BiscuitSlayer's 75 Gallon Stand and Canopy Build Journal... 56K Beware!

[BiscuitSlayer]

Here is an update. Ask and you shall receive.

I have made some progress on the stand so far. I skinned it with 1/4" oak plywood and made a cut out for the front cabinet. Here are some pictures of the skin:











Once I had the skin on, I added the trim for the stand. As of now, everything except for the doors is complete except for all of the putty and sanding that needs to be done.






You can see that the upper edge in this picture is pretty far above the edge of the upper frame and plywood. I did this so that the cheesy black frame on the tank would be covered up with the oak trim of the stand. My current store bought 29 gallon stand is like this, and it is one feature that I really like. My canopy will have a similar feature where it drops down below the upper frame of the tank.





Here is a picture of the stand with the lights that I installed. As you can see, I shouldn't have too much of a problem seeing inside the stand.



The only thing I have left to do for the stand is to build the doors and sand until my fingers and hands fall off. Lots of sanding to do!

[helgymatt]

Perfect!!! Exactly what I've been looking for. I totally love the simplicity of this. No fancy tools, brackets, or equipment required! I'll be building one just like this in a few weeks. I will be looking forward to seeing how you build the doors.

[BiscuitSlayer]

helgymatt -

No fancy tools were required for this except for one aspect:

The frame around the opening of the stand. I used a table saw with a dado blade to cut a large groove so that it would sit into the opening and give it a finished look.

I also used a miter saw (powered) for mitered joints on the trim. This can be done with a hand miter saw, but it would take a LOT more time. The only other tool that was somewhat unusual was that I used a Dremel tool to pre drill the holes for the finishing nails. The main reason I did this was to keep the wood from splitting. You don't need a Dremel tool to do this though, and it might not be completely necessary. I just didn't want to split the oak since it was kind of expensive.

For the doors, I am kind of split as to how I am going to handle them. I don't know if I am going to run a groove in the trim piece and make miter cuts and float the 1/2" plywood pannel in the frame. The other option is to have a mitered frame that has an inset that I can just glue the plywood pannel to. I'm kind of leaning towards option 1.

[jinx©]

Great work Biscuit!

I'd say smart idea on the pre-drilling on the trim. I've split a few nice pieces in my days thinking "oh it's just a little nail"...lol

I may have went differently on the doors though. I think I would have just made 2 overlay doors using the trim you already used, and just left the opening exposed cut but sanded if that makes sense?

I also seen a cabinet recently that had 2 sliding bypass doors in the bottom that I thought might be different idea for a stand. They were basically just 2 thin sheets of sanded luan in 2 routed/saw grooves.
One drawback might be that you can only have half of the bottom open at one time.

[BiscuitSlayer]

Originally Posted by jinx©

Great work Biscuit!

I'd say smart idea on the pre-drilling on the trim. I've split a few nice pieces in my days thinking "oh it's just a little nail"...lol

I may have went differently on the doors though. I think I would have just made 2 overlay doors using the trim you already used, and just left the opening exposed cut but sanded if that makes sense?

I also seen a cabinet recently that had 2 sliding bypass doors in the bottom that I thought might be different idea for a stand. They were basically just 2 thin sheets of sanded luan in 2 routed/saw grooves.
One drawback might be that you can only have half of the bottom open at one time.

Jinx -

Do you have an example of the doors that you are talking about? Or are you just saying to inlay the plywood pannel into the frame I make out of trim? I am definately interested as I have not even started the doors yet. I have enough to make them, but no real plan yet.

I do know that I want doors. The main reason for this is because I have little kids that will get into the cabinet. I have already bought cam locks to keep them out of it.

[jinx©]

I don't have any links or pics right off, but yeah basically I would have considered just routing/sawing a groove for some 1/4" panels into the trim you have already used to trim out your opening, and made 2 doors that would have overlayed the cut out.

It would leave your cutout a little unfinished but with the doors shut you never see it...lol

Using overlay doors (basically doors that are bigger than the opening) you don't have to worry so much about perfect fits inside the opening. (sagging, rubbing, uneven gaps etc.)

[pirayaman]

ok wow you over killed big time i guess just take stock in the fack that that stand can hold 4 75s if you wanted stacked and filled no problem

by the way nice wood skills that sucker is prime
guess i will have to post a diy my self

[intermediate_noob]

Pirayaman, I would not say this was overkill for a stand at all. It is not 3/4" ply only like the store bought stands are, but this is a great compromise on weight and strength. Overkill would mean so many braces that you could not fit anything inside the stand.

