Doors for large vivarium. Need ideas please.

Hello all,
I have a 42" wide x 36" deep x 48" tall cubish vivarium on order, but it will be 6 weeks before the fabricator can get started. I have that time to figure out access.
The bottom 4" to 6" of this will be a false bottom.
I want to avoid any seems along the front 42"x48" pane for sure, so I'm thinking of access via both ends.
The vivarium will be made with 1/4" material, maybe 3/8" if I can scrounge up the extra cost.
Any ideas on doors that allow for optimal viewing yet prevent escapees? Should I try sliding doors or perhaps 2 hinged doors on each side?
Thanks in advance for any suggestions.
Sean

Anyone ? :?

[RGB]

Acrylic or Glass? How visible will the sides be? Hinged doors would be much easier and less prone to escape but will probably obstruct the view more. Either way, if designed well would work. It's just a matter of what you want to do.

[VicSkimmr]

Here's the design I'm using for my 60 gallon vivarium.



It will have one large door that swings open so it won't obstruct the view in any way. I'm not sure if this could apply to a tank that large or not though, you'd have to keep a really close eye on the frogs I think, and watch for carpet surfers.

It will be acrylic, which is why I am asking for advice. I have read some concerns about warping of acrylic but could not asertain if this was due to height or width of the acrylic. Are the narrower sliding doors less prone to the warping than the wider hinged doors?
The sides will be very visible as this will be designed for 3 sided viewing. I'm leaning towards clear hinges and some form of clear clasp for each side.
I suppose one large removable front pane would be best but I think removing that would get old everyday for feeding.

[defaced]

Warping is not because of dimention, but because of material. There is a material phenomon called creep. "Creep: The time-dependant permanent deformation that occurs under stress; fro most materials it is important only at elecated temperatures." (Callister Material Science and Engineering: An Introduction) Plastics in general are pretty prone to creep. Depending on your design, you will place different stresses on your door, thus change the way it want's to deform. You can reduce this through design parameters such as material thickness, overall size, door design (sliding vs hinged)...

I haven't been able to find the info I need to make a more specific design reccomendation than this: make your door as small as possible, with the thickest acrylic possible. A hinged door, if not supported on the free end, will deform more than a sliding door. This is because a sliding door has support along the whole bottom of it (compressive axial stress), while a hinged door is left hanging and thus is in a state of sheer.

Thank you very much 'defaced'. I'm still debating on how to do this, but mostly likely it will be two side sliding doors.

[Lucidblue]

Keep us posted. I really want to make a big viv but I'm afraid I'll mess up the door. Please, let me know how yours turns out.