Western Cichlid Forum

OK sorry for the delay, things have been busy. Here is how I get the look of a wooden stand for less than half the price, twice the strength and longetivity, in fact I think this stand will last almost forever.

STAND Pt 1
First get your metal stand and drill holes all the way through the stand as per photo, these holes are for attaching the wood to the metal frame, this stand is galve dipped steel so it should never rust providing reasonable steps are taken to keep it dry most of the time.

Reduced: 80% of original size [ 800 x 534 ] – Click to view full image

STAND Pt 2
Get your wood, I use solid pine panels for the sides, doors and bottom skirt and cypress pine(decking wood) is the framing wood. I like the contrast of these two different pines, however you can use whatever wood you like, however is you want something to last, use solid wood and stay away from that chipboard stuff. Cyprus pine is ideal as it has a perfect hardness(not too hard like jarrah and not too soft) it really holds screws and hinges well. I get all my wood from bunnings and no I dont have shares in bunnings : , I just know someone will ask.
In this picture you can see the pine skirts on the LHS and the cyprus framing wood on the RHS, I have given one coat of varnish.

Reduced: 80% of original size [ 800 x 534 ] – Click to view full image

STAND Pt 3
Screwing, these are the screws I like to use, they are the treated pine screws(55mm & 32mm), they are coated so rust resistant, I just really like how they really bite into the wood and they hold incredibly strong.

Reduced: 80% of original size [ 800 x 534 ] – Click to view full image

STAND Pt 4
Cutting and painting, cut and paint all the bits with the second coat of paint, make sure you paint every single corner and joining edge, this will make the entire stand waterproof. Water that gets trapped in joins will rot the wood if its not painted, so thats why its so important to make sure every part of the wood is painted before you assemble.

Reduced: 80% of original size [ 800 x 534 ] – Click to view full image

Reduced: 80% of original size [ 800 x 534 ] – Click to view full image

STAND Pt 5
I like to work from the top down, so first I attach the top skirt, cut the corners on 45degrees and screw the face on and then the sides, as you can see in the second pic the screws go in from the back so you dont see and ugly screws from the outside of the stand, in fact all screws are hidden in my design. If a screw is visible from the outside of the stand you are a failure at life.

Reduced: 80% of original size [ 800 x 534 ] – Click to view full image

Reduced: 80% of original size [ 800 x 534 ] – Click to view full image

STAND Pt 6
Attach the leg flashings, by screwing them in from the back. I cant remember how I centred and kept them straight as I was really drunk when I put these on, but I am sure there is an easy way to do it, I let you work it out.

Reduced: 80% of original size [ 800 x 534 ] – Click to view full image

STAND Pt 7
Once you have all you flashings on then insert your side panels from the inside and screw them into the flashing frame, you may want to pre-drill this panel because it may split.

Reduced: 80% of original size [ 800 x 534 ] – Click to view full image

Reduced: 80% of original size [ 800 x 534 ] – Click to view full image

STAND Pt 8
This lower cross brace requires a spacer behind because the lower frame is recessed, I used a 40mm square pine, make sure you completly paint this spacer wood too. First attach the pine spacer to the flashing panel by screwing the pine spacer to the back of the flashing panel and then bolt this assembly from the back of the metal stand, this way you hide all the screws.

Reduced: 80% of original size [ 800 x 534 ] – Click to view full image

STAND Pt 9
OK now sides and all the metal frame flashing is attached and the tank is ready to take the skirt and the doors.

Reduced: 80% of original size [ 800 x 534 ] – Click to view full image

STAND Pt 10
Put the skirts in and attach the doors, these doors are solid pine, they are expensive but they should last a long time. I rout the outer edge then cut the bit of wood in half to produce a pair of doors. I have attached these pics so you can also see the hinges I use.

Reduced: 80% of original size [ 800 x 534 ] – Click to view full image

Reduced: 80% of original size [ 800 x 534 ] – Click to view full image

Reduced: 80% of original size [ 800 x 534 ] – Click to view full image