Biscuit, I really like what you have done, it looks awesome and I cannot wait to see it fully completed. Have you started on your canopy yet?

Also, just a request, but could you show off your lighting install for inside the cabinet? That is just plain awesome, congrats man, you are totally my inspiration.

[khoile]

Nice stand, and thanks for all the help... I'll use yours as a model when it come time to skin my stand.

[BiscuitSlayer]

Originally Posted by pirayaman

ok wow you over killed big time i guess just take stock in the fack that that stand can hold 4 75s if you wanted stacked and filled no problem

by the way nice wood skills that sucker is prime
guess i will have to post a diy my self

pirayaman -

Are you talking about the frame or the entire stand? I would only say that the stand is overkill in the sense that it can support much more weight than what it is designed for. I'll take comfort in knowing that something I built isn't going to fall apart or cause a problem that leads to 75 to 90 gallons leaking onto my floor.

You are probably right, it probably could hold 4 75s without any problems. Just not sure if my floor joists could hold that much.

Thanks for your compliments.

Originally Posted by intermediate_noob

Biscuit, I really like what you have done, it looks awesome and I cannot wait to see it fully completed. Have you started on your canopy yet?

Also, just a request, but could you show off your lighting install for inside the cabinet? That is just plain awesome, congrats man, you are totally my inspiration.

IN-

I haven't started on the canopy yet, but hopefully I'll be starting it soon. It is going to be easier than the stand. I am going with 3/4" ply with a simple way of tacking it all together. Unfortuantely, I don't have an awesome blueprint. It is all in my head right now.

As far as the lights go, it is really simple. Here is a couple of pics with the lights off and on from the back of the cabinet.






Basically, I payed attention to the cord and the actual plug that these lights came with. Jinx actually figured out which side of the plug was which before I did. The neutral side is the side with the wider prong on the plug, and the narrow side is the hot side. I cut the plugs off and wired them directly to the lower switch in the cabinet. The neutral was wired into all of the other neutral wires, and the hot side went to the hot side of the switch (which also happens to be on the neutral side). Is this what you were looking for? If you need a visual, I have a pic on the electrical part that pretty much shows what I am describing. I wired the switch/receptacles all the same way with the exception of the one with the actual light cords. Each one of the fixtures was about $9 at Lowes.



khoile-

Not a problem man. I am looking forward to seeing your stand as well.

[intermediate_noob]

Thanks Biscuit, that looks AWESOME! I really like the lights in there and it was exactly what I was looking for to get an idea for mounting my own lights.

I may have missed it, but how are you going to finish the stand? With natural color stain or something else?

Thanks again for sharing!

[BiscuitSlayer]

I am going with a natural oak colored stain and then I am going to use an exterior grade poly urethane to protect it from water. I bought cabinet hardware that had a natural stain on the handles, and I think it is going to look pretty decent with the brass / oak accent hardware.

When you get around to the electrical, hit me up if you run into any snags. Ultimately, I like your planning better with segmenting your circuits, etc.

[BiscuitSlayer]

Minor update:

I bought some 50 grit sand paper sheets to use on my palm sander. What a great move that was. Because of the way I finished the trim, there were a lot of areas where I used red oak colored wood putty to fill some gaps and all of the trim nail holes. There were also a number of uneven areas where some wood was a little bit higher than desired. I was a little worried about this as I didn't want to spend the rest of my life sanding. I hit these high areas with the 50 grit sandpaper, and it came out great. I am very satisfied with the results!








The only things that are outstanding at this point are to sand with a finer grit sandpaper to get it ready before finishing with stain and poly urethane, and the doors. I’ll probably finish the doors next and all of the final sanding. Once that’s complete, I'll move onto the canopy and then finish them together.

[eyebeatbadgers]

Very nice detail work. This is a very professional looking product.

[BiscuitSlayer]

Originally Posted by eyebeatbadgers

Very nice detail work. This is a very professional looking product.

eyebeatbadgers -

Thanks for the kind words. I definately don't think I am a master carpenter or anything, but I do have some practice making things. My father got me into it when I was a kid / teenager. I wish he was around to see this as I think he would really appreciate it. My father also got me into keeping fish. He was never good with plants though. LOL . Leave it in the pot and stick it in the substrate without doing anything else... dead within a week.