Buildin a stand 😎

[Goldfishbeginner 25]

Im building a stand for a 55 gallon.   The pieces are all done! Wish me luck! 

[Goldfishbeginner 25]

Ok it's done success!

The stand is nice and true.   It's critical it gets screwed together true as all four corners of the aquarium must be perfectly flat against the top pieces, otherwise it could cause problems with the seals on the tank.   I pulled it off.🙂

[Goldfishbeginner 25]

Some more pics of assembly..  I used the tank and clamps to true it up as much as possible while it was being screwed together.    Often times there is an unavoidable bit of deviation of 1/16" to 1/8" in the pieces.   Regardless if how perfect I try to cut the pieces there is always some slight warpage and lenghy to account for.   To counter this,  you just gotta try to adjust it enough with the clamps and hope it goes ok .    It's a nerve wracking process. But with patients it works out! ☺️

Edited June 7, 2018 by Goldfishbeginner

[Goldfishbeginner 25]

As for technical specifications of the stand.   It's plenty strong enough.  It was built using the cheapest 2x4s possible, Eastern white pine.  

 

There are some numbers to figure out like psi of the wood being (x6 pieces).  used vertically and shear strength of the screws. 

 Assuming the wood can hold 1100 lbs psi per 5.25"  surface area(not sure on this being correct spec but it's underwhelming as far as wood strength goes..

.   

This means that,  x6 pieces of 1100 lbs 2x4plus 24 screws with 50 lbs shear strength each equals,  1200 lbs plus 6800 compressive strength of the 2x4 = 7800 lbs of total strength.   Giving this stand an approximate safety factor of at least 6.5..   given the weight of water and tank which is about 625 lbs.  Saftey factor of 6.5 means it can hold 6.5 times the tanks weight.   Sorry if I wrecked the math or my calculations are incorrect.   Somebody else could do this better than me for sure

Edited June 7, 2018 by Goldfishbeginner

[shakaho 6,312]

Nice job!

[Goldfishbeginner 25]

Thanks! 😀

[Fastlane 174]

4 hours ago, Goldfishbeginner said:

As for technical specifications of the stand.   It's plenty strong enough.  It was built using the cheapest 2x4s possible, Eastern white pine.  

 

There are some numbers to figure out like psi of the wood being (x6 pieces).  used vertically and shear strength of the screws. 

 Assuming the wood can hold 1100 lbs psi per 5.25"  surface area(not sure on this being correct spec but it's underwhelming as far as wood strength goes..

.   

This means that,  x6 pieces of 1100 lbs 2x4plus 24 screws with 50 lbs shear strength each equals,  1200 lbs plus 6800 compressive strength of the 2x4 = 7800 lbs of total strength.   Giving this stand an approximate safety factor of at least 6.5..   given the weight of water and tank which is about 625 lbs.  Saftey factor of 6.5 means it can hold 6.5 times the tanks weight.   Sorry if I wrecked the math or my calculations are incorrect.   Somebody else could do this better than me for sure

Great job on this one. I like how you did the steps with the aquarium clamped. Just sharing but I also did a stand for a 40 gallon breeder. Almost same as yours. Great job though!!! Btw, are tou going to frame it? 

Edited June 8, 2018 by Fastlane

[Goldfishbeginner 25]

It was a good experience building this stand.   Im going to take it with me and in the future hopefully move to bigger projects.

[koko 14,363]

Wow great job you did there  

[FishyMandy 6,284]

Looks great!

[Goldfishbeginner 25]

Thanks again.   

 

Hey I have another tip in case anybody is planning on building their own stand.    The stand i showed here was actually a redo.    The first stand was made from wood that had been sitting in my father's garage for years.  It had warped to the point of being unusable when I tried to screw it together.   

 

So, I went to the Lowes and bought new wood and picked out the straightest pieces I could get.   I also used them that day so they wouldn't have time to sit around for months and start warping. 

I also made the second stand a shorty stand as per my dad's request.   Oh he's keeping the fry that my fish had last year.  That pic is the first stand that didn't work out. 

 

 

Edited June 8, 2018 by Goldfishbeginner

[Goldfishbeginner 25]

And oh yeah, im going to consult my nephew who's an engineer because I could be way off about how much the stand can support.   My other post is a guestimation at best.   But the thing is way over built anyway. 

 

As for cost, the box of structural grade screws was $10 and 6, 8' 2x4s at about $3.28 a piece (kinda expensive for those actually).  

Total cost.   About $30 not including tools.   

Edited June 8, 2018 by Goldfishbeginner

[DawnMichele 6,045]

Looks really good!!!! Can't beat the price!!!!