the guidelines cover to cover. Bit of a nerd like that. 

Hey, so quick question: got a lovely piece of Jacaranda for the enclosure. Know it needs to be sterilised but it has some lovely moss growing on it. Any way to sterilise it and keep the moss?







Edit: spelling. Blergh.


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## ajwill (Apr 4, 2015)

Also, this is the wall painted up. Took 10 different colours, all dry brushed. 





And this is Daryl the lucky dreamboat.


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## ajwill (Apr 5, 2015)

Is 8cms between the bottom of the lamp cage (so 13cms from the bottom of the heat emitter) to the basking shelf okay? Do we need more distance?


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## ajwill (Apr 5, 2015)

Can add more easily.


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## wokka (Apr 6, 2015)

The distance required will depend upon the ambient temperature and the wattage of the heat source. 18 cm sounds close however since the enclosure contains so much glass temperature will infiltrate or disapate easily.


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## ronhalling (Apr 17, 2015)

Try putting it in the freezer for a week, should kill any nasties and still keep the moss looking ok.  .......................Ron


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## ronhalling (Apr 17, 2015)

ajwill said:


> Thanks @Bart70, I'm having fun so far. And yeah, I've read the guidelines cover to cover. Bit of a nerd like that.
> 
> Hey, so quick question: got a lovely piece of Jacaranda for the enclosure. Know it needs to be sterilised but it has some lovely moss growing on it. Any way to sterilise it and keep the moss?
> 
> ...



Try putting it in the freezer for a week, should kill any nasties and still keep the moss looking ok.  .......................Ron


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## ajwill (Apr 17, 2015)

Ha, thanks Ron! I ended up peeling the bark off but kept it for the moss, it's with my orchids atm. Might play around with transplanting some post freezing.


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## ajwill (Apr 18, 2015)

Shaping perspex which is 20mm longer than your oven is a nightmare. Tossing up on going down to 3mm thick and just flexing it into shape or getting the glass film from Bunnings and giving it a whack myself. 

On the plus side, I now have two sheets of 5mm perspex to play with for the frog tank. Blergh.


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## ajwill (Apr 18, 2015)

Underestimated my perseverance. Curved windows are in, flat one tomorrow. Used a combination of oven, heat gun and flexing like a mofo. Pics tomorrow when all the windows are in.


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## ajwill (Apr 18, 2015)

Hey [MENTION=1408]wokka[/MENTION], missed your reply before. Was thinking about adding a heat cord to the tree/top shelf to up the ambient temp there.


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## ajwill (Apr 18, 2015)

Also, will replacing the glass with perspex cut down on heat loss?


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## ajwill (Apr 24, 2015)

Unscheduled break while my workshop aka courtyard flooded. That was definitely some weather. 

Back on it today, doing some last bits of sanding to smooth up the door and a final coat of varnish on the inside, then just waiting on a few more bits and bobs to be delivered and ready for fit out. Waiting to do the stain and varnish on the outside until it's all sealed up. 

For anyone else who is considering replacing curved glass with perspex, I'm going to detail that process. It was a doozey but the satisfaction at getting it done was worth the fiddling. 

This is one of the curved windows installed (oh god, why won't my photos change direction?).



Firstly, I'm going to say: if you're thinking about doing this, use 3mm perspex! I had some off cuts from a turtle project and found out that they would pretty much just flex to the shape without heating. If you do need to shape them, this is how I did it:

1. Try to keep at least one piece of the original glass intact to use as a jig for shaping the plastic. It took very careful prying to get the original glass out intact but I managed to get both windows out without breaking. 

2. Cut the perspex to the exact size. I measured the outside curve of the glass and this meant my sheets were about 3mm too wide. I could trim the excess with the jig saw after shaping but it's tricky. (Theoretically, you should probably do all your cutting before taking the paper off but to get around this I taped the edge I needed to cut with masking tape on both sides and then cut through this. The foot of the saw did catch the tape a bit and left some smudges when peeled off. This took a lot of rubbing to get off. Far easier to just measure the inside curve of the glass!)

3. Hope like hell it fits in your oven. We have a commercial oven, 900mm wide, but my bits were 915mm long. I crossed my fingers and made it up. Cut a sheet of masonite to slightly bigger than my sheets (heat treated so after a lot of reading I figured it would hold up to a short time in the oven). Cover the masonite with foil, and make a lip of extra foil at the bottom (this was some weird as origami and I had to redo it for the second sheet. About half way through I started fantasising about just doing two windows with a join at the middle - this could totally be an option but I wanted the clean lines). I ended up with a fake cookie sheet that would slide into the oven on a 45 degree angle, the extra lip of foil stopped the perspex sliding down and touching the metal. 

