[Homer]

I have started a bit of an outline on building a terrarium from plywood and glass on my frognet gallery albums. It's still in the works, so any questions you have on this will help me fill in the blanks in the how-to side.

Let me know what you think, whether you found it helpful or interesting, or how I could make it better. Unfortunately, the pics are over a year old now, so I have to deal with what I have. I'm digging on my old computer to see if I've missed anything.

http://www.frognet.org/gallery/album18

 

[Scott]

Looking nice Homer.

What are the dimensions (and a gallon estimate if you have it - I believe that would be h * w * d (inches) / 231).

s

 

[Guest]

I like the tape/silicon mold you made Homer. I bet it fits like a glove. Two questions. Did you coat the back wall(plywood) with epoxy or some other sealant? Also, the track you cut with the router, how does that work? How did you keep your line so straight or did you have help from machinery? I am not to familiar with routers if you can't tell.

Great job as usual Homer.

 

[Homer]

Thanks, Matt. The back wall was covered with fiberglass mat, then coated with resin. When the fiberglass mat is wetted with resin it becomes clear . . . that's why it only looks like it has been urethaned. I probably could have just used spar varnish on that part, but I had the extra fiberglass, and knew it wouldn't hurt. I didn't epoxy that part because there is no standing water there. Of course, you can probably tell that I used a coco fiber mat siliconed on there after that (I'm kinda ambivalent about that choice . . . but it was really cheap at the time, and I had no money to be spending extras).

As far as the router goes, I used a rabbiting bit which has a ball bearing to run along the wood as a guide. I set the depth of the router constant, placed the terrarium base on its edge, and ran the router base along the "sides" of the terrarium base. That way the cut had to be a straight line and perfect depth.

On my next wood terraria, I will use an easier design that anyone with a circular saw, jig saw, and drill could put together. I'll be sure to post pics and I'll try to get a plan in downloadable form. However, who knows how long it will take me to get going on those . . . .