New stand build

[danmarion]

Had a water issue with my jbj 28, and needless to say, the stand got wet. These stands aren't well designed. The fiberboard top piece got pretty wet, and is beginning to crumble. Time for a new stand.

I decided to build one from steel with a wood inlay. I make it a habit to overengineer everything I build, so the stand could probably hold the tank 3 times over. I have a few details to add yet but here are some photos of the process so far:

First things first. Get that curve perfect. The front of the tank has 2" of curvature over 18" of width.

Next, frame up the top piece.

Top piece of the stand finished.

I built the stand upside down on a nice flat piece of plate steel so that I will have a nice flat stand.

Here, the legs are installed and everything is squared and braced up so that it will stay put while I weld it.

A sturdy base for it to sit on. I am probably going to install leveling screws like you'd see under a washing machine. I don't trust my old wood floors to be as flat as this stand.

Here it is with a door frame installed and part of the cross bracing.

And finally, here it is after sandblasting and the primercoat. You can see brackets for a shelf on the inside, and there will be one at the bottom as well. The flatbar straps across the sides and door will hold wood inlaid between the steel frame.

Final color of the steel will be a deep brown with a Krylon Fusion clearcoat, and I am thinking of a cherry or redwood stain for the wood inlay. I am also planning on cutting a piece of plywood to sit between the stand and tank.

Thought? Did I miss anything?

 

[Saybng]

Awesome!..looking forward on how you will skin it..

 

[danmarion]

First two coats:

 

[Ebone]

That is a good looking stand! Very impressed with the skills

 

[redfishbluefish]

I'm very impressed.....very very nice! Keep the pictures coming.

 

[dbl]

Obviously not your first go-around with metal working! Very nice looking and can't wait to see it skinned. Great job.

 

[danmarion]

Thanks guys. Clear coat tomorrow, a couple of days to dry real good. In the meantime I will cut and stain the wood accent pieces, which will be installed Friday. My plan is to have the tank sitting on it by this weekend.

Redfish: I looked at your stand build a couple of days ago and am very impressed with your carpentry skills. I have always been more of a metalworker. The only piece of carpentry on this stand that gives me pause is the piece I am going to put between the stand and the tank itself. Cutting that curve will be interesting but I would think I will manage. I might get someone to do that part for me

 

[danmarion]

Thanks dbl. I can't wait to see it skinned either! And it's definitely not my first day in the ole fab shop. I have been working in ornamental iron fabrication for the last 12 years, and I wouldn't go back for the world. I actually like it... most days haha

 

[TJ's Reef]

AWESOME job and Metal skills man, one thing I'm sorely lacking in my own DIY skill set. Me and Welders do not see eye-to-eye, so stick to wood and plastic... lol


Cheers, Todd

 

[Windy]

This is like watching somebody build an overpass to get over the garden hose. Why not armor plate?

 

[danmarion]

If you read the thread, you'd see that I make it a habit to overengineer everything. It weighs at most 80 pounds, so why not over build it? If one weld breaks, the others will hold it. It's just a good, common sense policy for engineering and fabrication

 

[dbl]

Couldn't agree more. I built out of wood but I'm pretty sure I could park the SUV I brought the lumber home in on top of my stand. If you end up with water on the floor, it likely won't be because of your stand construction.

 

[danmarion]

My thoughts precisely. I could dedinitely build it so that it would hold jusssst enough weight, with zero room for error or the unknown... or I could overengineer it and never worry about it. Ever. Seems like a no brainer

 

[Arron209]

Impressive welding skills.

 

[ReelRednekReefer]

My thoughts precisely. I could dedinitely build it so that it would hold jusssst enough weight, with zero room for error or the unknown... or I could overengineer it and never worry about it. Ever. Seems like a no brainer

Agreed! Who cares about it being over-engineered?? Regardless its a good looking, structurally sound stand... that YOU built! I can weld fairly well and can totally appreciate the skills required to design and build it!

 

[Windy]

My point was that it wasn't over engineered, but under engineered. If I set my tank on a solid concrete block, is that good engineering? If we build our bridges with a safety factor of 3-5, why not a safety factor of 100? Because of wasted resources and expense. I am not against any kind of stand, but being an engineer, I know how little real engineering goes into this type of project, almost none. You can sit your tank on almost anything, but that is not engineering. Overkill is a better description.

 

[redfishbluefish]

This is like watching somebody build an overpass to get over the garden hose. Why not armor plate?

Sorry for the aside, but I just had a deja vu moment. This reminded me of a project we had at a golf course, and I was the consulting environmental engineer. There was a swale (dip) between two fairways and the issue was golfcarts would go thump-thump and bottom out when driving between the two. The golf coarse wanted to go cheap, so the engineer suggested a simple railroad tie type bridge. I did the usual wetlands determination (soil, plant life, presence of water) and not surprisingly found no issue. The State DEP came in and declared that during a torrential downpour water might be present between the two fairways and therefore it's wetlands, and now needs a bridge that allows sunlight to shine below to maintain the wetlands vegetation (it was grass). That would have required a six foot high bridge that would have extended into the fairway. Like everything that comes out of Trenton, that's some darn good decision making on the part of the State!


Anyway, I too have an "underengineered" stand for my five foot 90 gallon tank. It's made of dimensional lumber....2x6's and 2x4's....and would support a Sherman Tank. That underengineering allows me to sleep extremely well at night. The bottom line is that the majority of us are not structural engineers and simply enjoy blindly making our own DIY projects, and in doing so, our ignorance allows us to underengineer the design, because no one but us are impacted by our creations. The subject stand is a piece of art. And finally, I would think the stand that comes with the JBJ 24/28 was designed by an engineer, and that thing is a POC that scared the pants off me every time I used the MAG cleaner.




Sorry for the soapbox dribble...I'm done......However,I've been inspired to go off to the shop to build a bridge over my garden hose.

 

[revhtree]

Great job so far!

 

[danmarion]

My point was that it wasn't over engineered, but under engineered. If I set my tank on a solid concrete block, is that good engineering? If we build our bridges with a safety factor of 3-5, why not a safety factor of 100? Because of wasted resources and expense. I am not against any kind of stand, but being an engineer, I know how little real engineering goes into this type of project, almost none. You can sit your tank on almost anything, but that is not engineering. Overkill is a better description.

Thank you so much for your constructive criticism. I appreciate that you decided to give me feedback and good solid advice instead of simple negativity as others might do. The useful tips and engineering secrets you have given me will prove invaluable with my next project........


Guess there really is one on every forum...

 

[ReelRednekReefer]

My 90g stand is also built from dimensional lumber and I also sleep well at night as the tank seams with separate from aged silicone before my stand fails.
This topic could be debated to the end of time but all I ( and most of us ) really care about is what the finished product looks like!! When can we expect some more pics?