4. The melting. (What follows was gleaned from dozens of blogs and Instructables.) Make sure you have two heat proof gloves (oven mitts worked well) and a spatula that you don't love handy. I was working in an electric oven with the fan turned off, but several people online claim to have done this successfully in a gas oven. Perpex melts to liquid at around 150 C, you don't want this to happen. And at around 130-40 C it starts to form bubbles inside, you also don't want this to happen. I set the oven to 125 C, and started out with 10 minutes. After much taking out and putting back in, I discovered 19-20 minutes is perfect. Did the second sheet for 18, but should have left it just a bit longer. Internets tell me it should feel pliable when it comes out.

5. The shaping. Before I put the perspex in the oven, I got my jig (the old glass), covered it with baking paper (prob don't need to do this but I was being careful), and put it on a flat heatproof bench. When the perspex was pliable, I took it out, laid it over the glass and started to press down the edges with the gloves on - be prepared, they get hot and remember that you're pressing on glass underneath so don't use too much force. The perspex will shape to anything at this stage, so press lightly enough that you don't leave imprints of the stitching/fabric on your gloves. I had one small patch of this, but it came out with some blowing from the heat gun and rubbing with a soft cloth. Perspex sets back to inflexible in about two minutes so this bit needs to be done quick. I didn't quite have the curve I wanted so clamped the corners down very lightly and went over it with the heat gun and more gentle pressing in places that needed more molding.

6. The finishing. For small pieces, the internets recommend dousing it in cold water to set fully but I used a spray bottle to mist it. 

7. Installing was a bit nasty (see above nervous breakdown), but with some pushing and swearing it finally worked. I'd kept the original strips of dowel that held the windows in and after these were fitted I still had some gaps at the top and the bottom where the curve wasn't quite flush. Got the heat gun and the oven mitts back out and did some more in-situ shaping. I added nails at the bottom but left the tops nail-less.

8. After I had the gaps as tight as I could get them, I then sealed the edges that weren't covered with dowel with aquarium safe silicon (Selleys Clear). There was a bit of a gap at the outside so I taped this with masking tape and forced silicon into the gap. Also covered the nail heads at the bottom with silicon. 

This is the top curved join (cabinet is upside down). 



After all of this, my advice would be to avoid replacing curved windows with perspex unless you're ready for a butt tonne of time and effort. All up, it took me about two days to get the curved windows shaped and in and about 45 mins to get the flat window in. 

But it also looks damn, damn sexy.


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## Wiganov (Apr 24, 2015)

Just amazing. Take a bow. And another cider.


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## ajwill (Apr 25, 2015)

Thank you, Wiganov! I put the fake rock wall in tonight and then got all squealy fan girl on myself. Tomorrow I'm fiddling with the tree. The end is very much in sight now.


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## ajwill (Apr 25, 2015)

And the cider was pear.


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## ajwill (Apr 25, 2015)

Holy batballs, Batman! 




Now to varnish the outside.


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## CaitlinK (Apr 26, 2015)

great job... I'll be adding some of my furniture conversion, as you call it, soon too! thanks for sharing. Good looking python!


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## ajwill (Apr 27, 2015)

Thanks Caitlink, would love to see yours. I love the idea of repurposing sexy old pieces of furniture for our pets to live in.


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## ajwill (May 7, 2015)

Lighting and heating is in. Had to reinforce the top to give me something to screw into using marine ply and some masonite. 

The LEDs weren't working and I'm now in 'ongoing discussions' with the eBay guy. Will see how that goes. 

So close to the end now!


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## ajwill (May 11, 2015)

And it's done! Took the advice of a breeder I know and did a really thorough spray with water and it was all dry by the next day, so think the ventilation is working okay. Have a heat gradient of 9-9.5 between the two ends. 

Moved her in with three available hides but so far she just seems to want to hang out on the top shelf and has barely been in the hide. 

Fed last night and discovered that she likes to eat hanging upside down from the top shelf. Very exciting and made for some great photo ops.


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## misskirbyd (Jun 25, 2015)

Wow you did an amazing job


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## wokka (Jun 26, 2015)

ajwill said:


> And it's done! Took the advice of a breeder I know and did a really thorough spray with water and it was all dry by the next day, so think the ventilation is working okay. Have a heat gradient of 9-9.5 between the two ends.
> 
> Moved her in with three available hides but so far she just seems to want to hang out on the top shelf and has barely been in the hide.
> 
> Fed last night and discovered that she likes to eat hanging upside down from the top shelf. Very exciting and made for some great photo ops.



I would have thought a cage like that would have a vertical gradient rather than side to side. I imagine dont low would be cold with all that glas so the snake appears to be chasing heat if it is staying up top.


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