you don't absolutely need a cross brace. sheathing will provide you enough bracing. i actually used some simpson clips [ga2] at the corners to provide additional support. however, i did use 2x6 material because 2x4 are typically twisted at our local suppliers
DIY stand plans
- Thread starter soggysandwich
- Start date
Yup, if you are leaving the stand open. THEN you probably need diagonal braces. If you are cladding it with something, then use ply and make that the bracing. Otherwise it's like wearing a belt AND braces on your pants
It doesn't really even need to be heavy ply, all it has to do is to stop the 4x4s leaning over. The timber hold the weight of the tank, and the ply holds up the timber. As it's edge on and secured to your timber frame it makes it a very strong design.
Cheers
Ian
soggysandwich;1268687; said:
Yes.. thats the general idea. Same on the ends of the cabinet.
But a sheet of plywood in the same places is even stronger
To get the stand to fold up you have to have enough sideways force to fold up the cross brace or plywood. As you are trying to crush the plywood in an edge on direction this takes huge amount of force. (Think rampaging elephants)
Without some cross bracing you totally rely on the corner joints. If they aren't 100%, or work loose over time then the stand becomes wobbly and could even fail.
If you want a demonstration get a cardboard box, open the top and bottom of it and lay it flat. See how it folds flat really easily. |_| -> /_/ Now tape the bottom closed (like screwing plywood to the back of the frame) Now the box is about 100 times stronger and wont fold flat untill the bottom rips or bends. Same idea when building a tank stand.
Cheers
Ian
ok, i understand how it would colpase without the support but the only reason i dont want to use a plywood sheet across the back is because i would like to have easy access to the back for my filters and suchIanab;1268771; said:Yes.. thats the general idea. Same on the ends of the cabinet.
But a sheet of plywood in the same places is even stronger
To get the stand to fold up you have to have enough sideways force to fold up the cross brace or plywood. As you are trying to crush the plywood in an edge on direction this takes huge amount of force. (Think rampaging elephants)
Without some cross bracing you totally rely on the corner joints. If they aren't 100%, or work loose over time then the stand becomes wobbly and could even fail.
If you want a demonstration get a cardboard box, open the top and bottom of it and lay it flat. See how it folds flat really easily. |_| -> /_/ Now tape the bottom closed (like screwing plywood to the back of the frame) Now the box is about 100 times stronger and wont fold flat untill the bottom rips or bends. Same idea when building a tank stand.
Cheers
Ian
soggysandwich;1268783; said:
The simple answer to this is to sheet the back and make access cut outs. Then you get the bracing and you can make the cutouts quite big but still keep the strength.
For example, if it was an 8 x 4 sheet, you could cut out two 2 x 2 foot sections from the middle of each half sheet and still retain the bracing strength your stand requires. Does that make sense?
It's also a bit lighter if you need to move the stand....
bmxer4ever;1270371; said:
kinda, so if i wanted to i could cut out the back so the only plywood let is the parts that are covering the actual frame? here is a picture to help understand what im saying
The smaller you make the holes in the ply the stonger the stand will be.
Imagine the plywood as a whole lot of small diagonal braces in in every direction across the back. When you cut a hole in it you remove some of them. If you cut the back away like that then most of the bracing is gone. You have just left ply gussets reinforcing the corners, it will help, it may even be strong enough, but not as strong as a full back.
Assuming the back is against the wall, just cut a few smaller holes for the filter pipes to run through. The front will have the big cutout and large doors so you can access the filters etc.
Cheers
Ian
Imagine the plywood as a whole lot of small diagonal braces in in every direction across the back. When you cut a hole in it you remove some of them. If you cut the back away like that then most of the bracing is gone. You have just left ply gussets reinforcing the corners, it will help, it may even be strong enough, but not as strong as a full back.
Assuming the back is against the wall, just cut a few smaller holes for the filter pipes to run through. The front will have the big cutout and large doors so you can access the filters etc.
Cheers
Ian
