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DIY aquarium stand lots of photos - first ever woodworking project

350K views 56 replies 27 participants last post by  Hillbilly Homer 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi guys, I haven't been here for a while, and the reason is that I couldn't get rid of the algae in my tank and I wasn't too proud of it, so I didn't come to post pictures.

Now, me and my husband decided to build a stand for the tank that we have empty, and tear down the 55g and put this 36g together. But as we didn't have a stand for it, we wanted to make one instead of buying one. The budget - of course - is already way over the price of the new stands but building is fun :) And… this would be our first together project ever :)

We bought 4 2x4-s first and made a frame, then we covered it with a ½ inch birch plywood, stained it and that is it… so far, as we could not make the doors yet… as we don't have router table or table saw… And that would be a VERY expensive stand if we bought those just for this project.

So…

First we cut the 2x4s. the tank dimensions are 30x12x18 (30.5x11.5x~18). So we made an extra ½ inch on both side. We used my husbands miter saw for this.




Then we had 2 2x4s left to the height of the frame, so we calculated out how high the stand should be:)

So we had all the pieces:



That is the bottom.




The joint is a 1 ¾ wood dowel plus 2 3inch long drywall screws topped with woodglue.



Although this joint won't hold any weight, I wanted it to be massive.



Bottom and top:



When we wanted to put the legs together, we realized that we made a terrible quality cut on the wood:



So a little headache and 3 hours later…





So now they were exactly even.

It is hard for me to explain how the legs are built (my first language is Hungarian), I'll try to show it in the pics. But the legs are double 2x4s:



Dowels are holding them together plus glue plus the screws.






 
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#40 ·
The doors are not very heavy just 1/2" plywood trim out with wood stock. I had to go cheap on the wood (why its painted to hide the imperfections) but I used the best I could get for the hardware. The hinges are heavy duty self-closing. Longer hinges would have looked better but the store didn't have any in stock and I wanted to get finished so I could move on to my next project.
 
#50 · (Edited)
Most wood should be finish sanded with 220 grit before staining. Getting all the dust off prior to staining isn't critical. Blow the piece with an air tip and the rest will come off while rubbing with the stain. You need to be careful wiping with a damp cloth because the water will raise the grain on most woods enough to cause "blotchy" staining, I personally prefer oil based stain for this very reason. 220 grit after a seal coat just to remove the roughness only, then I use a scotchbrite pad after a base coat then a finish coat. Another thing I do when I'm finished spraying the top coat is, I will fill the gun with lacquer thinner and spray a light coat over the piece a few times, this will help give you an almost glass-like finish, melt all overspray and clean the gun at the same time. Lowe's has a small gun perfect for furniture for about $40 and a small compressor will work just fine with it. Hope this will help some people, I know there is nothing worse than putting a lot of time and effort into something only to have the last step not turn out as nice as the rest. :p
 
#52 ·
I was looking on the computer to get some Ideals on stands for aquqriums. somehow I got to this web site and really like the way you built yours Buy the way it is very good not to be a craftsman brfore I have since built one close to your but change the size and trim and framework.
 
#54 ·
Just a suggestion on the nail hole/filler problem. save some of your sanding waste, mix it with a clear setting glue like Elmers, and counter sink the nails a bit, put the resulting paste in the holes and when dry sand and stain, being the same wood it should take the stain the same way.
 
#55 ·
Is this an idea, or have you actually tried this?

If you get any Elmer's anywhere on any part of the wood before staining, the stain will not penetrate. A drip, a streak near a join, any speck of glue will seal the wood pores and prevent any stain from working. You can use paints and solid (deck) stains because those are films on the surface of the wood.

If anyone wants to try this idea, test it on a waste piece, or inside the stand out of sight. If you are using a very light stain, or natural wood, it might work. I tend to think not even then, depending on your awareness of finishes. Four or five coats of gloss black, fine steel-wooled between each ought to fix anything you are not pleased with.
 
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