Expedit/Kallax Hack Cage

[StarlightSerenity]

My partner and I are in the planning stages of making Expedit cages - one unit with two cages in it. We plan to use a 4x4 unit, 5 or 6 cubes per cage.

My biggest issue so far is sourcing the glass - can anyone make any recommendations for suppliers of custom cut glass?

Does anyone know of a tutorial for building an Expedit cage? My partner is very handy but rather than doing a lot of trial and error a few tutorials to have a look at would be great.

Anyone on the forum made one? I know of two that have been posted but not sure if those members are still active.

[pewmouse]

We recently finished our Kallax hack. We used polycarbonate for the back because its not as brittle and we drilled holes in it with the circular saw to put vents in, we then used Perspex for the sliding doors because its cheaper and lighter than glass and it also doesn't rattled in the runners. I will ask my boyfriend which company he used as we ordered custom sizes if you are interested? I'm afraid I cant help out with glass though if that's what you want to use.

The short version for ours was: Get the metal bar we used to brace the middle because without dividers it loses structural strength and sags in the middle. Get polycarbonate sheet for the back, cut out holes for the vents (circular viv vents), silicone vents in (we used non-toxic aquarium stuff), sillicone double runners top and bottom and fit sliding doors. Since we took the pic below we added a strip of Perspex slotted in vertical runners right at the front so we could have thicker substrate. I've also got an aquarium monitor on the doors to keep an eye on the temp and that worried me a bit but everything has been fine.

We chose not to add vents I the ends because the kallax is hollow so we thought it would take away too much of the structural strength.

Anyway, our hams love it and the amount on ventilation we have put in seems to be fine

Good luck with your project!

[StarlightSerenity]

Thank you!

Certainly interested in the supplier for the Perspex! I may make it with Perspex to start and eventually replace it with glass as it will be very expensive and that's the only thing holding me back at the moment.

Yours looks great by the way!

[RubyDG]

I'm more of a visual person and I'd be interested to see how you did the back and vents. Would you be able to post a picture of the back?

Also - great job, it looks lovely!

[pewmouse]

Thanks all credit is to my boyfriend, he is the one that's good at DIY.

We used polycarbonate for the back and that is probably as expensive as glass but you can cut polycarbonate to add vents and it wont shatter like glass or Perspex. We used Perspex for the lip at the front to stop bedding getting in the runners and for the sliding doors because its cheap and light weight. It does look quite good though, you can't tell that its not glass now its all together. We got ours cut to size and delivered from plasticsheets.com, they did the polycarbonate and the Perspex. The back sheet of polycarbonate cost £96 I think. Not cheap, but we wanted ours to have one piece at the back to make it easier to attach.

Here is a pic of the vents in the back, you will see we also silliconed strips of LED lights to the back so we can spy on our hams

[virtualkeith]

Impressive! Very nice job! It looks like a busy hamster high rise!

[RubyDG]

Ooooh! Thanks so much for taking the trouble to do that Pewmouse! I was awfully curious how you did the back, that looks really great . Usually with DIY cages the back is either ignored or just basic mesh - which is fine but I think this not only looks nice but is very functional. Thanks for the link too - I had a look at the prices, very reasonable. I've been contemplating a DIY cage too but am trying to figure out roughly what it's going to cost me first.

[pewmouse]

Thanks guys . It cost me quite a lot but i felt its been worth it as it looks nice and it suits my hams well. Its opposite my sofa and i can see all the hams at once now so i watch hammy vision instead of the tv!

[virtualkeith]

LOL @ hammyvision!