DIY stand and casters anyone tried before

[darthwall]

ok here is what im thinking about. im building a new stand for my 125 and moving it into a different room of the house because I had the great idea of puting it in my bedroom to begin with now its too loud and it has to go somwhere else so instead of breaking everything down i thought ide build a new stand and put wheels on it so I could move it where ever when ever i wanted to but before I do it ide like a little input and see if anyone else has done it before so if you got an expirience please share with me I dont want it to fall through the floor or anything

 

[sostoudt]

its possible but i wouldnt recommend it. you could by special heavy duty wheels from a supply store. moving that weight around on wheels would rip up all but concrete floors. if you are gonna do it i say make sure there is a metal block between the wheels and the stand so its support on all sides. even with the then metal if a wheel breaks ur tank might tip over and fall. as far as the floor it depends on your house, to be safe id only put it on the first floor unless you have some one knowledgable about building design look at your house

 

[jthao]

well if you have it on the second floor, and wanna move it to the first floor, wheels aren't gonna help you.... you're gonna need an elevator. hehehe. wheels will work if you have a house that's built on top of concrete and not raised floor.

 

[samtheman]

I think you should try it. But, be sure to take pictures.

 

[Esquare]

I disagree jthao, The wheels should make very easy to move it to the first floor. It just won't be in one piece when it gets there! Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

On a serious note, you may be able to find wheels that will support the load but it seems that you will be focusing all of the weight onto a smaller footprint (the bottom of the wheels) which may be a problem. This sounds like a question for a structural engineer.

 

[DMBillies]

I just made a cart a few weeks ago to move the tank from my new 270 set-up into my house (I had to get it down a long hallway, so getting enough guys on the tank was going to be next to impossible because they couldn't get on the sides). I looked at some different casters and most of the ones I found were only built to support about 100 pounds, with the biggest ones I saw at 150 pounds. I estimated the weight of the empty tank at about 500 pounds and figured 6 wheels would work.

The problem your looking at with 125 gallons of water, the tank, stand, rock, sand, sump, etc. is, to say the least, much more significant. I'd say even a possible low-end estimate would be in the neighborhood of 1400 lbs... and as others have said that weight will be point loaded on however many wheels you use (10 or more according to their recommended load ratings, which will set you back close to $100 right there).

I also think it is a bad idea to try to move a tank with rock in it unless you would be going on a perfectly smooth surface. Getting across thresholds will inevitably result in some jostling... which could likely result in a rock slide.

Moving tanks with livestock sucks... but moving one and blowing a hole in it or having it damage your floors will suck even more.

 

[darthwall]

well im gunna take all the rock and water out and leave the substrate in it cause I dont want to mess with it. I have found a couple of supply stores that have casters that will support up to 1800 lbs now im not going to use anything like that but im wondering if I should put 6 wheels on or 8 just to try and give the stand a better surface area on the ground i figure I will go with wheels rated anywhere from 250 to 400 lbs ratings in a 3 or 4" diameter havent yet decided. I just hope it will turn out to be a good idea in the end but then again everything has its faults.

 

[kcress]

You have to watch that those 1800# casters are for like concrete.

Remember that all that weight ends up on a little line maybe 1/16" wide.

You need air movers.

 

[Esquare]

Either that or just have Mr, Scott teleport it....oops, did I just date myself?

 

[eznet2u]

If you have carpet I would think twice about doing this...
You are going to compress the padding under the carpet and set up a "Wave" of carpet in front of each wheel...The further you go, the larger the wave, until either the carpet rips or the tank stops. Any kind of momentum will transfer that motion into the water, resulting in splashes everywhere.
This might even do it with less than premium vinyl flooring.

I would recommend that you DO NOT try this. But if you do, take pictures.

 

[kcress]

Better would be a youtub movie!

This would work.
http://www.airsled.com/

They use 3 of these under 747s so 3 people can move them by hand in any direction.

 

[Esquare]

That's actually a pretty good idea.

 

[darthwall]

ya that looks like a good idea if there was a place around that I could rent one on that site they are preatty spendy

 

[eznet2u]

Rent? Your gonna lose your deposit. How would you get it out from under the tank?

Kcress, That is SOOOOOOO COOOL. How did you find that?

 

[darthwall]

ohh ya didnt think about that but its a great idea just out of my budget a bit

 

[kcress]

I'm a EE and my old boss was a sharp ME. He told me about it while we were struggling with something. We ended up making some and using them. You really only need a flat stiff plate. You thread an air fitting into it. Hook up hoses/valves and your air compressor. Let er rip. It may be loud but it works well.

It may take a few air tanks full but that can easily be worth the alternatives.