Platform options - to buy or diy

Maz

Maz

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The platforms I’m looking at have legs at all four corners which screw in, but I would welcome a tutorial on attaching inset legs to platforms Elusive. I’m fine doing that with houses but haven’t a clue how to do it with a platform.
 
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Beryl said:
I use only two legs of a four legged platform and screw the other side of the platform to the bars.
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Thanks - there won’t be any bars to screw to!
 
elusive said:
I just glue the legs on with ponal, it does make less usuable space under the platform putting the two legs further in but that’s never seemed to bother mine.
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Do you mean you just glue the top surface of the dowels to the underneath of the platform? Assume they must be fairly large diameter dowels. That is an option although it would leave empty screw holes where the legs should be. So maybe I should just make one out of a shelf.
 
Maz said:
Do you mean you just glue the top surface of the dowels to the underneath of the platform? Assume they must be fairly large diameter dowels. That is an option although it would leave empty screw holes where the legs should be. So maybe I should just make one out of a shelf.
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Yes, standard dowel size & just glue them on. if you already have screw holes it might be better to stick with what you normally do or as you say maybe use the shelves to make a new one.
 
I moved these posts to a thread of their own as thought it could be a good general thread and maybe people can add photos of their platforms and how they do it. I’m thinking Elusive has some photos!
 
Beryl said:
You can drill through perspex but make sure to put a piece of wood underneath it and drill without too much pressure.
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I think I’d rather make a platform as wouldn’t fancy risking cracking the Perspex!

So I had been looking at the Getzoo ones but they have circular insets under the shelf where the legs fit so relocating legs would be too difficult as two would be longer if not inset.

The other ones I was looking at were the Happy Henry’s homes ones. Raffy has one of those. But they have countersunk screws going through from the top down onto the legs which would leave a screw hole if two legs were elsewhere. Although maybe I could cover the shelf.

I do have an old house roof from a broken house I could use as a platform and glue legs to that but I think they would need to be quite thick dowels.

Elusive how do you hold the legs secure while the glue is drying?
 
elusive said:
Yes, standard dowel size & just glue them on. if you already have screw holes it might be better to stick with what you normally do or as you say maybe use the shelves to make a new one.
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What do you call normal sized ones ? :-). I have thin ones about 6mm on top I use to stick to the side of houses. The ones that came with the happy Henry’s homes platform have thick legs about 1.8 cm diameter maybe.

I’ve never made a platform before though. With the houses I stick the dowels to the side of the house so a greater surface area is attached.
 
I can’t think what the diameter of the dowels is off hand I’ll have to get a platform out & measure them but I guess they could be about 1cm, it’s so long since I bought some & actually made a platform now.

The ponal express glue dries really quickly so I just use a bit more glue than you really need & find they stay put upside down & after about 10 minutes very carefully put it the right way up then leave it to dry fully. It might depend on how long the dowels are, if they’re really long then they might fall over doing it that way.
 
Good point about the length. I only have the ponal classic but could maybe put a heavy book on top of all four legs to keep them in place. If I go that route!
 
elusive said:
Yes, standard dowel size & just glue them on. if you already have screw holes it might be better to stick with what you normally do or as you say maybe use the shelves to make a new one.
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That sounds positive if slimmer dowels stay glued on and support a shelf. So any size would do that then. I don't think any of my current shelves would work though. Still looking ...........

Annoyingly I realise I have a couple of good corner shelves in the hamster box - which is underneath Pip's temporary cage! They wouldn't work for bar fixing any more as were quite thin and the fixings broke - I gave up on them. But could attach legs to those. I took loads of stuff I might need out of the hamster box/ottoman before setting up Pip's cage - but didn't take those out! I don't really want to freak him out by moving his cage around to get them out.
 
I know whenever I need something for setting up a hamster cage I always remember I’ve got what I need & completely forgot until it was too late!

I don’t think the dowels need to be that thick, if they’re pushed into substrate even with digging underneath the substrate does a lot of the supporting, if that makes sense.
 
Yes it does make sense. It's hard to move them once they're in there. I remember you had a photo of a cage set up with everything on stilts before the bedding was added. Maybe it's already on here?
 
Having looked at a few places, I'll link the various options for buying platforms. I decided to go with the Getzoo ones as I see they sell replacement 30cm legs to fit and a ladder that fits the front of their shelves. I went for two corner shelves, which only have 3 legs - two at the front - which won't be affected by the sloping base, and one in the back corner which I can adjust (cut a little bit off and glue it further forwards.

This will effectively make one long shelf along one end except there will be a gap of about 2 inches between each corner shelf which I can put a bridge across.

www.getzoo.de

Getzoo Ecketage (22x22x21cm)

Reliably prevents the wheel from sinking into the litter. Setting up an enclosure for small rodents should always be well thought out. Not only…
www.getzoo.de www.getzoo.de

Other options for platforms are these. They will do custom made ones probably but that would take time. The Shire Paws ones could be adjusted as well as they just screw in from the top so you just drill a screw hole in a separate place but they have limited sizes although might do custom ones. I'm not sure if that's the same with Furry Natural, but they have a big choice of sizes - but it's about two weeks delivery. The Happy Henry's homes ones are very nice - I have one for Raffy's cage, but due to the countersunk bolt construction, are better for tanks and wouldn't be easy to move legs to a different place without it looking a bit strange on top.

Getzoo do a wide range of sizes and shapes and actually do a racetrack that fits along one long side and one short side. I like the idea of that but it wouldn't work with everything else I want to put in the cage. It would work well in a tank. I've had one of their older style platforms and they're well made. All their platforms are listed with either 14cm legs or 21 cm legs, but they also sell 30cm replacement legs.

So I've gone for the easiest option. Shelves and platforms also last a long time and can be re-used.

Shire Paws platforms

Furry Natural platforms

Happy Henry's Homes platforms

All Getzoo platforms plus racetrack
 
I changed the title of the thread to include diy and purchase options. I will have enough diy to do with putting longer legs on the labyrinth house and small platform that supports the rock formation. Bars are easier to set up in some ways, without legs needed! Except on the house.
 
You found quite a selection of choices for buying there.
I think the Getzoo ones look really good, they’ve been on my shopping list for ages now for when I need to set up a new cage.
 
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