DIY: 1-Sheet Laminated Plywood Stand

[TheHarold]

Here are some photos from my plywood laminated-style stand. The construction is made up of 3" wide birch 3/4" plywood strips, that are laminated into 1.5" beams. This strategy lets me always have side-grain to screw and glue with- I will have a photo below of what a section looks like.

@JoshH I was reading your thread and I read that you might be planning on making a stand, which is why I decided to share here


The plan:

Cutting down the plywood into 3" strips:

Starting assembly- you can see all the screws in the side panel.

This is what the upper corners look like. You can see how the plywood boards ALL overlap for strength :

And then gluing on the top! The streaks on the sides are just wood filler, filling in the screw holes and wood defects.

And then here it is with a few coats of paint- I wanted to sand it down one more time and put on a final coat .

After paint, with neoprene on top. Note that it is sitting flat; the apparent "gaps" on the feet are just the chamfers that prevent the wood from splitting.

With back panels, before I removed them and turned them into side panels:

Final layout:

 

[JoshH]

Here are some photos from my plywood laminated-style stand. The construction is made up of 3" wide birth 3/4" plywood strips, that are laminated into 1.5" beams. This strategy lets me always have side-grain to screw and glue with- I will have a photo below of what a section looks like.

@JoshH I was reading your thread and I read that you might be planning on making a stand, which is why I decided to share here


The plan:

Cutting down the plywood into 3" strips:

Starting assembly- you can see all the screws in the side panel.

This is what the upper corners look like. You can see how the plywood boards ALL overlap for strength :

And then gluing on the top! The streaks on the sides are just wood filler, filling in the screw holes and wood defects.

And then here it is with a few coats of paint- I still want to sand it down one more time and put on a final coat .

Beautiful!!!! I did decide to go the plywood route as well only mine, now looking at it, might be wildly over built

I went with all solid exterior walls (except for the side facing into the fish area) with a 3" interior reinforcement frame of plywood as well.

 

[TheHarold]

Beautiful!!!! I did decide to go the plywood route as well only mine, now looking at it, might be wildly over built

I went with all solid exterior walls (except for the side facing into the fish area) with a 3" interior reinforcement frame of plywood as well.

Lol! I didn’t realize you finished haha. I read the first and last page of the thread lol

Yeah this is a frag tank; 44x28x14. This should be more than enough

 

[JoshH]

Lol! I didn’t realize you finished haha. I read the first and last page of the thread lol

Yeah this is a frag tank; 44x28x14. This should be more than enough

It still needs a little touching up after moving it around so much but it's done for now until I start playing with my closed loop system

And Jez your frag tank is almost as big as my new DT;Jawdrop

BTW I'm stealing this frame design for my frag and QT tanks down the road, just so you know

 

[TheHarold]

It still needs a little touching up after moving it around so much but it's done for now until I start playing with my closed loop system

And Jez your frag tank is almost as big as my new DT;Jawdrop

BTW I'm stealing this frame design for my frag and QT tanks down the road, just so you know

I am very excited about this frag tank. In the center will be a rotating 22" diameter round frag rack, that holds 200 corals. It is the sexy locking style from Zen Reef.

This is an experimental design; a continuation of the smaller motorized frag disks I have in my display tank. So far the results have been extremely promising with Acropora

Steal away! I was editing this post when you liked it, I think. Lol

 

[redfishbluefish]

Looking good....I'm liking it....nicely done. The first time I saw a commercial stand for a 180 gallon tank, I was shocked....so flimsy looking. This stand of yours looks solid. Again, good job.

 

[TheHarold]

Looking good....I'm liking it....nicely done. The first time I saw a commercial stand for a 180 gallon tank, I was shocked....so flimsy looking. This stand of yours looks solid. Again, good job.

Thanks man. I had the same thoughts when I looked at my Red Sea Reefer stand; there is so little material. My stand should easily hold 1000lbs. I can stand on the (unsupported) front brace and it doesn't even bend a little. Crazy stiff, plywood. Cheap too.

The plywood was like $50, and then I used around $40 of assorted materials (glue, 1.25 & 2" screws, wood filler, primer, paint). Though I guess that cost assumes you have a table saw to cut all of these lengths, as well as a random orbit sander.

I will probably end up buying a quarter sheet of 3/4" ply, to make the bottom area a shelf, and a quarter sheet of 1/2" ply, to make a back (for mounting stuff).

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Both awesome stands. I wish I could do that.

I did my stand out of 2x4 and 2x6 but just the frame. I am still waiting for it to collapse after 10 years. I had to get a friend to do a separate cabinet face.

Really nice

 

[Peace River]

@TheHarold and @JoshH - great woodworking on both of your tank stands! These are definitely a couple of stands to model a DIY build after - impressive work!

[...]
The plywood was like $50, and then I used around $40 of assorted materials (glue, 1.25 & 2" screws, wood filler, primer, paint). Though I guess that cost assumes you have a table saw to cut all of these lengths, as well as a random orbit sander.

