feed back on diy aluminum light rack.....

[SPotter]

I want to build this light rack but concerned it won't be strong enough. I am going to use 1" aluminum tube from eztube.com. The rack will be 96x30.

thanks in advance for your comments....good and bad :bounce1:

View attachment light rack.pdf

I would use 8 cables to hang the light from my sliding tracks.

 

[mfinn]

I made a 6' standing rack ( with eztube) with no support over the 6' run to hang 3 Radions and there is only slight bowing with the power supplies sitting up there as well. So I would think that a 8' rack with support on the ends and 4 points in the middle will be plenty.

 

[mcgyvr]

Should be fine.. But you didn't state the weight of the lights or where they will be attached..

Don't they have a deflection calculator or something..

 

[SPotter]

Thanks for the feed back. Initially I'll be using 3 mh pendants that weigh 12lbs each with the glass in.

 

[SPotter]

Thought I would share the end result of my light rack. For anyone that is thinking about building their own and using aluminum tube, I highly recommend using eztube.com and letting them make the cuts for you. It was an extra $22 for my rack and they clean every cut. It took me no more than 45min to assemble.

 

[mfinn]

Looks good.
The stuff is really easy to work with and snaps together in minutes.

 

[SPotter]

Looks good.

The stuff is really easy to work with and snaps together in minutes.

Yeah I was amazed it was so easy!!!! Mark from eztube was great to work with also.

 

[reefwiser]

I use 80/20 for light frames and stands way cleaner look than 2x4's.

 

[SPotter]

I saw fish tank stands using 80/20....I couldn't imagine using that on an 8ft tank but I'm sure it works.

 

[Decadence]

It kind of looks like the tubes are barely over top of the tank. With that eurobrace, it's almost pointless. Are there some narrower MH reflectors which you could use to get more use out of the T5s?

Or is this picture just deceiving?

 

[SPotter]

It's a little deceiving but not too much. The rack is 30" wide and the tank is 36" wide. The reflectors give an incredible amount of spread with the t5's.