I don't have a lot of space in my office/den I decided to design and build a custom sized stand to hold all of my tanks. Since my kids are on school holidays and bored stiff already, this also ended up as a fun activity for the 3 of us...
Since I don't have access to welding machines and woodworking tools I decided on the following bolt-together design:
Bottom shelf: 6 x 5G breeding tanks
Mid shelf: 30 or 55G
Top shelf: 30 or 2 x 20G
Materials:
25x25x2mm square tubing (light yellow)
40x40x3mm angle iron (orange)
38x38x2mm square tubing (pink)
M8x50mm & M12x50mm nuts & bolts
1500x610x20mm pine laminate board (not shown in drawing)
Despite assurances of my father in law (structural engineer) that it'll hold the weight, I'm going to load test the contraption carefully before moving tanks over. Theoretically the M12 bolts are rated at 15KN shearing force which "hopefully" means I'd have to put over 1 and a half tons per bolt to end up with a major catastrophe.
Only 1 way to find out if it's going to be strong enough... build it!
Day 1: Buying the raw materials...
Day 2: Cleaning up the edges, drilling pilot holes and primer coating...
Rough edges filed off the ends of each component. Rust and scale removed with wire brush. 4mm pilot hole drilled. Each piece thoroughly cleaned with thinners...
The kids have plenty fun applying the undercoat primer with a small roller...
If you are wondering why we painted primer on first before drilling all the holes to size - I only have a small power drill so taking the parts to the father in law this weekend to use his pillar-drill...
Thats it for part 1 - comments and prayers appreciated!
Since I don't have access to welding machines and woodworking tools I decided on the following bolt-together design:
Bottom shelf: 6 x 5G breeding tanks
Mid shelf: 30 or 55G
Top shelf: 30 or 2 x 20G
Materials:
25x25x2mm square tubing (light yellow)
40x40x3mm angle iron (orange)
38x38x2mm square tubing (pink)
M8x50mm & M12x50mm nuts & bolts
1500x610x20mm pine laminate board (not shown in drawing)
Despite assurances of my father in law (structural engineer) that it'll hold the weight, I'm going to load test the contraption carefully before moving tanks over. Theoretically the M12 bolts are rated at 15KN shearing force which "hopefully" means I'd have to put over 1 and a half tons per bolt to end up with a major catastrophe.
Only 1 way to find out if it's going to be strong enough... build it!
Day 1: Buying the raw materials...
Day 2: Cleaning up the edges, drilling pilot holes and primer coating...
Rough edges filed off the ends of each component. Rust and scale removed with wire brush. 4mm pilot hole drilled. Each piece thoroughly cleaned with thinners...
The kids have plenty fun applying the undercoat primer with a small roller...
If you are wondering why we painted primer on first before drilling all the holes to size - I only have a small power drill so taking the parts to the father in law this weekend to use his pillar-drill...
Thats it for part 1 - comments and prayers appreciated!