I realize that it was probably spellcheck run amok, but the "random orbit sander" made me laugh!

 

[TheHarold]

Both awesome stands. I wish I could do that.

I did my stand out of 2x4 and 2x6 but just the frame. I am still waiting for it to collapse after 10 years. I had to get a friend to do a separate cabinet face.

Really nice

Nothing wrong with using 2x4s! I considered it- using my planer/jointer to make them perfectly square pine boards. But after planing, they would get BELOW 1.5" in thickness. So laminated plywood is thicker, less likely to warp (due to crosshatch grain orientation), etc.

 

[TheHarold]

@TheHarold and @JoshH - great woodworking on both of your tank stands! These are definitely a couple of stands to model a DIY build after - impressive work!

I realize that it was probably spellcheck run amok, but the "random orbit sander" made me laugh!

Thanks! And no, not spellcheck. "Random Orbit Sander" is a pretty standard term, I thought? Though I guess you mean as opposed to "orbital"... Hmm. ;Bookworm

 

[Fin]

Here are some photos from my plywood laminated-style stand. The construction is made up of 3" wide birch 3/4" plywood strips, that are laminated into 1.5" beams. This strategy lets me always have side-grain to screw and glue with- I will have a photo below of what a section looks like.

@JoshH I was reading your thread and I read that you might be planning on making a stand, which is why I decided to share here


The plan:

Cutting down the plywood into 3" strips:

Starting assembly- you can see all the screws in the side panel.

This is what the upper corners look like. You can see how the plywood boards ALL overlap for strength :

And then gluing on the top! The streaks on the sides are just wood filler, filling in the screw holes and wood defects.

And then here it is with a few coats of paint- I still want to sand it down one more time and put on a final coat .

That came out really nice. Like the color too.

 

[Peace River]

Thanks! And no, not spellcheck. "Random Orbit Sander" is a pretty standard term, I thought? Though I guess you mean as opposed to "orbital"... Hmm. ;Bookworm

You're right - even though I have been using tools for many years and probably have about three of these sanders in my garage, I have always referred to them as orbital sanders. When I read your post, I was thinking about a few tools that I have thought about putting into random orbit!

Either way, great job on the stand!

 

[TheHarold]

You're right - even though I have been using tools for many years and probably have about three of these sanders in my garage, I have always referred to them as orbital sanders. When I read your post, I was thinking about a few tools that I have thought about putting into random orbit!

Either way, great job on the stand!

Yes.... I have thrown Harbor Fright oscillating tools into orbit LOL

 

[Peace River]

Yes.... I have thrown Harbor Fright oscillating tools into orbit LOL

After a little bit more research it appears that there is a difference between an orbital sander and a random orbit sander so I stand corrected and I can now start calling them by there correct names. ;Sorry

Excuse me while I head out to my garage to recount . . .

 

[TheHarold]

After a little bit more research it appears that there is a difference between an orbital sander and a random orbit sander so I stand corrected and I can now start calling them by there correct names. ;Sorry

Excuse me while I head out to my garage to recount . . .

One is square and jiggles, while the other is round and spins? Excuse my fancy language lol

 

[TheHarold]

Added the foam! Next comes the side panels. The back panels will be Apex Orange

 

[JoshH]

I'm not sure how I missed all these updates ! Lol

Both awesome stands. I wish I could do that.

I did my stand out of 2x4 and 2x6 but just the frame. I am still waiting for it to collapse after 10 years. I had to get a friend to do a separate cabinet face.

Really nice

Thank you very much, I will say this, as long as you have the appropriate tools and a basic understanding of woodworking you can build one yourself. I'd be more than happy to walk you through building one if you ever wanted to. Mine is just a little more elaborate version of @TheHarold s build with some routered pine trim.

@TheHarold and @JoshH - great woodworking on both of your tank stands! These are definitely a couple of stands to model a DIY build after - impressive work!




I realize that it was probably spellcheck run amok, but the "random orbit sander" made me laugh!

Thank you very much for the compliment. I feel I should probably post a few more pictures of my building process on mine as well lol. I partially went through what I did in my build thread but not in crazy detail.
I think the greatest advantage to plywood is, for the same reason Lam beams are becoming SO popular in construction. They are slimmer and WAY stronger products over all and don't twist over time.

I too have a random orbit sander and not an orbital sander as well as numerous other tools, I don't own every tool, maybe one day

Oh and my build consisted of 3 1/2 sheets of 3/4 Plywood with very little waste, I hate wood waste and make best efforts to use every square inch of wood I can out of a sheet. And some laminated 1/2" Pine boards used for all the routered trim.

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Did anyone need to use one of theses instead of the sander?;Smuggrin

 

[Antics]

This looks a lot lighter and cleaner than the 2x4 frame stands I've always done. Makes me want to make a new stand all together!

Added the foam! Next comes the side panels. The back panels will be Apex Orange

What foam is this?