imported_Omega

I'm interested in building my own cabinet for a new planted tank I wish to setup as all the commercially available cabinets available here in Sydney, Australia I'm not too keen on. There is not much choice down here for aquarium furniture, it's either shoddy looking pine furniture or expensive chinese imports.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, are there any construction tips or plans available to help to construct my own cabinet? What sort of joinery should I use for maximum load bearing strength? Anything I should try and avoid?

I haven't done any woodworking for a while but up for the challenge and have most of the tools needed via family members.

hoppycalif

Two basic designs are:
1. Build a structural frame that supports the tank weight out of 2 x 3's or 2 X 4's and is stable enough to resist twisting and racking. Then cover it with whatever decorative wood you want to use, add a door or two if you want.
2. Build, using heavy enough plywood so the plywood itself is the structure. This can be as thin as 1/2" plywood, but 3/4" will make you feel more secure about it. The plywood, of course needs to have a good surface on one side, and you need to hide the edges of the plywood.

Dusty

Check this site out:

http://www.fishandtips.com/index.php

You input your information and it makes the plans for you.

imported_Omega

Thanks. I might look at some woodworking books on cabinet making and come up with ideas from them on the external look. My main motivation is to use some of the beautiful Australian hardwood timber we have available down here and craft something that is more aesthetically pleasing.

Ajax

What size tank do you have, & can you read a .dxf file? I'm in the process of building a pretty awesome cabinet for my 60 cm ADA tank, and can send you all the prints I have.

Vinlo

Here is a link to diagrams for the one I just built. I did it out of 3/4" birch veneer plywood and edged everything with the preglued iron on edging and stained the whole deal black walnut. Worked out well, and I've even got a few compliments on it.

http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/f...ight=30g+stand

All joinery was biscuit joints, for corners I used both biscuits and screws since the screw heads would be covered in the final product.

I take take a photo of it if you are interested in the final product.

jeff63851

These were the sites I had on bookmark when I was going to build a stand for my 60 gallon:

http://chrys.addr.com/aquarium/diy.htm

http://defcon200.bizland.com/aquariust/id2.html

I also adapted part of this plan...just fill in your info:

http://www.fishandtips.com/index.php

Good luck!