[Eldachleich]

I've been researching alot on DIY stands... not to save money really... It's just I need the stand to be about 2 or 3 feet tall... And nothing I can find is that short... I now understand how to build a solid stand base.. What I'm struggling with is how to make it look nice.
I'm inspired by one stand on here particularly... I would like to replicate it in a way. I would like to have the glass part in shades of purple, and stretching the length of the tank instead of in segments... ... I understand he made a sort of cap. He has the base structure underneath and then slides this on over it. How would I go about doing that?
Anyone know where I can get a piece of curved acrylic, or somewhere I could get them to cut and bend a piece to size? I'm planning on coloring it in myself...
And my biggest problem, How do I go about curving everything in the front? I need the front to curve with the tank. I cannot have straight angles on the front with the curved tank.. It would drive me nuts lol...
Also if you could figure out how to make it open like a cabinet that would be awesome... Its not really needed though.. Even if the whole front opened that would be great... Just easy access to the wires inside....

 

[kamikazi]

if you can live with it, it might be easier to make the stand's front shaped like an octagon with 3 parts to the front like this \_/ or dodecagon with 5 parts the the front.

 

[sick lid]

.. ... I understand he made a sort of cap. He has the base structure underneath and then slides this on over it. How would I go about doing that?

Although it looks like a cap, I think it is likely moulding that is attached after the tank is on the stand. This also hides the very bottom of the tank. You can see in my 180g link below, how much of the tank frame you can hide with trim across the bottom. It will be somewhat challenging to build a curved front without 'mad skillz.' Kamikazi's suggestion would definitely be what I would do, simply because I know trying to curve all the trim pieces and door panels would result in far too much lost time in the garage, not to mention a decrease in my vocabulary to mostly 4 letter words. Would it be feasible to cut down an existing stand to the size you want?
Edit-Found this: http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/102397-42-gallon-bow-front-stand-canopy.html
and this: http://www.3reef.com/forums/i-made/my-attempt-36-gal-bow-front-stand-canopy-47953.html
Hopefully these can give you the basics to build on, so to speak.
Sometimes you can bend wood by cutting small kerfs in the back side, or by steaming the pieces. Or just using thinner material.
Looks like the easiest way would be to have the doors built out, so that the front is curved, but the back of the door framing is flat.
Or maybe put the doors on the sides instead of the front.

 

[Taari]

It's going to be pretty difficult and involved to curve wood like you are talking about. It takes some specialized equipment and you have to use the right wood. I've seen it done with a steam box, where you steam the wood until it's flexible enough then clamp it to a form, generally a flat piece of plywood with strategically placed nails standing a couple inches out of it, depending on how wide the piece of wood you are trying to bend is. Or you can use very thin wood or Masonite, or many narrow pieces of wood side-by-side vertically.

 

[moonshinetheslacker]

You can use a jigsaw to cut plywood for the top, and the base. Build a square box to support the tank with. If the bowfront only sticks out 4 or 5 inches (haven't seen a 46 gal. bowfront recently to tell you how far the front would stick out) then 3/4 inch plywood will be fine. For the doors, if you use 1/4 inch lexan, then you should be able to bow them without a problem. You will have to make the frame for the lexan to attach to out of 3/4 inch ply as well, and there will be a lot of jigsawing involved. If you have a belt sander and a vice, then give yourself 1/8 inch of play when you cut the plywood, so you can sand it down to the proper dimensions. Here's a pic.

Hope this helps!

This is what the semi-ramp threshold would look like

http://www.floorfittingsupplies.co....ucts_id=220&osCsid=85l93nee4cj4cvsmbsttip7fv0

 

[Hoppy]

http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/diy/102397-42-gallon-bow-front-stand-canopy.html is a very nice stand design for a bowfront tank. You would want to modify the design for what you want, but the basic idea you could follow.

 

[Eldachleich]

if you can live with it, it might be easier to make the stand's front shaped like an octagon with 3 parts to the front like this \_/ or dodecagon with 5 parts the the front.

I thought about that... I;m just not sure at all if I could... lol.. Darn OCD

 

[Eldachleich]

Wow... that's alot more responses and info than I thought I would get. Thank you everyone!!! But Hoppy, Thank you!! That link was perfect!! I'm extraordinarily visual when it comes ot learning so those pictures were super helpful...

 

[sick lid]

In the second link I posted above, you could do the acrylic panel instead of wood, with the doors on the side.

 

[Eldachleich]

In the second link I posted above, you could do the acrylic panel instead of wood, with the doors on the side.

I'm sorry!! I totally missed youre entire edit somehow... I really like that 36 stand... I wonder where to get acrylic....


Edit - Sheesh its expensive, Anywhere besides homedepot I can go? Is there a place that will bend it for me? I looked at the videos on how to bend it and so far all I've found is how to make angles and corners... How do I achieve that slight cruve that my bowfront will have?

 

[jasonpatterson]

I wonder where to get acrylic....

Home Depot, Lowe's, mail order (will be more expensive with shipping.) It's not cheap.

You can build the frame of the lower portion in the general form of a curve and use very thin plywood as a facing for it. The stuff is quite flexible and should be able to be bent around a curved form. Unless you want to try to make your own curved doors though, I don't see it being something you can open and close reasonably easily while also looking decent. You need flat areas for that without some serious woodworking skills.

 

[Eldachleich]

Home Depot, Lowe's, mail order (will be more expensive with shipping.) It's not cheap.

You can build the frame of the lower portion in the general form of a curve and use very thin plywood as a facing for it. The stuff is quite flexible and should be able to be bent around a curved form. Unless you want to try to make your own curved doors though, I don't see it being something you can open and close reasonably easily while also looking decent. You need flat areas for that without some serious woodworking skills.

Yah thats what I figured.. -_-.. and those are exactly what I don't have lol... I wish my skills were tradeable lol... you build me a stand, and I'll make youre gardens look better than Versailles.... lol
Im debating doing waht was suggested earlier with flat panels... Maybe if I do alot of them side by side it wont bother me as much...