DIY Modern Terrarium Made Out of a Sterilite Bin

The tools you are going to need for this project are:

· A carpenters square or a metal ruler. This is optional, but highly recommended · A tape measure · An exacto knife · Drill bits · A Rivet Gun (optional depending on how you decide to attach your hinges) · A Sanding block to sand down the edges for finishing touches · A Torch if you would like the edges of the acrylic door to look polished · And a very small amount of Weldon 2007 The Material you will need is: · Your bin of choice, I chose to make this out of a 6qt bin as an example, the method can be used for any bin though. · Screen, either a round vent as shown here or just screen material which will need to be hot glued on. · Screws · Window screen clips · Rivets (optional) · Hinges · A lock or a pull tab · Quarter inch Sintra PVC · And finally Quarter inch acrylic For the PVC and the Acrylic, I purchased them from my local plastic supplier as off cuts, as such, the total cost of material was only 5$ and if you include the hardware it was only 8$ to make. Start by measuring your bin and determining what size PVC you will need. For this particular bin our piece is 8 and a quarter inches wide by 14 inches long. Once you have your measurements, mark your piece and cut it out. Sintra is very easy to work with and is easily cut with an exacto knife. Use a straight edge like the one on the carpenters square as a guide. If you have access to power tools, it would end up looking a lot better in the end if you were to use a table saw. Acrylic is a little trickier but can still be cut using an exacto. Start by confirming the size you need and mark your piece. When cutting acrylic, you need to make 9-10 scores on the top of it and then take it to a straight edge, like the one on the side of your working table, and just give it a couple of swift hits. The acrylic will snap right on the line you made your scores. If youre working with a smaller piece, you will need to clamp it down first and use pliers to snap it. Once you’ve cut your acrylic, align it on your PVC piece and mark it out. Then take your straight edge once more and cut out the area you just marked out. Take your time when cutting, if you rush, you will snap your piece. Now that everything is cut out, it’s time to add your hinges. Start with your acrylic door because if you do it the other way around, it will be harder to align it. Once you’ve marked your piece, take your time drilling the acrylic on low speed settings on your drill, acrylic can crack if you twist it while drilling, drill too fast or if you put too much pressure. Now its time to attach your hinges, I like to rivet hinges on because youll never have to worry about nuts and bolts coming loose, but you can use either or to attach them. Follow the same steps with marking your piece, drilling it, and riveting or bolting your hinges in place with the frame. Now we are almost done! Take your bin, align it on your new door and screw in all four corners as well as the centers of each side. When drilling, have your screws enter on an angle if your screws are longer than the materials thickness to prevent it from penetrating the face. I pre drilled my bin with a 2inch hole saw to allow for easy installation of the round vent, you can burn or drill holes in, glue screen on, or use a vent like this one, just make sure your new Terrarium has enough ventilation for what you will be housing in it. Heres a step that is completely optional however I do recommend it. I cut a small piece of scrap pvc and glued it on to the frame, this allows the door to stay in place and not pop in while using it. The final step in making this conversion is to drill in your twist tabs, regardless of if you are using a lock or not, twist tabs will be need to ensure there isn’t too much play in the doors which could result in an escape. Adjust your tabs so that the are stiff but don’t flop around and youre done! If you decide to add a lock, all you need to do is drill out the hole for the lock on your door and align it with the inner tab you installed, IF you need a lock, the tab is not optional. And there you have it, an inexpensive, rather simple what to convert your boring looking bin into a modern looking terrarium.

The tools you are going to need for this project are:

· A carpenters square or a metal ruler. This is optional, but highly recommended

· A tape measure

· An exacto knife

· Drill bits

· A Rivet Gun (optional depending on how you decide to attach your hinges)

· A Sanding block to sand down the edges for finishing touches

· A Torch if you would like the edges of the acrylic door to look polished

· And a very small amount of Weldon 2007

The Material you will need is:

· Your bin of choice, I chose to make this out of a 6qt bin as an example, the method can be used for any bin though.

· Screen, either a round vent as shown here or just screen material which will need to be hot glued on.

· Screws

· Window screen clips

· Rivets (optional)

· Hinges

· A lock or a pull tab

· Quarter inch Sintra PVC

· And finally Quarter inch acrylic

For the PVC and the Acrylic, I purchased them from my local plastic supplier as off cuts, as such, the total cost of material was only 5$ and if you include the hardware it was only 8$ to make.

Start by measuring your bin and determining what size PVC you will need. For this particular bin our piece is 8 and a quarter inches wide by 14 inches long.

Once you have your measurements, mark your piece and cut it out.

Sintra is very easy to work with and is easily cut with an exacto knife. Use a straight edge like the one on the carpenters square as a guide. If you have access to power tools, it would end up looking a lot better in the end if you were to use a table saw.

Acrylic is a little trickier but can still be cut using an exacto. Start by confirming the size you need and mark your piece.

When cutting acrylic, you need to make 9-10 scores on the top of it and then take it to a straight edge, like the one on the side of your working table, and just give it a couple of swift hits. The acrylic will snap right on the line you made your scores. If youre working with a smaller piece, you will need to clamp it down first and use pliers to snap it.

Once you’ve cut your acrylic, align it on your PVC piece and mark it out.

Then take your straight edge once more and cut out the area you just marked out.

Take your time when cutting, if you rush, you will snap your piece.

Now that everything is cut out, it’s time to add your hinges.

Start with your acrylic door because if you do it the other way around, it will be harder to align it.

Once you’ve marked your piece, take your time drilling the acrylic on low speed settings on your drill, acrylic can crack if you twist it while drilling, drill too fast or if you put too much pressure.

Now its time to attach your hinges, I like to rivet hinges on because youll never have to worry about nuts and bolts coming loose, but you can use either or to attach them.

Follow the same steps with marking your piece, drilling it, and riveting or bolting your hinges in place with the frame.

Now we are almost done!

Take your bin, align it on your new door and screw in all four corners as well as the centers of each side. When drilling, have your screws enter on an angle if your screws are longer than the materials thickness to prevent it from penetrating the face.

I pre drilled my bin with a 2inch hole saw to allow for easy installation of the round vent, you can burn or drill holes in, glue screen on, or use a vent like this one, just make sure your new Terrarium has enough ventilation for what you will be housing in it.

Heres a step that is completely optional however I do recommend it. I cut a small piece of scrap pvc and glued it on to the frame, this allows the door to stay in place and not pop in while using it.

The final step in making this conversion is to drill in your twist tabs, regardless of if you are using a lock or not, twist tabs will be need to ensure there isn’t too much play in the doors which could result in an escape.

Adjust your tabs so that the are stiff but don’t flop around and youre done! If you decide to add a lock, all you need to do is drill out the hole for the lock on your door and align it with the inner tab you installed, IF you need a lock, the tab is not optional.

And there you have it, an inexpensive, rather simple what to convert your boring looking bin into a modern looking terrarium.