tank stand begins (rendering inside)

[latazyo]

well, I am starting to build my stand for my tank

the tank is an acrylic cube 24x18x18 and the sump is a 20L (yes I know the sump is longer than the tank, but that's the way I wanted it)


the stand is constructed out of 1x6s (shown as yellow, brown and green), 1x8s (black and red), 1x4's (blue), and 1x2's (marbled)

the "floor" of the tank will be 1/4" plywood, and I have not sorted out what the top will be

I am not going to skin the stand, I think I will just fill in the gaps between the 1x8s on the side with a smaller board

I plan on painting the stand just black, I dont have faciities, abilities, or patience to actually finish it with stain and varnish, but I think I can do a good job with black paint

note: we did not render in the rear bracing, but there will be some sort of angle bracing on the rear to connect those two brown 1x6s

my little brother (mechanical engineer) designed this, so I know the wood will "hold"

I figure the tank w/ water and rock and sand will weigh no more than 500 pounds and this stand can hold about 1300

I have no center brace on the front because I want maximum accessability

a 1x6 spanning 3 feet on its side will deflect .001 inches under 1600 pounds, so the span is fine, structurally

for a door I am thinking about making one large sliding panel if anyone has any suggestions on hardware to make this slider easier, please let me know

the stand's dimensions are 36 long x 20ish wide x 34 tall

I will try to keep updated pics of the build process

here is the rendering so far

thanks for looking

questions and comments are welcome

 

[latazyo]

geez, I just read my original post

sorry its such a mess and difficult to read

the green supports are positioned as such because that is where the tank edges are, I am thinking about placing flat boards next to the tank to make a "tabletop" look

 

[Cuervo]

Sweet, I like the idea of the table top sides, that'll be handy.

I might be a little concerned that the hardware you use to support the two green supports could corrode over time and allow them to sag where they are joined to the yellow front and back pieces.

Would you mind asking your brother what it would take to support 2500lbs over 6 ft with minimal deflection?

I want to do something very similar to what you have there, but for a 210 that will weigh about 2500lbs, and has a 6ft span across the front.

 

[Safir]

As a carpenter i would not trust 1x* on end to hold any weight - they are VERY flexy.

just my $.02

 

[latazyo]

safir, you're talking the vertical supports right?
maybe 2x2 2x3 or 2x4 in the corner would be better

or

maybe it would be better to butt two of them together in the corners

my roommate's 125 AGA stand is all 1x*...thats only 30" though and not 34"



cuervo,
for those supports I plan to use joist hangers and maybe screws from the back...no angle brackets or anything like that


for your 6' span are you only interested in wood?


thanks for the responses so far guys

 

[Cuervo]

Wood is what I had in mind, although I thought about bracing it with a piece of angle iron or something along those lines. I just hate the idea of that brace up the middle in the front.

500lbs evenly distributed isn't that much weight at all, I don't think you'll have a problem, as long as there's no way the stand could shift. I think you're in the money there man.

 

[latazyo]

yeah, we havent added any angle supports or any cross pieces, etc

this is just the skin/bones

I'll try to find out what he thinks about your question next time I talk to him

 

[jaeden]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7915606#post7915606 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Safir
As a carpenter i would not trust 1x* on end to hold any weight - they are VERY flexy.

just my $.02

I agree with the above 1xs = scary
2xs would be better good luck

 

[latazyo]

everyone, thanks for the input

I have since talked with my brother and although the design was sound and would work if the tank were just sitting there, we hadn't originally considered that it may be bumped into, and needs to be worked in and the algae needs to be scraped, etc

we have decided to replace the red 1x8s with 2x4s as well as changing the green 1x6s with 2x4s and use joist hangers to hang them

I am also going to wrap the stand in 1/4 plywood

I will be uploading a new rendering tomorrow that includes the changes along with angle braces, etc etc

thanks for the input so far and IM still looking for suggestions for this sliding door

 

[Safir]

2x4's should be more than strong enough as your vertical supports. I can't tell for sure from your drawing, but i would have them running between the upper and lower "rings" not alongside them, so they are directly supporting the weight, rather than the fasteners holding the weight.

1/4 plywood makes a good skin, and can be painted or stained to your liking - if you plan on stainign it i suggest using a hardwood plywood though, as it is usually better looking.

the "factory" stands scare me, most are made from 3/4" press board that basically disintegrates if it gets wet

 

[latazyo]

safir,

thanks for the continued posting, I am planning on simply painting the unit black since Im in an apartment and dont have time, equipment (sander) or patience to stain and varnish it

basically the design with the yellow and black rings is that the yellow ring does all the work, the weight of the rank is all on the yellow and green and the black is just there to tie everything together...the yellow and black are basically touching each other and screwed together....like a 2x8 with a lip (if that makes any sense)

just like this

since there needs to be a way to attach the 2x4 legs to the rings, we're going to change the black 1x8 to a 1x10 to allow it to serve dual functions as a lip to hid the bottom lip of the tank as well as to fasten the vertical 2x4 supports to the upper "ring"

basically imagine the top and the bottom being "notched" as shown in my drawing above

also note the quality difference between my drawing and my brothers pro-e rendering

 

[latazyo]

here is the new rendering

brown - 1x4
red - 2x4
black - 1x10
yellow - 1x6
green - 2x4
blue - 1x4

 

[latazyo]

further updated

estimated cost (not including paint) should be around 40 bucks...what a steal

 

[Cuervo]

That's very close to what I had in mind myself. I'll be adding a 2x4 at each corner.

The only dilema I'm facing is that front support.. what to make it out of so that it won't flex. I'm considering a 2x6, possibly reinforced along the bottom with some angle iron or something.

 

[latazyo]

here is the stress analysis for the tank

this shows the stress on the stand using 1000 pounds (my tank should not be more than 500 pounds)

DMX means displacement max, as you can see the maximum displacement of any component in the stand under 1000 pounds is .003 inches...so the stand should be good to go

red doesnt mean danger it just indicates the location of max


I'll be picking up lumber next week so I will have additional pictures then

it is nice to have an engineer in the family, I got all of this in exchange for a couple bottles of st louis bbq sauce

cuervo, although my brother didnt actually say what size board you should use, he said that its definitely possible...he reminded me to think about garage door headers and how much weight they support...so without a doubt there is a board (2x6,2x8,2x10, 2x12) out there that can easily support your 6 foot span

 

[bebitte70]

Nice graphics what software is this?

 

[latazyo]

everything prior to my last post was done on pro-e, the one I did with green and red adn "tank" was just a crappy photoshop done by me, and the most recent graphic w/ black background is from ansys...

my brother did all of the renderings (actually the software does them automatically) at work (he's an engineer)

 

[latazyo]

well Ive finally gotten to building this thing, here is the progress after day 1

here is a pic of the trim area, this is a view from the bottom up, just showing how I did it

adding the cross braces and test fitting the tank

legs and base added

"floor" added

additional tank support added on top

and top skin added

so far that is my progress after one day, hopefully I'll get it finished up tonight

thanks for looking/posting

 

[30mini]

It looks like you don't have trim on the bottom of your tank. You may want to have some faom under it for a little bit of stress relief! You may end up getting some warpage on the wood after you fill it. You don't want that to end up in a cracked bottom

 

[latazyo]

30mini...I forgot to mention that....I do have foam, it'll sit on top of that plywood platform (you can see it in the background of the fifth pic)