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Originally Posted by scolley
Hey Wendle, where the h*ll were you when I needed you!!!!  It's a little late for all the good advice now!
Just kidding. 
I'm thrilled to have you post here. Thanks!
The whole point of my putting anything up at all is to spread the knowledge. If you can top mine, by all means please do! Better for everyone!
I'm not sure why I assembled the bottom across all the panes. There was some process of evaluation based on internet available information, and that was my conclusion. But I can certainly see a great benefit in what you are suggesting. Not the least of which having to buy fewer tools, and just being easier. The way I did it was a PITA.
I'm curious about the trimming... do you mean that you just trim the inside seams flush with the edge, so there really is no seam, other that what is between the glass?
Also, what size tanks have you constructed like this? And can you offer additional insight into appropriate thicknesses?
Thanks a mil' for posting Wendle. Can't wait to hear more! |
putting the base inside just makes things sooo much paster and neater, especially when building a lot of small tanks at once, back in the day i would build 20 or 30 (!) standard 2ft or 3ft tanks for pet shops all in one hit. you have to be fast, tidy and organised to pull that off
i would hate to have to try it with the bases sitting under the faces, pretty frustrating. the way i do it there is no need to clamp anything. occasionally if i am building a very large tank with no-one to help, i'll tape the first corner together to stop things moving around. once the whole thing is together, the suction produced by the seams will never, ever, let a pane move.
as far as trimming the vertical seams, on tanks built from 10mm (3/8") or thicker, i cut all the excess off. i use dow corning V2 sealant, which also comes in black whick looks really nice sometimes on tanks made from 15mm or 18mm glass. i must say though on small tanks made from thin 4mm or 5mm glass i am not confident with leaving the corners frameless and exposed as one small knock can shell the glass and crack the tank, so on those i use a small plastic angle on the outside and flatten the squeezeout on the inside same as i always do for the bottom seam.
biggest tank i have built was 8" x 3" x 4" (high) it was a beautiful tank in 18mm glass fitted into some really nice joinery..
as far as thickness, for tanks with braces across the top, i work on 10mm for 700mm high, 12mm for 900mm high, 15mm for 1000mm high, and 18mm for anyhting over that. anything without braces on the top, like yours, really needs special consideration and goes up at least one glass thickness.