Runner
Active member
I finally got tired of my 24G nano sitting on my desk and have built a stand for it. I started to move the tank from my desk to my new stand tonight, but got fascinated watching the finish of the marathon and overflowed the tub I was siphoning into. I'll need to dry the carpet out tonight and try again tomorrow.
Here are a few pics of the build. I lost most of them, sadly, when I accidentally deleted everything in my camera. So I don't have the bare-bones, step-by-step construction like I hoped.
The frame is mostly 2x4 with a 2x6 box around the top. I held everything together with deck screws. Wood was pre-drilled and counter-sunk to minimize warping and splitting. I took a lot of pains to get it square.
I then added 3/4" red oak plywood sides and 3/4" solid red oak front frame. Here is a pic of the frame with the sides added and the front going on:
http://home.earthlink.net/~fbcpics/AddingRedOak.jpg
As usual, my joinery was very basic. I did 3/8" counter sunk holes, screwed the pieces together, then later inserted 3/8" diameter plugs into the holes to cover the screws. This time, though, I used 3/8" dowels to keep the wood from flexing apart. I also used wood glue between the pieces to further reinforce everything. Here is a pic of one of my joints using a dowel:
http://home.earthlink.net/~fbcpics/VeryBasicJoinery.jpg
Here is a picture of the base with all front wood added, but minus the trim:
http://home.earthlink.net/~fbcpics/BaseFinished.jpg
Now between the last step and this step (finished work), I lost a lot of photos of my steps -- including adding trim, joining the solid wood top and connecting it to the stand, routing the corners and edges, and staining and finishing the stand.
The inside of the stand was caulked along the bottom and sealed with Kilz and finished with semi-gloss latex paint. The exterior was sealed with red mahogany stain and two coats of polyurethane. Here is the finished product (with tank in the background):
Larger image: http://home.earthlink.net/~fbcpics/FinishedProduct.jpg
I'll be adding a door in the near future. I need to figure out if I am going for a solid slab with routed edges, or using a piece of plywood and adding a routed and grooved ring of solid 1x2 solid red oak frame.
Here are a few pics of the build. I lost most of them, sadly, when I accidentally deleted everything in my camera. So I don't have the bare-bones, step-by-step construction like I hoped.
The frame is mostly 2x4 with a 2x6 box around the top. I held everything together with deck screws. Wood was pre-drilled and counter-sunk to minimize warping and splitting. I took a lot of pains to get it square.
I then added 3/4" red oak plywood sides and 3/4" solid red oak front frame. Here is a pic of the frame with the sides added and the front going on:
http://home.earthlink.net/~fbcpics/AddingRedOak.jpg
As usual, my joinery was very basic. I did 3/8" counter sunk holes, screwed the pieces together, then later inserted 3/8" diameter plugs into the holes to cover the screws. This time, though, I used 3/8" dowels to keep the wood from flexing apart. I also used wood glue between the pieces to further reinforce everything. Here is a pic of one of my joints using a dowel:
http://home.earthlink.net/~fbcpics/VeryBasicJoinery.jpg
Here is a picture of the base with all front wood added, but minus the trim:
http://home.earthlink.net/~fbcpics/BaseFinished.jpg
Now between the last step and this step (finished work), I lost a lot of photos of my steps -- including adding trim, joining the solid wood top and connecting it to the stand, routing the corners and edges, and staining and finishing the stand.
The inside of the stand was caulked along the bottom and sealed with Kilz and finished with semi-gloss latex paint. The exterior was sealed with red mahogany stain and two coats of polyurethane. Here is the finished product (with tank in the background):
Larger image: http://home.earthlink.net/~fbcpics/FinishedProduct.jpg
I'll be adding a door in the near future. I need to figure out if I am going for a solid slab with routed edges, or using a piece of plywood and adding a routed and grooved ring of solid 1x2 solid red oak frame.
