butacska

Thanks very much for the idea on the dye, on the next project I'll consider it.
I bought the molding today for the doors, we put a "sample side" together (just a piece of plywood approx as long as the doors and we nailed on a piece of molding the way I said before... actually 5/16 overhang) so tomorrow I'll take it with me when I go to buy hinges. We don't want to put the doors together without seeing how the hinge connects to them.

Thank you so much for your comment I am really happy about it And that sawdust idea sounds great, so on the nex project we will try out both (hoppycalif's dye and your sawdust) What kind of glue? regular woodglue? because it expands... or you just sand it down?
The tank is empty at the moment.


Haha, I wish But this is seriously our first "together" project. I am a totally newbie to this but I definetly love it. Fortunatelly my husband has pretty good idea about putting things together, that helps a lot

Again... no experience in woodworking. My husband's profession is moldmaker. And most of our tools are from his job.And they are for metal, not wood ... That is the main reason for the fact that this project has already turned out at least twice as much $$$ as we had bought a new one (we had to buy clamps, jigsaw, sander etc) We got the miter saw from his son-in-law and this is the first time we ever used it But other than that... yeah, he has great tools. We used a 1/32 bit for making pilot holes for the molding He said it is not supposed to be used in a regular drill, only in very high speed... (above 2500RPM) We used precision measuring tools for the 2x4's... it was actually funny Especially since we found out that the door openings are NOT EVEN... But we'll figure out how to put the door frames together so it won't be noticable

ghengis

I am seriously impressed with this build! I make all my own stands as well, being reasonably handy with a hammer and saw, so I can fully appreciate the effort and detail in this stand. First woodwork project you say?? Pretty good for a first effort!

A trick I learnt many moons ago, is to use wood dust (from the project being worked on) mixed with glue as wood filler. Easiest way to get a perfect colour match, every time.

Any pics of the tank destined for this stand??

Haagenize

I think she's tricking us all, she's a veteran expert craftswoman

I don't know much about making stands, but that looks pretty pro :P Feel free to make me one too when your done with this one

chagovatoloco

Nice job!!! though I do think some one here does wood work. Why else have those nice tools? I wish I would of built my last stank that well.

info scavenger

You did such an excellent job of documenting each step. The photos and infomation are detailed enough for even a novice woodworker like me to follow. I was so inspired by your success I decided to start on a stand today for a 55 gal. tank my husband surprised me with. I doubt it will turn out as beautiful as yours, but it will be much sturdier than a flimsy comercial stand. .

butacska

Thank you so much!

congratulation on your new tank

I know that a couple of people here (plus my husband) said that the stand is way overbuilt, I still would put two extra 2x4 legs... one between the 2 back and one between the two front legs... for a 4 feet long tank... ours is only 30 inches long. If you chose this style (with the extra inch on the top) make sure you calculate some extra space... eg the base of my tank is exactly 30x12.5 so we made the top plywood 31x13.5. these are the frame's dimensions too, so the 2x4's are: 31''x10.5'' for the top and bottom frame. Also make sure you keep a level next to you all the time and check on the level horisontaly AND verically on the legs. Although you can correct it with shims later on, the more level the stand is, the better.
If you have any question, just write to us and we'll answer... if we can. Good luck to you! And make pictures for us!!! mandatory lol just kidding Maria and George

hoppycalif

You used urethane glue, I think, which does expand a lot as it cures. It won't work well with sawdust mixed in. But ordinary Elmer's glue, either white or the "carpenters glue" yellow type work well with sawdust. Unfortunately I can't get stain to penetrate that either, and where the stuff smears against the wood, it shows up as light areas when stained. I have the best luck with the "stainable" wood filler.

butacska

Hmm, the glue is actually an accessory that we didn't buy As a matter of fact i won it through an online contest So we thought we can use it.
We'll try both methods out and see which one fits better for us. It is really hard though to make it look like it is untouched (like no screw or nail went ever through it...)

By the way i sanded it today with a 600 grid sandpaper, it is so smooth, a fly could fall on it LOL I love it. Last layer of stain is comming up and I make some new photos.

chagovatoloco

I used a minwax wood filler on my last project and I hid the holes very well.


this was not the final stain but you can see the holes are covered.

butacska

It looks really nice! Lovely warm dark color too! I don't even no what brand i used, but it is paintable/sandable......... i didn't think of being stainable when i bought it as I had never used wood filler before... .... Ohh well Learning from mistakes