DIY project - 4 new cages

[Lemming]

Hey guys,

I want to introduce my DIY project. At the moment we have 4 cages. Two cages for two syrians and two cages for my four lemmings. My boyfriend doesn't like that all cages are spreaded in the living room, he rather likes to have all cages at one wall. I also want to give my pets more space so this is an excellent point where we have to start a new DIY project Of course it should be visiually attractive so that my boyfriend has no reason anymore to say that he doesn't like the cages

An here is my sketch


Our plan was to build four cages with chipboard and glas sliding doors. Each cage should have a size of 148 x 65 cm.
Now we have almost finished the four cages, we are only waiting for the glass to be delivered.

I want to show you some pics and give you detailed informations how we build them. Maybe some of you are interested in it.

Here is all the material we bought for one single cage:
2 x 19 mm white chipboard 148 x 65 cm (ceiling and floor)
2 x 16 mm white chipboard 63,4 x 60 cm (sides)
1 x 16 mm white chipboard 148 x 60 cm (back)
1 x 19 mm white chipboard 60 x 10 cm (middle support)
1 x 16 mm walnut chipboard 144,8 x 25 cm (front wood)
E-profiles for the glass slides
L-profiles for the ventilation windows outside
flat-profiles for the ventilation windows inside
mesh
ca. 10 m edge tape white
ca. 1,5 m edge tape walnut
ca. 40 screws (3,5 mm thick, 40 mm long)
felt pads for the floor of the cage
aquarium silicone
2 x 4 mm glass 75 x 34 cm for the sliding doors
2 x door nobs

The wood were cutted in the hardware store to the size we needed.

We started to iron the edge tape on the raw edges of the chipboard (just the edges that you will see later). On the instruction was written that you should put a piece of baking paper between the iron an the edge tape, but it also works without baking paper and it's also a bit faster:


The we runned with a wood block over it to press it a bit down and fix it better. We cutted the overlapping parts with an utility knife:


After that we grinded the sharp edges with sand paper.
Then we started to saw the ventilation windows. We draw the lines with a pencil on the chipboard and masked it with masking tape so that the wood don't splinters to much:


After that we drilled holes in the middle to have a starting point for the fret saw we started to saw:


And this was the result:


After sawing all ventilation windows we cutted the L-profiles with a hand saw and glued it with silicone on the ventilation windows (this side will face outside later):


We cutted the mesh and stapled it to the other side of the ventilation window (this side will face inside later):


(the number of allowed pictures is limited so I will continue in the next post)

[Lemming]

After that we cutted the flat profiles to hide the edges of the mesh. We also glued it with much aquarium silicone over the mesh edges:




Then we started to screw the chipboard together. First the side boards on the floor:


Then the back:


The front:


And at the end the ceiling and the middle beam. Then we cutted the E-profiles and glued them with silicone on the front wood and ceiling. And this is the result:


Here is a good article about how to measure the E-profiles and the sliding doors, it's very helpfull Naturnahe Hamstergehege: Tipps zu Schiebetüren und Streuschutz (it's also in english, you have to scroll down)

Now we wait for the glass to be delivered. We needed two whole weekends to build the four cages and i'm looking forward to the end result

[thelittleteacup]

that looks like it will be fantastic! all very perfessional looking!i wish my boyfriend was that good!

[Lemming]

Thank you But neither me nor my boyfriend are very professional I read everything in the internet and different hamster forums how to build such a cage. I planned it and bought all the matrial and my boyfriend helped me to build it. We even didn't have enough tools and had to borrow it from our neighbour. It isn't as difficult as it looks like. We both are laymen and have a desk job and have nothing to do with handcraft

[Jesse]

Woah! That looks awesome! I'm so jealous! I'm starting to realise with so many cages scattered everywhere that something like you are making would be perfect .... hmmmm *scratches head*

[thelittleteacup]

the website you recommended is really good! i like the ikea cages!

[princess-rhi89]

WOW that looks fantastic makes my diy cage look inadequate lol. I wish I had your DIY skills. Cant wait to see the finished product and hear what your hammies and lemmings think of it xx

[Lemming]

Thank you all

@Jesse: My inspiration was this cabinet cage: http://www.petfoto.de/fotos/data/med...n_IMG_2932.jpg
It's also a good way to house many hamsters a bit space saving.

@princess-rhi89: That's the reason why I posted so much details here, so that other persons can profit from it and learn more about how to build DIY cages. That's nothing else, what I did, I only read in the internet to get my DIY skills

[samincittagazze]

I am very much in awe of you! I have debated trying a DIY cage similar to this, but dismissed it as too scary!

[mangoandmimi]

Woah thats amazing!! puts all my cages and attempts to make them look good to shame... you have very lucky hamsters! x