Anyone Got Plans For A Steel Aquarium Stand?

[jaarus]

Hiya,

I have found two local welding firms nearby and I am hoping to send them plans/schematics of what I want built to get quotes from them

Has anyone had a similar frame built and has any plans they could e-mail me?
(I did come across a guys journal of him making a stand for a similar sized tank - he was doing a self weld, I am NOT going to try that myself!!, but foolishly I didnt bookmark the page and now I cant find the blasted thing!)

cheers all

 

[jaarus]

bump

 

[MojoDex]

me and my dad have made 5 stands between us over the years

they have all be made out of 25mm box section 5mm thick

i could do u a cutting list if you want but then your relying on the guys at the firm being able to piece it together obviously i dont have strucad here to draw u up a technical drawing

 

[MojoDex]

ok heres a bit of a sketch ive colour coded it with lengths etc ive shown the bottom braces off the floor because thats how i do it then i weld some circular plates on for feet but its up to you how u want to it.

it goes in this order

put the top together the 2160's, 660's and one of the 608's
then attach all the legs square them up etc
then the bottom in any order u like really squaring it all up as you go

obviously your not making this so whoever makes it will do it however they want but eitherway thats how i do it

hope this helps

 

[MojoDex]

something i should add due to the extra weight involved in the 7ft tank id add some more of the 608 bracings if it were me id add another 2 on top and another 2 on the bottom just that bit of extra strength and extra peace of mind

i can add to the drawing if u wish and show u what i mean

also i put wood across the top of mine again the design doesnt lend itsself to the tank straight on it so a 10 quid bit of mdf will do

 

[archamfr]

ok heres a bit of a sketch ive colour coded it with lengths etc ive shown the bottom braces off the floor because thats how i do it then i weld some circular plates on for feet but its up to you how u want to it.

it goes in this order

put the top together the 2160's, 660's and one of the 608's
then attach all the legs square them up etc
then the bottom in any order u like really squaring it all up as you go

obviously your not making this so whoever makes it will do it however they want but eitherway thats how i do it

hope this helps

^ looks like u got all the help u need jaarus
i would also go with the extra bracings, steel is strong but a 7ft tank = a hell of a lot of weight.
and a question for jaarus; where are u placing the tank and stand? just to make sure u fully understand the stress on the floor this will have

 

[jaarus]

Fantastic - cheers MojoDex!

^ looks like u got all the help u need jaarus
i would also go with the extra bracings, steel is strong but a 7ft tank = a hell of a lot of weight.
and a question for jaarus; where are u placing the tank and stand? just to make sure u fully understand the stress on the floor this will have

Well its going on a concrete floored room on the ground floor - so i think it will be ok, but short of putting it in and seeing if my house falls down I am not sure how I can check if the floor will hold it ?

 

[archamfr]

concrete ground floor will be fine
was just checking that u werent thinking of putting on second floor or sumthing

 

[MojoDex]

im on a concrete floor and i have 11 fish tanks at the minute floors ok so far

 

[KhaosInc]

the only thing I would concider adding to that design is some pads for the 'feet' of the stand. Something like a 2x2" square. Just the angle iron might eat in to the cement over time causing a slight sag under all that weight. Personally I would add cross bracing as well, at least on the back and sides. But, then I'm a firm believer in overkill when building things.

Another thing that would be worth checking, is confirming your floor is truly level over that distance. An 8 ft straight edge, and a level might save a large (and messy) headache later. I only mention this because I did that as an afterthought when setting up my tank, and found a low spot in my cement floor...

Just my opinion,