Help needed... Hexagon fish tank stand...

[Greg]

I was wondering if someone could help me out! I am trying to build a hexagon fish tank stand to put a 20 gallon tank on. I am a very novice woodworker with some of the basic tools... table saw, compound miter, and router. I was wondering if anyone could give me some advice as how to fasten the sides together? I'm thinking about using either oak plywood (best case scenario) or just regular plywood that I will later paint.

I'm guessing that gluing and clamping won't be enough. Is there a reference book/magazine that illustrates such a project? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[d.kessell]

plywood

Greg: Glue and clamping should be sufficient--most of the force should be downward through the sides, not laterally or shear. Use a quality glue.

Given that you plan to use plywood I'm assuming it will be constructed something like a barrel. A simple technique uses tape and glue: once the sides have been bevelled and cut to length, they are laid face down--pointed edges touching--across strips of tape, glued, and then rolled up (or folded) into the carcass shape. The tape will act as light-duty strap clamps until you can get real straps on it. The top can rest on the top edges of the sides with cleats holding it in place. You have the tooling to build with this technique; a few strap clamps would be needed. Your bevels need to be cut carefully, and probably jointed if your TS doesn't cut cleanly. Use a good sharp blade.

Several magazines have run articles on this technique over the last several years, although I don't have references at hand. Look for something on tape-clamped or edge-glued carcass(carcase) construction. Good luck; and keep us posted.

Dan

[Greg]

You can take some 2x stock and make inside blocking to back up the joints. It will be a good table saw exercise to get the angles right for a nice fit. If you are careful with the length you can screw them in from the back side. With some glue, I am not sure how you would break it.

[Old Nick]

On Thu, 02 Dec 2004 04:58:17 GMT, "Greg" vaguely proposed a theory ......and in reply I say!:

remove ns from my header address to reply via email

OK. I give up.

[George]

Biscuits. Big help in alignment and better'n end-to-end plywood gluing.

[mmoore0011]

An even better TS exercise might be to put splines in the joint. Should give you a pretty strong joint too.

You can probably do the entire project with just the tablesaw. I, however, would use this as an excuse to run out and buy yourself a biscuit jointer. The money you'll save vs buying a stand should more than cover it.

[bridger]

white flag... hands in the air... we're unarmed here, don't shoot...

that sort of give up?

[Stephen M]

As others have mentioned, both biscuits and blocking would work. If you don't want to buy a buiscuit joiner, you can accomplish the same thing with a spline. Just make sure that the grain of the spline is running horizontally (across your verticle joints), or the spline will just split. ... very doable with just a table saw.

-Steve

[Merle]

As others have said, design will be important so that the weight of the tank doesn't try to separate the joints- A box with a plate on top means that all the force pushes the top onto the box.

As far as joining plywood... I wish I had discovered the Kreg pocket screw jig sooner. That and shallow dados make for very nice and easy to assemble plywood cases.

merle

[Greg]

1/8" plywood (sold as a door skin) makes a pretty good spline.