Canopy Help

[jonathan03]

I just got a compact florecent light kit and it doesn't seem to fit in my exsiting fixture housing. So I have decided to try and make a canopy. I have a blue print but it might be a little tough to read.

http://enginecontrol.dyn.ee/Canopy.jpg

I would like to know if the drawing makes sense and will work. Here are my conerns:

1) Is 8" the right height for a canopy?
2) Does it need a back? I am thinking that three sides is enough for support.
3) How do I match the wood on the canopy to the stand I have? Sure I can use oak wood, but is there a certain type I should use? Here is my exisitng tank http://enginecontrol.dyn.ee/Aquarium5.jpg

I'm not really sure how stains work and how to match the color. Does the wood effect the color, or only the stain? The wood obviously effects the grain. Are there any stains or sealers that I shouldn't use?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Bmeasure]

I'm no expert with stains/finishes, but I do most of my own for my woodwork. The only way to truely match is to use the same materials and match the stain also. The easiest way to match is to bring a sample (like taking off a cabinet door) to a location that mixes stains. Soft woods tend to blotch or stain unevenly unless the right prep is done before staining. I'm not going to go into a lecture on methods, but ask the people at the store and follow the can's directions. Make several THIN coats. You can always add more...difficult to remove and start over!

Oh, and Minwax has some 2-part finishes which save time and give good looks. They are stain/polyurethane mixes called PolyShades, and come in different sheens (satin, semi-, and gloss) and colors. They are similar to gel stains and tend to coat the wood and not soak in (which should help with possible uneven stain).

 

[chefkeith]

There is no true right or wrong way to build a canopy hood. Right now, I'm just finishing up on my 3rd canopy hood and will be building a 4th real soon. All my canopy's are very different in design, but the 3rd one is by far my best so far.

The drawings are a little hard to follow. . The W = 32.25 in the actual dimentions looks wrong to me.

Anyways,

I built my first canopy with the inside ledge, like your plans have. I won't repeat this method again because I think this type of hood has a few weaknesses.
Instead of putting a ledge inside of the canopy you could build the base of the canopy to fit on top of the tank, then add a skirt around the canopy. This will eliminate the shear stress on the canopy and breaks up the boring box shape look of the canopy. The skirt can be decorative molding or a 1x2 or a 1x3 piece of wood. Also make sure that the canopy is slightly larger than the top of the tank, if you go this route.


Does a canopy need a back? For my tanks, yes, because I don't want to lose water to evaporation that will cause humidity in my fishroom. I want tight fitting hoods that are almost sound-proof. More importantly I don't want my fish to have the opportunity to jump out of my tank and end up on the floor. Also I don't want my cats to have the opportunity to end up in one of my tanks. (Yes, I've had a cat fall in one of my tanks before).

I cut out custom fit holes in my canopy's for my filter equipment, cords, and water-bridges.

Is 8" the right height for a canopy? That all depends on your lighting fixture/reflector and how porportional you want your canopy looking with your tank. I think 8" should serve well and look porportional.


Is that oak laminate on your stand/tank trim or is that real solid oak? I'm trying out stain for the 1st time on my new hood, So I don't really know much at all about matching stains.

 

[Jason01]

The stain will kind of match the color of the wood. I used golden oak stain on my 20L stand that I am finishing. The front of the stand is solid oak. The sides and top are sanded plywood(for cheapness sakes). I will try to take some pictures tommorow of the sides & front to show how much the stain effects the wood.

 

[jonathan03]

The tank and trim are fake wood so I can't use the same materials for the canopy. The stand is a commerical stand bought from the lfs. I was wondering if the company that built the stand releases their color information so you can match it to a stain.

Exactly how expensive is oak? Should I be able to get the wood I need for about $20?

What lengths is oak sold in? Is it likely I can find a pecie that is 8" wide for the front panel? If not, how can I make two peices of wood look like one? Is oak sold in long skinny peices like a 2x4, or in rectangular sheets?

 

[Bmeasure]

The only practical way for you to build a decent canopy is to use oak-veneered plywood. Depending on the size of the tank, you can go as small as using 1/4" ply and a pin nailer and glue. It will look the same as solid oak when put together except for any exposed edges (which will show the plys). This can be fixed by buying edge-banding (again in oak grain). This is a tape that is applied to the edge of the plywood either by it's own adhesive and using an iron (normal clothing iron works fine) or by using contact adhesive and the normal edge banding. This is the method I use for my tank, cabinet, and canopy construction (with the iron on method). Solid wood is extremely expensive (especially the last year or so) and isn't very practical to work with for these applications unless you are an acomplished woodworker and have a wide variety of shop tools. Yet another option (I've also used with plywood) is to use corner trim to conceal the exposed ply edges and butt-joint the plywood together. This method worked very well with my custom setup, because the best way to make a ply tank is to butt-joint them and use much glue and screws! The plywood grain was running horizontally and it would have looked funny to have vertical edge-banding over the end-grains, so I added corner molding. I also had exposed ply for the top of stand and bottom of tank (1 1/2 inches of end-ply to hide) and used chair rail here and for the tank/canopy seams. The whole setup looks as if it's one piece of furniture and inseperable, but yet, you and I know they are completely independent!