a little progress

[josh_tn]

Well I'm still a long way from having my first reef set up and running but thought I would share a little bit of the progress I have made. I got the basic frame of my stand built and got my used Octo Pro 300 skimmer. Still so much left to do...

Here's a couple pics. I have more build pics if anyone is interested.

As always, any feedback or suggestions are welcome.

 

[poolkeeper1]

Nice work, I like your skimmer you will too!! Keep the pictures coming.

 

[NeveSSL]

Very nice stand! What are you going to skin it with?

Brandon

 

[josh_tn]

Thanks guys. I picked up some oak plywood today that I'll skin it with. I'm also thinking of putting some kilz on the inside for protection. Not sure what to put over it though. Don't know if I really want the inside to be all white.

 

[poolkeeper1]

If you don't like white give it a coat of Polyurethane to protect it, It works just as well. Marine poly works best, Made for Salt Water.

 

[MVlk]

I am at the same exact point... Got a can of white Zinsser primer sitting next to me (Supposedly better than Kilz?). White does not thrill me, but should be fine for the interior. Now if I could just figure out how to skin it. I am still hoping the woodworking gnomes come out tonight and take care of it.

 

[josh_tn]

Hmmm....that sounds like a pretty good idea. Would something like this work? It doesn't say marine but it does say it protects against rain/moisture.

 

[MVlk]

josh_tn, Do you have floor board going in? I cut one for mine and was able to get it within 1/8 inch in most places. One or two of the cuts were 1/4" + off. With that I was going to use a little caulk to fill the gap. Not sure how to hide that with a clear poly treatment. The clear ploy does sound appealing.

 

[james3370]

when i skinned both the monster & the current stand, i found it easiest to cut the board about 1" larger that the area to cover & once it was attached to the frame, use a router & an edging bit to edge it to the frame. that way it doesn't have to be the exact dimension or perfectly straight cuts

 

[josh_tn]

Yes, I am planning on putting a piece of plywood in for the bottom. I haven't cut mine yet but if its just in the corners I don't think it will be very visible anyway. I'm leaning towards taking the Kilz back and trying the polyurethane route instead.

 

[MVlk]

Here is a snapshot of mine from today with my helper. I have it sanded down and ready for the next stage.

 

[josh_tn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14559771#post14559771 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by james3370
when i skinned both the monster & the current stand, i found it easiest to cut the board about 1" larger that the area to cover & once it was attached to the frame, use a router & an edging bit to edge it to the frame. that way it doesn't have to the exact dimension or perfectly straight cuts

I did that on the top board but I don't understand how I could do that on the sump floor piece in the corners.

 

[MVlk]

james3370, did you do this for the front panel as well? I am interested to know if you used a panel on the front (as opposed to dimensional lumber) and if so how you figured/cut the door openings?

 

[james3370]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14559801#post14559801 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by josh_tn
I did that on the top board but I don't understand how I could do that on the sump floor piece in the corners.

you could take some small pieces of wood & make "mirrors" of the legs, screw them to the floor piece, & edge bit to them

i did something similar when i cut the front piece of my canopy out for the openings in it. if you look at the pic below (clickable thumbnail), i made a "frame" out of 1x2s just like the wood that is left, screwed it to the board, & then edged to it w/ the router & bit



the black being the floor piece & the red being pieces you would cut to screw onto the piece & edge to & then remove

 

[josh_tn]

Thanks james, I'll give that a try.

 

[james3370]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14559822#post14559822 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by MVlk
james3370, did you do this for the front panel as well? I am interested to know if you used a panel on the front (as opposed to dimensional lumber) and if so how you figured/cut the door openings?

the front of the canopy originally was a solid piece of 3/4" wood, but the plainness of that area bugged the crap outta me so i decided to put some doors there. made a "frame" of what i wanted to leave out of 1x2s, screwed it on & edged to the frame

the rest of the stand, the front & sides of the stand were skinned in 1/4" sheet & then i edged the door openings to the frame legs & top/bottom rails. then i added 1" to the overall opening dimensions for the door dimensions. for the front doors, i added 1" & then divided by 2 for 2 doors (opening is 36t x 24w...so 2 doors 37t x 12.5w)

 

[josh_tn]

Here is mine after I got the top piece put on.

I was thinking of trying to make the doors the full size of the opening on the front to have the most access to the sump and other equipment. Has anyone done that? Any problems with doing it that way?

 

[james3370]

those would be some big doors LOL

i'd probaly do those out of 3/4" to make them sturdier, but yeah it would be simple. just do as i said above......

say the opening is 60 wide x 24 tall. add 1" to each dimension to get 61 x 25 & then divide the width by 2. that'd give ya 2 doors each 30.5 x 25

the other thing you can then do is cut a piece of 1x2 about 1/4" shorter than the door opening dimension (so 23.75 in this example) & attach it to the backside of 1 of the doors. this acts as a light blocker between the doors for when the sump light is on....no light creep

 

[ducklabdad]

For some great ideas on all you have discussed.

Check out this thread http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1355576

It will give you more ideas than you can imagine!!!

 

[josh_tn]

Didn't get much done today like I hoped but I did get the bottom piece put in. I used the router like you suggested James and it worked out well. Thanks