Making my first stand

[MBVette]

I have decided to go ahead and make my own stand for my seahorse tank that Im setting up, but having a little bit of difficulty coming up with how to do the doors.

 

The setup is going to be 30" tall 28" wide 38" deep (going to have a fuge sitting right behind the main tank)

 

My plan is to make a box and use 2 2x4's in each corner for support and one cross support at the top for additional stability; and then use 3/4" oak plywood for the top (might change that but not sure yet) Then the plan for the sides was just 1/2 oak plywood; but Im not sure how to make the doors. Or is there a good way to make the whole side removable?

[extreme_tooth_decay]

I have decided to go ahead and make my own stand for my seahorse tank that Im setting up, but having a little bit of difficulty coming up with how to do the doors.

 

The setup is going to be 30" tall 28" wide 38" deep (going to have a fuge sitting right behind the main tank)

 

My plan is to make a box and use 2 2x4's in each corner for support and one cross support at the top for additional stability; and then use 3/4" oak plywood for the top (might change that but not sure yet) Then the plan for the sides was just 1/2 oak plywood; but Im not sure how to make the doors. Or is there a good way to make the whole side removable?

 

On my first stand, I just screwed some hinges onto a piece of scrap plywood and used it as a door. Worked fine.

 

On my next stand, I bought some nice oak doors off the shelf at home depot.

 

Here is my (overbuilt) build thread, you can see how I framed for and attached the doors LINK

[Guest thefishman65]

I like the whole side removable. The first stand I did I routed 1/4 groove in the top an front frame and used 1/4 luan plywood with heavy duty velcro in the bottom back. Worked ok. I should have made the groove 5/64 with stand and varnish it got a little tight. The doors where similiar. 1x4 routed with a groove and luan plywood. Not beautiful, but worked great since I could get any size I wanted. They mush have been about 22 inches. I hated them because when ever I worked on the tank I couldn't walk from front to back. So I vote for removable front panels too.

 

So design 2 was designed for removable panels. I was going to do these with luan and magnets, but couldn't figure out a good release scheme (didn't want handles showing). But I was at lowes and someone had misordered some formica. New plan cut this to size and use it as the panel.

 

Hope this helps.

[dbartco]

http://www.barkerdoor.com/?gclid=CIP4qMLj4a4CFQdN4AodI0HXWg

find some here. I am looking for some door manufacturers as well, so if you find cheaper....

[MBVette]

I like the whole side removable. The first stand I did I routed 1/4 groove in the top an front frame and used 1/4 luan plywood with heavy duty velcro in the bottom back. Worked ok. I should have made the groove 5/64 with stand and varnish it got a little tight. The doors where similiar. 1x4 routed with a groove and luan plywood. Not beautiful, but worked great since I could get any size I wanted. They mush have been about 22 inches. I hated them because when ever I worked on the tank I couldn't walk from front to back. So I vote for removable front panels too.

 

So design 2 was designed for removable panels. I was going to do these with luan and magnets, but couldn't figure out a good release scheme (didn't want handles showing). But I was at lowes and someone had misordered some formica. New plan cut this to size and use it as the panel.

 

Hope this helps.

 

What kind of magnets? I would love to make the whole bottom removeable panels, it would make life so easy when working on things

[Guest thefishman65]

Well as I said it is a work in progress. The plan was to have the weight of the luan rest on something solid and just have magnet to hold it in place. I was going to use the rare earth (neodymium) you can find them at a reasonable price at dealextreme (http://s.dealextreme.com/search/magnet).

 

Your not far away if you want to stop by and see what I am thinking about.

[BowieReefer84]

http://www.barkerdoo...CFQdN4AodI0HXWg

find some here. I am looking for some door manufacturers as well, so if you find cheaper....

 

Since I am also in the market...

 

Here is a cheap source out of Georgia: http://www.nakedkitchencabinetdoors.com/

 

I plan on painting so MDF will be fine for me.