# Skinning a DIY stand



## kamal (Apr 21, 2009)

Hi Everyone, 

I have a fluval osaka 155 (41g) The stand that comes with the tank is a pain in the butt because it has a centre partition. My tank is drilled with a 15g sump squished into one side. This is a nightmare to maintain and looks ugly as sin as the one side door has been removed. 

To fix this I am building a stand to free up the space under the tank. I am comfortable building the framing but I want the stand to look nice. How should I skin the frame? I was considering using 3/4 ply and then painting the thing. I am concerned about how I make the top edge as well as the point where the corners meet look as neat as possible. Also should I add doors? I was thinking of adding magnets to the front panel to give me more space when working on the sump, what do you think?

I would appreciate any pics of how some of you more talented members have approached the issue. Close ups for the details would be appreciated, a picture speaks a thousand words right  

Thanks 

Kamal


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

3/4 sounds a little thick for just covering it, costs more. You can buy different trims easily to put on the edges, or if you have the tools, make your own trim.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

If all you are doing is covering up the frame, you sure don't need 3/4 inch ply, unless it is intended as part of the load bearing structure.

You could use something much thinner, say 1/4 inch plywood. Or maybe half inch MDF [ medium density furniture ] board. Some may be available with melamine on it, which is usually white, but there's paint that works on melamine now and it's very, very smooth. If you get plywood, make sure at least one side is paint grade.. it's often marked as One good side or something like that, meaning all the knot holes have been plugged so they're as at least as smooth as the rest of the surface. Plywood must be sanded and primed to get a decent paint finish on it, but it's much more durable than particle board is, especially if it gets wet. MDF will also fall apart if it gets soaking wet, but putting a top notch water resistant finish on it helps a lot to prevent water damage.

Some plywoods or particle boards also come with hardwood veneers, such as oak. These veneers can be stained to show off the wood grain and look like real wood. You may find a small selection of mouldings made of hardwoods like oak, but choices in these will be limited.

There are some really cool special finish paints you can get that can look amazing. 'Hammered' is one I really like. Dries to a texture that looks almost exactly like hammered metal and is very durable once dry. Container says for metal only, but I've used it on wood with super results - made by Tremclad/Rustoleum. There's other special finishes too, ask the guys in the paint dept' for ideas.

But be sure to prime properly first. The time and cost are well worth it in terms of how the finish will stand up to the abuse it will get as a tank stand. Semi gloss or glossy finishes are SO much easier to clean afterward than any other type of paint surface. Though you could put semi gloss varnish over almost any kind of paint finish to protect it if you wanted to.

As for the edges, for a neat finished look, all you need is a few feet of moulding, which comes in a variety of shapes and sizes. Much of it is pine, which is relatively soft, not hard to dent if you, say, dropped a rock on it. Some is available in hardwood, usually 'whitewood'. Much harder, more durable, dent resistant to a degree. I would avoid preformed MDF moulding, it's jut not meant for this kind of project. 'Paint grade' moulding is the cheapest wood moulding. Only a few profiles, all made of pine, made of short pieces joined together with what are known as finger joints. Intended to use up otherwise useless short cuts, but must be painted to hide the joins.

You can also get a few extremely decorative hardwood mouldings. Some embossed patterns or cut out patterns, can make a real statement used as part of the trim.

A chop or mitre power saw, if you have or can borrow one, makes fast work of any moulding cuts, but a simple hand mitre box works too. The little plastic ones that come with an inexpensive back saw work fine.

Attach your moulding with wood glue spread on the back, using a few small finishing nails to hold it on while the glue dries. Clamp it if you can, as it's the glue that keeps it on over time, not the nails. If you have long enough bar clamps, you can just glue & clamp your moulding. Glued/clamped joints are much, much stronger than screwed or nailed ones.

If you use a plain moulding that's got square edges, you can use simple butt joints at the corners, very easy. Sand the end grain, wipe some wood putting into that end grain, sand again when dry, and it'll be as smooth as the rest of it is under the paint. Any sort of rounded edges or fancy profiles or a corner type of moulding need mitred corners. Cut the trim at 45 degrees, to make a mitre joint at the corner. Any slight defects in the fit can be filled with wood putty and sanded smooth.

If you build your stand so it is very square and plumb, it will be much easier to get neat corners on both the skin and finishing trim - anything off plumb or off square is going to be very hard to hide at the end. Fill nail or screw holes with a bit of wood putty, sand smooth. Neatly finished trim makes a world of difference to the final look of a project like this.

You can use corner moulding on vertical corners, btw, if it turns out the skin does not have as neat corners as you wished. Corner moulding or two strips of panel moulding overlapped on vertical corners can cover any mismeeting of the skin for a neat finish.

I used to build my own picture frames, so I've done a lot of things using stock mouldings in various combinations, it's surprising how nice they can look once finished.

If you're going to paint, I'd wipe a bit of paintable latex caulk, [ not silicone, it won't take paint ] along every joint and crevice in the whole skin. Push it into the cracks, then wipe off any excess. Once painted, it will make the entire thing pretty water resistant to splashes and spills. Heaven forbid, if there's a leak, water won't be able to wick between the joints and soak into the wood.

I always paint the insides and back of my wood cabinets too, and caulk the joins. Easy to clean, stops water leakage and coated wood is always going to resist water penetration much longer than bare wood can. Also won't absorb water from, say, splashes or evaporation from a sump inside the cabinet.


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