Step II – Taking a stand

Let me start by saying that I'm not a carpenter and have no training in wood working. I built the stand in what looked to me as the simplest yet sturdiest way, I could be completely wrong. The design is similar to that of the ADA stands, the size and finish where made to fit our living room.

Since I had spare planks that where about to be thrown out anyway I decided to give it a try and if it didn't work I'd have one ordered from a carpenter. I used pieces of an old cupboard to build the stand. I think it's called MDF but I'm not sure, it's some kind of laminated thing and not true wood anyway…

My skills with a saw aren't too impressive so I tried to cut as little as possible and use the original dimensions of the planks. The stand's top therefore measures 52x51.8 cm and its height came to be 66.5cm.

Putting it together I used the kind of screws I saw on many Ikea products, if you drill the end part wider you can screw them all the way in so that they don't stick out.

Next comes the filling. I'm not good at doing things accurately so obviously once I assembled the stand there where some gaps. The acrylic filling was also used to seal the edges where the lamination was cut and hide the ends of the screws.

Some sanding and now it looks much better. I also cut a hole in the back for the hoses and wires to go through.

Many layers of primer and paint to make sure the stand is water resistant.

Fixing the door in place, you have to get it just right and no matter how carefully I measured I still had to readjust it several times till it worked out…

And the final result

I added plastic legs and checked the stand to see if it was level, to my surprise it was and there was no need for any adjustments. I also checked to see if it would hold, putting on a weight of more than 150 kg the stand was just fine.

Total cost was less then 10$ (for the screws and filler), it took me about 3 hours and I had lots of fun. I like the result very much and now it is time to order the tank…