Cabinet/stand Idea

Ian H · Sep 9, 2007

OK the stand i have for my tank at the moment sucks, its a low down plain metal frame. I've read the thread on here on howto make a cabinet but im just wondering if it could be made in another way?

heres my idea:

nice and simple design, 2 doors and a shelf in the middle. Heres and exploded version (sorry i suck at paint, but you can see what i mean :lol:

so my idea is to have the 2 bits of wood as a base and top then have 4 bits of wood between them and a backing for extra support. The tank in question is 36" long, 18" high and 12" deep. Will this design hold the weight?

dane261 · Sep 9, 2007

yeah it will support your tnak no bother as long as you put it up right which i believe you can so yeah why not

cheers dane

madgap · Sep 9, 2007

Verticle rails, top and bottom. Even if just at the back. Otherwise the slightest knock and its down, with whole lorra water on y'floor. You should consider eight feet on thebottom, too. Your design is a single piece base and any descepancy in your floor will be a problem. Unless you have some feet

I'm a joiner/cabinet maker/woodcarver. I built my cabinet for my tank. It holds up a 66 gallon tank. It could very easily hold up twice that weight. And the cabinet its self is a new home for my two bearded dragons.

Ian H · Sep 9, 2007

madgap said:
Verticle rails, top and bottom. Even if just at the back. Otherwise the slightest knock and its down, with whole lorra water on y'floor. You should consider eight feet on thebottom, too. Your design is a single piece base and any descepancy in your floor will be a problem. Unless you have some feet

I'm a joiner/cabinet maker/woodcarver. I built my cabinet for my tank. It holds up a 66 gallon tank. It could very easily hold up twice that weight. And the cabinet its self is a new home for my two bearded dragons.

what do you mean vertical rails? im inteding on having a solid bit of wood accross the back (30" high and 37" wide), so it will be 3 sides not just the 2 if thats what you mean? thanks for the advise on the feet, consider them part of the plan :good:

also what would you suggest a good wood would be to use? i was thinking thick mdf but i'm not the best DIY person :lol:

madgap · Sep 9, 2007

MDF is my choise, easy to work with and strong too. Be sure to wear a good dust mask as its very bad for you.
Mine is mostly made of 18mm MDF . The centre support is 25mm it also has softwood carcassing. If you use a solid MDF back then disregad my advice on supports. I cant belive I said verticle to you... I meant horizontal! I'm always the one to correct others on verticle and horzontal. Must have been on the retard biscuits again.

The thing with MDF, screw the face sides easy but in the edges make sure you pilot hole first or it will split.
Use resin W. Its so increadably strong on MDF

You will need holes in the back for your wires 'n' things. Easy to do BEFORE you fix it in place. And be shure they are big enough for a plug.

Green MDF is water resistant. but expensive. Mine is standard gray. A good few coats of paint will protect from the odd spill. Good luck.
Here if you want advice,

Si

Ian H · Sep 10, 2007

yeah got a good dust mask here

so if i was to go 18mm all the way around you think it would be fine?

sorry forgot to mention tha backing! thought it would be fine like that just wanted to make sure :good:

rightio will make sure to drill pilot holes first, I'm assuming i can get this resin w from most DIY shops?

Also another thing, do you think this method would work for a much bigger tank stand? say 48" x 24" x 24" even if it meant using thicker wood?

darkwolf29a · Sep 10, 2007

I built my stand for my 55 gallon from 2x4s and covered them with 1/4in birch plywood. Works like charm, so far.

Ian H · Sep 12, 2007

darkwolf29a said:
I built my stand for my 55 gallon from 2x4s and covered them with 1/4in birch plywood. Works like charm, so far.

i was thinking of making a frame first then covering it but thought i would try this way first. think i'll do it that way when i try and build one for my reef tank as i'll need some where for the sump to go

Ian H · Oct 16, 2007

Been thinking about this a bit more now and decided to go down the frame route

question is what wood do i use? i was in B&Q earlier and saw they have some 2.4metre timber that was 38mmx 63mm would this be ok to use? would work out very cheap i think! Also what kind of joints would be the best to use? plain old butt joints or mitre joints that are supported in the corners? i'll be getting a mitre saw soon anyways so will be easily able to them perfectly

sharpshark · Oct 16, 2007

The wood you are talking about is CLS yes?? about Â£1.58 per length LOL! It will support the weight fine if built correctly but has no water resistance and so will need covering or treating, as to which joints, mitre joints will technically be better, however are harder to secure with screws with wood that size, butt joints will be fine, again, if your design is so that the weight is spread sufficiently.

Ian H · Oct 18, 2007

yeah i think so, said c16? as you can tell im not very good when it comes to wood work :blush:

yeah its the nice cheap stuff thas why i was interested in it :lol:

I was going to cover it in thin bits of mdf but i know thats crap with water too. would it be ok if i varnished/painted the frame so it was water resistant and then cover it in the mdf? at least that way the basic frame will be fine? whats wrong with the wood size? should it be bigger?

i was going to do 4 square frames (to replace the solid squares in my drawing) then connect them up with 4 lengths of the timber and then put supporting beams along the top, bottom, back and sides?

Ian H · Oct 22, 2007

Ok i've also decided to try and build a hood for it, i say try - to be honest i can;t see why not since it seems very straight forward :good:

thing is i have no idea on lighting. Now i want some moon lights and im going to use a cold cathode with the 6v power supply idea since it seems to work brilliantly but i have no idea on the main lights. I believe the bulb in my current tank is a t8 bulb but i've heard alot of people use t5's? im aiming for around 2WPG so i can have enough plants without them dying. The tank will be 48*24*24 which works out at 100 UK Gallons now how the hell am i going to get 200W of light!? also how much is this going to cost to run for 10 hours a day? sounds very expensive :lol: