# Tv Cabinet conversion.



## marcus0002 (Apr 21, 2014)

Picking up this TV cabinet on Wednesday for $50






I'm going to make it into a 3 bay enclosure.
The sides for my black and gold jungle and my maccie, and the middle for my coastal. I will use the hole saw to cut a holes between the top and the bottom cupboards and drawers, which will act as hides. 
I will hang these ceramic fittings, one in each bay in cages for heating, all hooked up to thermostats.





I will get runners and glass cut by a glazier to fit the middle bay. Latches and locks will be put on everything.

I have a couple of questions.
Do I need to paint it with sealant, or will the existing varnish be safe? I plan on using silicon to fill any gaps.
What do you guys think of my heating setup? These ceramic fitting are $9.20 each and the cages for them are $20 each. I was thinking of using screw in cable tidy plates to secure the cable to the roof and let the fitting hang down. Will this be safe or is there a better way?

Any other ideas are appreciated.


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## marcus0002 (Apr 26, 2014)

Shelf has been knocked out, and its been sanded and putty put in the gaps and holes. Will sand that once its dry and add some stain.


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## ThatGuy (Apr 26, 2014)

Your jungle seems very happy supervising the construction of its new home


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## marcus0002 (Apr 26, 2014)

ThatGuy said:


> Your jungle seems very happy supervising the construction of its new home


 The two big boys already have a 2m x2mx 0.5m enclosure in the garage. This one is being built to replace these 3.


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## pinefamily (Apr 26, 2014)

In answer to one of your original questions, yes, you will need to seal the cabinet. Either use one of the pond sealers, or a water based stain.


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## marcus0002 (Apr 26, 2014)

pinefamily said:


> In answer to one of your original questions, yes, you will need to seal the cabinet. Either use one of the pond sealers, or a water based stain.


Just brush it over the inside surfaces after I've siliconed the gaps?


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## pinefamily (Apr 27, 2014)

Cabots CFP for floors is the product for something like this; a water-based clear coat. It's more expensive than pond sealer, but with the amount of area you have to cover, pond sealer will take forever, given the number of coats you will have to do.
The stain is not necessarily bad for the reptiles I think, but sealing it with one of these products helps protect the cabinet from their "business", or any spills.
Just follow the instructions on the tin.


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## marcus0002 (Apr 27, 2014)

Do I need to seal the whole thing or just the internals where the animals will be living? 

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## pinefamily (Apr 27, 2014)

You only need to seal where there is a chance of "spillage" of any kind . The outside just treat as you would normally.


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## marcus0002 (Apr 27, 2014)

pinefamily said:


> You only need to seal where there is a chance of "spillage" of any kind . The outside just treat as you would normally.


 So just the floors of the internals and 100mm up the wall should be fine. Does it put out much fumes? Its in the kitchen and i have 4 snake enclosures a couple of meters away. That being said it is well ventilated with screen doors and a fan.


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## marcus0002 (Apr 27, 2014)

Would this spray on stuff be ok?





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## pinefamily (Apr 27, 2014)

No, it's always safer to use water-based products. The pond sealer is obviously ok, and the cabot's cfp floor is water based.


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## marcus0002 (Apr 27, 2014)

pinefamily said:


> No, it's always safer to use water-based products. The pond sealer is obviously ok, and the cabot's cfp floor is water based.



No worries mate I ended up buying the water based cabots stuff.


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## pinefamily (Apr 27, 2014)

Just floow the instructions, and you can't go wrong. I'd probably go a little higher than 100mm; never underestimate a python to make a mess, lol.


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## marcus0002 (Apr 27, 2014)

Just looking at now, I'll probably do the whole interior, shouldn't take that long.
Vents are going in and first coat of stain on where the shelf used to be.


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## marcus0002 (Apr 27, 2014)

Vents are in


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## pinefamily (Apr 27, 2014)

Looking good mate.


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## boxhead1990 (Apr 28, 2014)

Nice Bredli 

I usually but the light cages that has a batten holder already in there 

Atleast it's solid and can't rock around in there when my niece runs around bumping into things lol


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## marcus0002 (Apr 28, 2014)

Had a delay. I ordered the wrong size light cages, 22cm x 16 cm when I should have got 120 x 16.

Edit. Just had an idea. Maybe instead of globes rig up three shelves with heat cord under them?


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## marcus0002 (May 7, 2014)

Quick update. Litter guards are in, waiting for filler to dry then I will apply stain.


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## marcus0002 (May 8, 2014)

I ended up using these light fittings. Sanding and stain is done, now need to get the glass and runners from the glazier.


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## pinefamily (May 8, 2014)

Haven't priced the runners or tracks from a glazier but you can buy the tracks from bunnings at a reasonable price. 

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## marcus0002 (May 8, 2014)

Glass cost me $95 from the glazier and the runners were $20 from bunnings.


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## pythonmum (May 8, 2014)

My glazier seems to be cheaper than yours - only about $50 for similar near me. I know you have the light fittings, but I highly recommend shelves with heat cord. It is much easier on the electricity bill. I build a wooden frame, then put the a tile on top and fly screen below. Put a perch underneath and the snake can choose back or belly heat. The heat cord is cheaper to run than globes. I also use LED lights because they don't need a cage and are really cheap to run, plus last ages. It is great fun building your own enclosure. Good work!


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## marcus0002 (May 8, 2014)

pythonmum said:


> My glazier seems to be cheaper than yours - only about $50 for similar near me. I know you have the light fittings, but I highly recommend shelves with heat cord. It is much easier on the electricity bill. I build a wooden frame, then put the a tile on top and fly screen below. Put a perch underneath and the snake can choose back or belly heat. The heat cord is cheaper to run than globes. I also use LED lights because they don't need a cage and are really cheap to run, plus last ages. It is great fun building your own enclosure. Good work!



Can you chuck some photos of that up?


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## Norm (May 8, 2014)

How much did you pay for the electrical cable? A cheap way is to buy extension cords from bunnings, already have the plug on one end and all you have to do is cut the socket off the other, or vise versa depending on your needs.


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## marcus0002 (May 8, 2014)

$10 for 10 meters I think. Yea didn't think of that I have a few bunnings extensions lying around


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## pinefamily (May 9, 2014)

Doing the same thing with a computer cord. Cut off the plug end, wire it up and plug it into the power.

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## marcus0002 (May 10, 2014)

How many Coats of CFP floor do people usually put on? 

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## marcus0002 (May 10, 2014)

final coat of CFP done, lights all wired up. When CFP is dry lights will be run through the gap, silicon seal all internal joins, fit glass, runners and latches.









The wooden spacers are to enable me to run the cords out the back, instead of through the roof. This leaves the top clear for me to stack my BHP enclosure on top


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## marcus0002 (May 12, 2014)

almost all done. need to fit shelves and replace a light fitting I broke when I done it up too tight. Will get cages for the ligths tomorrow. Don't buy a cheap caulking gun. My $2 one bought with 2 minutes of use and had to rush up to masters to get another one.


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## marcus0002 (May 18, 2014)

Quick update, 99% done
Shelves for the side enclosures cut out and sealed













Shelf for center enclosure sealed, and angle brackets screwed on









Center enclosure shelf fitted













All done





Only thing waiting on now is 3 light cages for the globes. Currently using two old rubbish ones for rtwo of the bays and the other bay will remain empty until the cages show up in the post.


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