Question on 2X4 stand without skin

[Abhishek]

Hi,

So I finally embarked on the journey of making my own DIY stand out of 2x4 measuring 48 inch x 40 inch in depth x 29 inch in height . Its gonna house a 48 inch x 40 inch x 18 inch acropora only tank .

The stand is almost complete and now its time to think about finishing it up . Honestly I love the stand as is and would like not to have any plywood or skinning done on it. At the same time, wife has expressed interest if I could make the stand look distressed .

I have no knowledge of woodworking or carpentry and hence the basic question. I was wondering if there's a way I would just sand and then use desired stain to just stain the stand in desired color and then use spar urethene to protect it.

Please advise me if its even possible when I used normal 2x4s to build the stand . If so, what kind of stain do you suggest .

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[dbl]

You can certainly stain the 2x4's. They do not stain that evenly to begin with. After staining, take a sander and "scuff" it up a little randomly to give it that distressed look. You can even take a chain/hammer/anything to rough it up a little as well if that is a look you like. You can do the same thing with paint if you, or shall I say she, wants a color. Paint, sand some random spots, then poly it.

I know it's not a tank stand, but here is a picture of a coffee table I made with dimensional lumber from HD. It's a painted version of the distressed look, but it will give you an idea.

 

[Abhishek]

You can certainly stain the 2x4's. They do not stain that evenly to begin with. After staining, take a sander and "scuff" it up a little randomly to give it that distressed look. You can even take a chain/hammer/anything to rough it up a little as well if that is a look you like. You can do the same thing with paint if you, or shall I say she, wants a color. Paint, sand some random spots, then poly it.

I know it's not a tank stand, but here is a picture of a coffee table I made with dimensional lumber from HD. It's a painted version of the distressed look, but it will give you an idea.

This is amazing !!! I think we have similar ideas except a different color like deep walnut .

Could you please tell me what steps you took to paint the table ?

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[dbl]

This is amazing !!! I think we have similar ideas except a different color like deep walnut .

Could you please tell me what steps you took to paint the table ?

Regards,
Abhishek

Once you get everything sanded, you simply paint what ever color you desire, or in your case, stain it. The beauty of this is your finish doesn't need to be perfect either since your going to distress it. (maybe a little less forgiving with stain than paint).

I've done several of these projects and the steps are pretty easy. As I said, sand and paint. I like to use my orbital hand sander because I'm lazy and it works really well. Just go at it randomly and remove paint as you see fit. I actually try to think about where the item would "naturally" wear, so if you look at the edges of the legs and some corners, I actually took it nearly back to the wood in some spots.

Only suggestion is not to go too crazy...sometimes less is more. But once you get it to where you want it, apply your protective coating to the level you desire, and call it done. That coffee table has about 5 or 6 coats of poly so we don't have to worry about coasters...lol.

Last suggestion...Take a couple pieces of scrap 2x4 and do a few test pieces. Give her some choices, keep her happy, and life will be grand!

 

[DCR]

The skin adds a lot of structural stability to a stand. I don't know the details of your stand, but make sure the vertical/horizontal member angles are well braced to prevent any swaying.

 

[Winand]

I used Rocket Engineers design to build the stand for my 90g. I always planned on have it skinned but I did find that it was hard to keep square/level before I attached the skin to help keep it square. The stand is 2.x with a 2x6 top rail with 1x4's edge glued for skin. The distressed beach wood look is the result of a three 3 part process. Forgive the messy sump area, its still a work in progress.

 

[Abhishek]

Thanks a lot guys ! So here's the framework following rocket engineer's plan and king of DIY .

Do you think it's strong enough without skins to hold a 48 inch x 36 inch x 20 inch tank ?

Am novice at stand building so appreciate your inputs .

Should I put a couple of 2x4s cut at 45 at the back to make a small triangle whichever will act as sway braces ?

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[DCR]

That looks pretty stout as is. The multiple screw patterns on the front should prevent any swaying. If the sides are similar I think your OK. If you press down on the base with your foot and try to push the top rim away from you and it does not give you should be fine. Check both side to side and front to back.

 

[dbl]

I agree...that stand should be fine unskinned. In my opinion, it would hold far more than what you have planned.

 

[Winand]

Your stand looks good to me. I only see one part that will be an issue if you plan to put a plywood top on it. The corner inside support boards stick out above the rail (or at least it looks that way in the pictures). My previous stand build had that same issue and it made leveling the top a pain with lots of shims required since the support leg did not allow the plywood to rest flat on the top rail.

 

[LCC]

I have two stands built the same way you built yours. One is 48" long by about 24" wide on rollers. I use it as a work bench now. It use to house have a 40 gallon breeder frag and sump. The other is 4' by 8' with a frag system on it. both stands are very strudy. You don't need the cross braces, but you may want to mirror the tops bracing on the bottom to support you sump area.

 

[don_chuwish]

It's strong enough. Definitely fix that proud post end. Is the tank frameless? No plastic trim on the bottom? If so you'll want a nice perfectly flat plywood top. I would use a high quality 3/4" piece and run a thick bead of construction adhesive over the top of every 2x4. Screw it down just snug, not super tight, with an even screw pattern (countersink the screw heads!). That way any unevenness gets leveled out by the adhesive. Check it with a good 4' level for low/high spots.

 

[Abhishek]

Thanks guys and awesome that you caught the proud post . Fixed it !!!

Wanted to know if the stand is good enough to hold an acrylic tank . Am scared of acrylic given my pathetic wood working skills and acrylic tanks need absolute flat surface .. glass is a little bit forgiving !

Thoughts?

Regards,
Abhishek

 

[DCR]

A heavy sheet of plywood (3/4") over the top goes a long way toward covering for any minor imperfections in the rim and cross members of the stand. You can get a sense of how flat the stand is with a 4 ft level. Test across various directions including diagonals, and look for gaps.