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OK.

http://www.ozarkgames.com

Alright, well it looks as though no one really cares (except Keith), Tryst had the idea of making it a competition of all DIY projects. But it looks as though this is pointless, so I'll leave this one alone.

-K.

http://www.ozarkgames.com

Keith
Dont give in so easy, I know you are looking for a good,and practical design, which are very dificult to find.

I am prepared to look at anyones design and give a very constructive critisim.

Some of the major faults I have seen are as follows

Treated timber used
This might be water resistant but it gives off poisenious fumes when at constant room temperatures.

Non rust resistant materials used.
Water and most metals just dont go together.

Poor construction methods
Joining methods, solid bracings, not enough strength in materials used.

Wrong finishing used
Paints, varnishes etc.

I am not qualified to coment on electrical and plumbing.
Though I have seen some shockers (Pun Intended)

Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

I appreciate your replies, Keith. But, as you can see, you are the only one who has. This isn't the first time I have tried to get something going here. I think it might be better to focus my energies elsewhere. Thanks for your help though.

-Keith

http://www.ozarkgames.com

Here's one pic of my one stand/cabinet. It's not a very good picture of the whole cabinet. I'll take some better ones and post them tonight or tomorrow. The tank is a 45, the stand is a custom cabinet I made. It is all 3/4 maple plywood, cherry plywood and cherry solid lumber. The finish is an acid catalyzed conversion varnish. The cabinet is shimmed level on the floor and lagged to the wall with 4 inch deep cleats I made. The cleats are lagged to the wall and then the cabinet was screwed to the cleats.http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/hesters479/tankview.jpg

Last edited by fish479 at 10-Dec-2004 08:52

Here's a few more pictures of a couple of my stands.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/hesters479/45-5.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/hesters479/45-4.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/hesters479/45-3.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/hesters479/45-2.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/hesters479/45-1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/hesters479/20-1.jpg

Last edited by fish479 at 10-Dec-2004 18:05

The stand looks really nice, 479. Where did you get it?

-Keith

http://www.ozarkgames.com

Here's an idea. How about a competition involving aquarium stands? Instead of showing off existing stands(or using your existing stands to draw inspiration from), lets have a contest on stand design. You wouldn't have to build a stand, just submit an image of your design. The submition should include dimensions, electrical wiring, plumbing, and max tank weight. Computerized images could also be used. This would greatly benefit members who are out there looking for inspiration; or who just like looking at new ideas.

I'm not sure what the prize would be(perhaps a year of premie membership), or if it would a be monthly contest, or every other month. Something to ponder.

-Keith


http://www.ozarkgames.com

Looking forward to it.

-Keith

http://www.ozarkgames.com

Hey kind of off topic, but my uncle told me that cabinet making is a pretty good business that could earn you a lot of money if your into that kind of career, is that true?

fish479

You can see that is a very profesional unit, I also think and you would agree with me it is well beyond the non cabinet maker/tradesman to design and make that.

Being out of the trade so long I would have know idea about todays wages. I do know that there is a shortage of good qualified tradesman and these people can name their own prices.


Keith

Near enough is not good enough, therefore good enough is not near enough, and only your best will do.
I VOTE DO YOU if not WHY NOT?
VOTE NOW VOTE NOW

Here's a couple of pics of our office tank. I would agree designing and building a stand when you are dealing with that kind of weight is not something for an inexperienced person. Unless you were to use a set of pre made specifications.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/hesters479/office3.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/hesters479/office2.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v454/hesters479/office-1.jpg

Cabinetmaking is a pretty good business. If you are looking to make six figures, chances are you won't.It's possible owning your own shop and working your but off, but I don't make that much. I try to balance work with other things. I enjoy my family time, fishkeeping, camping, etc.

Here in the states, wages are varied depending on what area you are talking about. In the New York City area where I work and live, wages are a lot higher than say in the midwest or south. But the cost of living is much higher here, so it pretty much balances out. A house in my town that sells for $750,000 may sell for $250,000 a hundred miles west of here in Pennsylvania. A good experienced cabinetmaker here could earn around $20-$25 per hour. To earn that, you would need to be able to take a project from start to install without much supervision.

Now a good finisher can earn a little more because they are harder to come by around here. A good finisher is able to make custom colors, create finish schedules and do a wide variety of finishes from simple staining to antiqued, distressed glazed finishes. Finishing is one of our shops specialties, We do custom finishing for a few other shops in our area. They would rather sub contract it out to someone who can do it for them rather than try to figure out how to do it themselves and possibly create problems. I always tease my brother who runs the fabrication end that he can build the junkiest of cabinets and as long as we can put a good finish on it, the customer will be happy.

My brother and I started our shop in 1992, we've had our ups and downs and it's a constant learning process to keep our shop going the way we want it to. We have 5 employees earning from 10 dollars an hour to 21 dollars an hour. We try to treat them well and keep them here by giving paid vacation, health insurance and a retirement plan that the company contributes to. I'm sure we could earn more ourselves by not offering as much in benefits, but we feel treating our people well is important.

We've always had a hard time finding good help and when we find it, we do our best to hang onto them. The biggest problem in our trade, and a lot of others for that matter is finding good help.

Hope this helps

Mike

Wow, that's really nice. It's as big as a Shrunk!

-Keith

http://www.ozarkgames.com

here is my 75g cabinet. shows pics form beginning to end. its not such high quality as the ones above because this is my 1st. its just to show you how easy it is to do.
[link=75g cabinet]http://community.webshots.com/album/122237551ifJEHJ" style="COLOR: #FF00FF[/link]

there are small captions on the pics just gotta look. some description to help the looker.
also you will notice that the trimming and doors are NOT that fancy. this was by choice not limitations. the doors are a picture frame with a 1/4" thick cut piece of plywood stained. total cost about $5 a door. the triming around the top is just your typical trim from home depot. the reason behind the simple look, everything in this room is simple. i love wood so there is ALOT of wood shelves, cabinets, displays in the room. if i made it fancy it wouldnt have matched at all.
total cost was about $80.
HTH

Sin

Sin that is beautiful!!! So will you come to Houston and make me one?
Heidi[/font]

"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." Thomas Carlyle