Building the Mini Jungle Gym cage ceiling.

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Building the Mini Jungle Gym Ceiling

The ceiling isn't so hard to make - and it looks and works great!

The Mini Jungle Gym ceiling

At Home Depot, in the paneling department, are 4 x 8 sheets
of melamine about 1/8" thick. Some of this 'Tile Board' is plain white,
and some of the panels have designs on them. Choose the style that you like best.

Have Home Depot cut a rectangle that measures [R].

Cut off the four corners to match the frame shape.

Tip: cut from the shiny side and then sand the edge smooth.

Now it's time to lay out the chrome trim rings...

I like to use two chrome rings spaced [S] in from three of the edges.
Make sure that you leave room for a UVb light fixture toward the front.

Layout the rings.

Take the two trim rings and lay them out on the shiny side.
Use a marker to trace the inside circle of each trim ring.
While your ring is still in place, mark North South East and West just outside the ring --
which will be where you drill holes for the cable ties that hold the rings in place.

Drill a starter hole just outside the circle trace and use a jig saw
to cut a circle 1/2" outside of the traced circle --
that's about halfway between the circle trace and the hole marks.
The circle cut doesn't have to be a perfect circle --
because it's going to be hidden by the trim rings.

Cut 1/2" outside your trace.

Use a drill bit that is just slightly larger than your cable-ties to drill four holes,
positioning the holes just outside of the edge of the trim ring: N S E & West.

Drill from the shiny side to avoid 'pop-through' damage

Okay, now flip the ceiling over and cut a strip of uncoated wire cloth a little oversized [T].

Or you can cover the holes individually, like I did here:

To get the chrome ring in place: slide the ring underneath, lining it up so that you can see one of the four holes.
Poke the cable tie down through the screen and back up through the hole, and tighten.
Tip: hang the panel and hole half way over the edge of the table to hold the ring in place while you tie it in.

The objective is to leave the cable tie 'squares' on top -- to help keep the dome lights in place.
In fact, when you clip the ends of the cable ties, leave a little extra sticking up as shown.

Okay, now flip the ceiling back over and drill a few holes 1/2" in from the outside edge
to allow you to cable tie the ceiling to the cage.
I'd suggest putting the ceiling on top of the cage and marking for the holes first.
I like to place the holes in the corners and several next to the T connectors.

The finished ceiling.

.....

Now we've done the frame, the door, and the ceiling, but we still have
to do the back panels, the windows, and the hanging shelf!

Use Paypal to get the measurements now.

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