Will this stand design be adequate?

[Industrial]

Today I went to HD to get an idea of the cost I can get enough particle board for the two sides, back and bottom for 20 dollars. I think I may use particle board instead since the plywood is a lot more. The top piece of board will be plywood and that will be about 15 dollars. And I didn't decide on the door yet.

For the two legs, I didn't want to use any kind of designed material, I just want simple cylinders but the closest thing I saw at HD was rusty metal pole material that was 2" and 4 dollars a foot. Knowing that home depot does not percision cut wood, I have a feeling that they might not cut the metal material to exact measurements either and I don't have the tools to work with that.

I did not see black stain, so I will check at Lowes for the stain and hopefully they will have it.

This stand is going to cost as much as a new 29g stand from wallymart =\

Did not see that coming, hopefully I can find somebody with a truck and finish off the stand soon though. My vampire tetra has been bashing his face on the glass in the 20g.

 

[bob965]

Nice design. They sell something similar at Petsmart for $4378345. It might cost just as much as a purchased one, but the satisfaction you get from building it yourself will be infinitely greater. Either big wooden dowels or black pipe will work for your columns. If you use pipe, just scrape the rust off with some steel wool, and give it a coat of rustoleum spraypaint. Take your own measuring tape with you to HD, and if he does a sloppy job cutting it, tell him you want a different piece. I would use a Forstner bit to cut holes for the columns. This will give you a nice flat-bottomed hole that will lock the column in place between your top and bottom. Since you are using particle and ply for your structure, you're gonna have alot of ugly edges on your boards. I would look into getting some self adhesive edge-banding. Or you could just paint it instead of staining.

 

[jack-knife]

i would say use oak 3 inch columns, a 1 inch top and frame the rest of the cabinet in with 3/4 to 1 inch thick board and you should be good for a 40 gal breeder. Go with the black gloss man it just looks good.

 

[Industrial]

Nice design. They sell something similar at Petsmart for $4378345. It might cost just as much as a purchased one, but the satisfaction you get from building it yourself will be infinitely greater. Either big wooden dowels or black pipe will work for your columns. If you use pipe, just scrape the rust off with some steel wool, and give it a coat of rustoleum spraypaint. Take your own measuring tape with you to HD, and if he does a sloppy job cutting it, tell him you want a different piece. I would use a Forstner bit to cut holes for the columns. This will give you a nice flat-bottomed hole that will lock the column in place between your top and bottom. Since you are using particle and ply for your structure, you're gonna have alot of ugly edges on your boards. I would look into getting some self adhesive edge-banding. Or you could just paint it instead of staining.

Home depot only cuts to the nearest 6 inches or foot which is far from what I need. After thinking about it, particle board would not look very well stained. I will spend a little more and get nice looking plywood or something, hopefully this stand lasts a while and will definitely be worth the extra money that I spend for the nice wood.

I was thinking about paint, but I never had luck with painting nicely. I can stain, but I am terrible at getting an even paint coat. So hopefully I can find stain. If I get metal legs though, I will paint those.

About the drill bit, I haven't done any wood working since shop class in 8th grade. Would that be for a drill press? I am thinking of taking all the supplies to my grandfather's and asking to use his supplies in exchange for me fixing his computer or something. I am pretty sure that he does not have a drill press. I have a dremel, but I have a feeling that it would never drill a hole that large lol.

i would say use oak 3 inch columns, a 1 inch top and frame the rest of the cabinet in with 3/4 to 1 inch thick board and you should be good for a 40 gal breeder. Go with the black gloss man it just looks good.

I am going to stick with two inch, because similar stands usually use smaller and I am pretty sure that the columns will be strong enough provided nobody decides to kick them or something.

I agree that black gloss looks cool, but isn't black gloss normally just black vinyl?

 

[bob965]

Home depot only cuts to the nearest 6 inches or foot which is far from what I need. After thinking about it, particle board would not look very well stained. I will spend a little more and get nice looking plywood or something, hopefully this stand lasts a while and will definitely be worth the extra money that I spend for the nice wood.

I was thinking about paint, but I never had luck with painting nicely. I can stain, but I am terrible at getting an even paint coat. So hopefully I can find stain. If I get metal legs though, I will paint those.

About the drill bit, I haven't done any wood working since shop class in 8th grade. Would that be for a drill press? I am thinking of taking all the supplies to my grandfather's and asking to use his supplies in exchange for me fixing his computer or something. I am pretty sure that he does not have a drill press. I have a dremel, but I have a feeling that it would never drill a hole that large lol.

Even if you use plywood, the edges will have the layers visible. If that looks okay to you, then that's fine, but most people try to hide it by edge-banding it. There are thin strips of veneer with adhesive backing you could use, or you can just put a decorative molding around the edge of the plywood. Or you could always paint it. A forstner bit can be used in a hand drill, but it depends on how big you're making your posts. The bigger you go, the less inclined I would be to try to drill it with a handheld drill. Drilling the hole for the posts to fit in is the only good way I can think of to attach them if you're using pipe. If you're gonna use big wooden dowels, you don't really have to drill the holes I guess, you could just shoot screws into the ends and countersink them.

 

[Big Dog]

Make sure you do not use that plywood that is all glued togather. I would use that paint that looks like stone. I used it on my custom fish tank stand. Every one likes how it looks. Every one thinks I uesd some sort of sand plaster on the wood. Also make sure you paint your top with a good water blocking paint. Other wise your wood is going to break down.
Ten goes you tank on the floor.