# Melamine snake enclosure .. Difficulty: Expert ?



## Variety (Sep 11, 2012)

Im a landscaper and alot of my work involved building decks and hand rails, 2nd attempt at a melamine enclosure 1200 x 595 x 595 and its ended up costing alot more then it should have. 
First try i hard to rebuy 2 bits of melamine because the wood split so i pre drilled and eliminated that, had to take 15mm off my sheet of glass so bought a glass cutter and cracked my $45 peice of 5mm curved plate glass beyond repair. 

Is it me or do these things look alot easier to build then what they are ?


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## Ramsayi (Sep 11, 2012)

It's you.At the end of the day it is just a box.
Easy to get material cut to size then just assemble like you wrote.Pre drill then screw it all together. 

Since you build decks and handrails I guess you would measure twice and cut once? same for enclosures.


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## Variety (Sep 11, 2012)

thats the frustrating part, it is just a box haha. Take 3 this weeknd


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## dickyknee (Sep 11, 2012)

Could not be any easier ... if you can knock up a deck , a box should be a walk in the park. 

A few tips , DO NOT use melamine from bunnings , it's utter crap .. get some decent stuff from a kitchen mob.
Getting it cut to size is a good idea too ..


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## Variety (Sep 11, 2012)

dickyknee said:


> Could not be any easier ... if you can knock up a deck , a box should be a walk in the park.
> 
> DO NOT use melamine from bunnings



Thanks heeps for this tip!


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## leamos (Sep 11, 2012)

Good to see a fellow landscaper on APS, hot tip is to make friends with any cabinet makers/kitchen guys you might meet on site. Agree with dickyknee the quality of the off the shelf melamine at bunnings is rubbish, the stuff kitchen and cabinet makers use has much better glues used in the bonding of the melamine, particularly the kitchen guys, gotta remember that stuff has to cope with heat and moisture so is manufactured accordingly


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## ron_peters (Sep 11, 2012)

dickyknee said:


> Could not be any easier ... if you can knock up a deck , a box should be a walk in the park.
> 
> A few tips , DO NOT use melamine from bunnings , it's utter crap .. get some decent stuff from a kitchen mob.
> Getting it cut to size is a good idea too ..




I have used melamine from bunnings for 2 of my enclosures and had no problems what so ever. My only building experience was woodwork at school, perhaps try predrilling all holes and be careful what screws you use.


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## Pauls_Pythons (Sep 11, 2012)

I have built enough of these using Bunnings and Mitre 10 as the main supplier of parts and had no problems. Dont need to spend more by going to upmarket suppliers of materials that will give you minimal benefit to the finished item. 
Most important thing is a good saw & appropriate blade. Take your time but as a tradie I would also imagine you are well versed at this and the measure twice rule.


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## Snowman (Sep 11, 2012)

I think the reference to bunnings melamine is just that the laminate is quite cheap. It chips very easily etc. But for $13 for a sheet of 1200x595x13 it's not bad value to house a snake in.


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## Variety (Sep 11, 2012)

My circular saw chipped the laminate bad enough for me to replace it and got bunnings to do it on their ban-saw. Then cracked the glass lol so hopefully this weekend ill be good to go


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## BigBrad (Sep 11, 2012)

The big mobs don't chip the laminate because their saw has a scribe, always run a sharp stanley knife along your mark and cut on the off cut side of the mark leaving any chipping to happen on the off cut only and always use a guide, if your power saw doesn't have one clamp a straight edge down. Hope this helps.


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## Dreaper (Sep 11, 2012)

go to a cabinet maker and have them cut everything to size, its fast easy and about the same costg as just buying the wood from bunnings. after that the rest is east

- - - Updated - - -

if you are using 16mm melamine get yourself a 8g pre drill/countersink drill bit. measure in 8mm for the edge and screw away, just be sure to use chipboard screws. general rule is x2.5 the thickness of your board is the min length of the screw. the important thing about melamine is measuring your drill holes and pre drilling, take your time doing that and nothing should go wrong


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## Joemal (Sep 11, 2012)

Patience and alot of it .Buggered if i know how i made this one for Scrubby as i failed woodwork at school and i have bugger all patience .As everyone has said it's just a box your building so just stick with it .Measures 2.4 X 2.0 X 1.2 .weighs in at about 300kgs .


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## Rob (Sep 11, 2012)

Some good advice in this thread, but also have a look on youtube. I was quite surprised at the amount of decent instructional vids on herp related topics. eg. building enclosures, rodent/hatchie racks, etc.


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## Jacknifejimmy (Sep 11, 2012)

Built my last one in under 3 hours using melamine from bunnings and it couldn't have been easier. 
Like everyone so far has said - precice with the cuts and pre drill your holes and it's smooth sailing from there.


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## jbest (Sep 11, 2012)

Don't use an impact driver for the screws lol that splits melamine too


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## Mace699 (Sep 11, 2012)

i will say although the melamine from bunnings works fine. it has a shorter lifespan compared to kitchen cabinet melamine as they use moisture resistant melamine. as leamos says the glues that are used make them much more suited for making enclosures out of, as they cope with water spills and what not much better but having said that one enclosure i have made over 5 years ago odd has had a water bowl knocked over and pooled in the bottom many a time and has lived to tell the tale so you may not really notice the difference.


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## Snowman (Sep 11, 2012)

If you are patient then gluing the melamine box together works well to. I've done this before then put some screws in for good measure (after drilling a pilot hole). The glue means there is a lot less stress on the screws breaking the melamine side ways.


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## Variety (Sep 12, 2012)

thanks for the advice guys


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## wokka (Sep 12, 2012)

ron_peters said:


> I have used melamine from bunnings for 2 of my enclosures and had no problems what so ever. My only building experience was woodwork at school, perhaps try predrilling all holes and be careful what screws you use.


The problem with material from bunnings is a bit like a lot of aps users. They buy on price so the product they stock is not always the same quality. Cheapest is not always better, particularly if you value your time.


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## dickyknee (Sep 12, 2012)

ron_peters said:


> I have used melamine from bunnings for 2 of my enclosures and had no problems what so ever. My only building experience was woodwork at school, perhaps try predrilling all holes and be careful what screws you use.



Thanks for the tips on cage building , ill remember that in future 

Once you use a decent quality melamine you will see the difference , bunnings melamine is complete rubbish and that is why it costs so little ..


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## ron_peters (Sep 17, 2012)

wokka said:


> The problem with material from bunnings is a bit like a lot of aps users. They buy on price so the product they stock is not always the same quality. Cheapest is not always better, particularly if you value your time.



wow, im sure there is better quality melamine out there, i was simply saying i had used it with no problems. Perhaps at the end of the day people would like to save money on enclosures (it aint like your'e cooking for the queen on it) so they can spend it on nicer animals.


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## Justdragons (Sep 17, 2012)

lol ive used both and i dont think it makes a massive difference for what we do. if they were going to be a lacie tank yes but for shnakes i wouldnt bother. The ceap stuff is fine.. just take your time mark out all you screw spots, drill STRAIGHT, and always pre drill and countersink and only nib up your screw tight not as tight as your drill will possibly do. you will be fine.


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