DIY Stand

jlfalin

New member
So I recently built a stand and now have two problems. one the top is not perfect with 1/32 of variation throughout the top. second and most important now is bowing of the back header. I built the aquarium in the cold garage and now that it is inside the back header bowed. now i thinking build a new stand or take another 2x6 and bolt it to the old to get rid of the bow. the bowing did cause the header to have less contact with the vertical supports. anybody has a similar experience. if so how did you fix and what was the outcome.
 
Depending on how long it (Wood) was in the garage and cold, wood does change a bit when normalized. That is why you want to leave new wood flooring in the house at the preferred house temperature before you begin install.

However, your situation may be caused by another reason, some change is expected, a massive bow is another. The 1/32 is no big deal in my opinion, but structural header bowing under load is not good.

A picture of the issue is probably best.
 
I will try to get a picture in the morning. If this makes sense if you look at the board on end it is shaped like a C. There is still about 1.25" in line so support the weight of the tank and I was going to redo the supports with new wood that is acclimated to the house. I was also going to reinforce the header with a 2x6 and bolts so that it will not continue to cup. I believe there was a very small amount of curve to the board when installed but the climate change has made it a little worse.
 
Here are two pictures of the board. I put a level up so you can see how bad the board is warped.

picture.php


picture.php
 
That's called 'cupping'. Most 2x material (2x4, 2x6, etc.) is not dry enough. Even kiln dried (KD) is not dry enough to prevent this kind of movement. How do you prevent it?

You can't really prevent it. Wood is gonna move! You can do some things to reduce it:
1. choice of wood. Some wood species are much more likely to move
2. choose quarter sawn lumber. In your last example the grain is in a semi-circle pattern. That's plane sawn. You would want the grain to run directly across the short dimension (quarter sawn) or at a 45 degree angle (riff sawn).
3. dry the wood completely (MC 6%) then plane and surface to square and flat. The typical squishy wet lumber from the big box will take a year to dry. It will move a lot in that year.

The big problem here is you are using construction grade wood to do cabinet grade work. That's not easy. What can you do to fix what you have? It's possible to sand these parts flat. That's a messy and time consuming process. If you have a good hand plane and know how to use it the high spots can be taken off. I'd worry most about the parts the tank actually touches. Sand, plane and fill to get them straight and in the same plane. Live with the other stuff. It really doesn't effect the strength just the look.
 
OK good to hear that it will not affect strength. The picture is of the back of the stand portion, I plan on building an oak surround for better looks. I was going to fill the new gaps with liqiud nails or other contruction adhesive to make sure wood is touching wood (well on this one it will be wood --> glue --> wood) and then add a new support on either side of the support that moved a little. The rest of the stand looks perfect and has not moved at all in several weeks.

Do you think it would be worth my while to bolt another 2x6 on this one to try to prevent further cupping.
 
Additionally because I am paranoid I was going to pour a layer of self leveling epoxy in a ring around the top to get rid of minor defects. I will post some pictures of those when I get home to get some input on that.
 
That does not bother me, what does bother me is that the load of the beam does not look supported at the end.

Next time, buy the best lumber you can afford, the inexpensive ones are for frame work.

Justin
 
No the support is 1.5" away from the corner which in my opinion will be fine. The weight will be distributed evenly over the frame of the aquarium and therefore the 2x6 frame I have built. The fact that the corner is not supported does not bother me that much.
 
If wood wants to cup, it's gonna cup. You can't stop it. You can slow it down but that's not stopping it! Better to let it do what it's going to do anyway and then deal with the result.

I like your idea of leveling. As I said before it's important for the stand/tank contact to be in the same plane. If not the tank will be stressed.

Can you post some pics that show the full stand? JustinGr's comments need some exploration.
 
My concern is that the 90 degree bonds the two legs form is not simply for looks, but for a stability and strength. Separating these legs can lead to an unstable load point and cause racking.

Take a flat stock of 1/8th inch steel. I can bend it fairly easy, now take a 1/8" angle bar and you can't bend it. This is the same process we get when we use the two corner legs at a 90 to each other.
 
I don't have any pictures at the moment. Behind one of the supports that you see is another 2x4 that then meets the other support at a 90 degree angle and all is glued together with wood glue. Everything is in the same plane just a few small minor variations in the wood that I think I went a little too overboard with. I am currently cutting the plywood top of the stand and in the process did some damage to one of the headers on the side. I will either be starting again from scratch or I will put a 1x2 "rim" all the way around the top and fill this defect with adhesive or somethings.

Does putting a 1x2 on top and then filling defects sound ok or would you start from scratch.
 
Its a nick. I would say I removed a 3/4" of the top of the board and that is about 1/4" thick and about 5" long when it peeled up with the glue. Im just so frustrated with this stand. If I were to build new how long would you guys let the wood acclimate to the house before building the stand with it. I was going to rough cut it tomorrow and bring it inside to sit my house for a while. It has been in my garage for 5 days and was in Lowes for who knows how long before that.
 
After thinking about it I think I am just going to build a new stand. I have the wood and I think it will be quicker, easier and more fun to just try again. I have read on the topic but you guys seem pretty knowledgable so please give me all the input or tips you can think of.
 
I'm going to build a new stand and I'm looking to find a good place to buy good lumber. I know most ppl go to lowes or HD but what about some lumber yards. I live in central Ohio and want to get a good lumber yard for my stand. I hear they typically have better lumber choices than the big box stores.
Input
Corey
 
Consider plywood instead of dimensional lumber. Plenty strong with no warping or cupping.

+1 to what woodnaquanut said.
 
I was going to wrap the cube stand in plywood. Or is that not needed.
If I understand plywood right(which I don't) you basically take plywood and cut out the slots for doors, closed loop holes, overflow boxes etc, right
Corey
 
Back
Top