Advice needed , welded cantilevered stand with 1m overhang

[Corellian]

Hi... hope someone may able to provide some advice re steel profile needed.

Basically I need to get a stand welded for a 3m x .75m x .75m tank - the catch is though I want 1m of the tank cantilevered out into a void space so am after advice on wht profile of steel could be used to act as the beams for the cantilevering.

I haven't been able to find any pics on the net of this being done but am sure it has been successfully accomplished many times...

thanks for any assistance you can provide , Tim

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[joe jaskot]

You should contact a structural engineer. A quick calculation gives approximately 140 gallons of water sitting on the cantilevered part. That is a lot of weight to support.

 

[skjl47]

You should contact a structural engineer. A quick calculation gives approximately 140 gallons of water sitting on the cantilevered part. That is a lot of weight to support.

Hello; Yes it is and at around 8 1/2 pounds per gallon that is over 1100 pounds hanging in the air. Two things come to mind that will need to be determined. First is the size and strength of the steel needed to support the overhung weight. Second the center of gravity of the set up and the tipping point. I would likely want the tipping point to be stable even if the tank on the lower level happened to be empty for some reason.
Good luck and keep us posted if you actually go ahead with this.

 

[Oughtsix]

Should be a pretty cool setup. I don't think many people will be interested in giving you particulars on what size and gauge steel to use because of the uniqueness of your design.

Because of the cantilever the bottom left of the stand (per your picture) is going to be supporting a lot of weight. I would consider putting a flat bottom under the whole stand to spread the weight out as much as possible. What kind of surface it the stand going to rest on? Concrete hopefully?

Going to a structural engineer is definitely the proper route. I think most people would just seriously overbuild the stand and hope for the best. Your enemy isn't going to be the stand breaking, it is going to be the stand flexing causing stresses and possible failure points in the Aquarium. The top frame the aquarium sits on needs to be very strong and rigid to eliminate bowing and flexing. Some heavy gauge box steel in the hands of a competent welder should do the job nicely. Look up "Torsion boxes" to gain some understanding of how to add rigidity to your design.