Garbo's ultra cheap tank stand

[garbodude]

hey every one this is a guide to a stand for a 4ftx2ftx2ft tank that i built for about 30$ aud or about 20$ us including paint.

as im a uni student i wanted to save lots of money on the stand but i didnt want it to look tacky.

u will need :

2 chep palets- the blue ones as they are made from hard wood and are the strongest.-

free, (kinda, if u ask some people they will give them to u, or u can find them around industrial areas at night.)

3 beer kegs same height-

free (kinda as u have to pick them up out the front of pubs on certian nights, stealing i guess but i most people have one lying out in the back yard)

two peices of MDF or ply 4x2x2 and about 20mm or 1 in thick.

second hand wood places sell this stuff for quite cheap i went to reverse garbage and payed about 5$ for both.

3 pieces of foam 4x2x2

once again i went to reverse garbage and got them all for about 10$

thin pieces of MDF that will cover the stand, get this last when u know how high your stand will be.

got at reverse garbage for about 6$

paint

6-10$

 

[garbodude]

ok now what you do first is get your two pallets and cut the them after the midle beam-see fig 1

now you have two strong platforms that are 2ft x 4ft. ps if the pallets are missing some slats that run across the beams, add some on from the left overs - even if they dont make it the whole way across its fine.

 

[garbodude]

now place one pallet on the floor where u want tour tank - somewhere stable. then place a sheet of foam on the pallet then a piece of thick mdf or ply.

get your 3 kegs ready.

it woud depend on the diameter of your kegs you will probably only be able to fit 3 and arrange them as best as possible for optimale support.

then do the same with the other half pallet but back to front eg MDF first then foam then pallet then on top of this u put foam and your tank.

pretty simple.

now measure the height of the stand and buy mdf that height (i added about 2 cm to make it look neater- not seeing the bottom of the tank) to pin to the pallets (top and bottom) atound your stand. i did this once my tank was full of water as it was held in place but u may not wish to do this as i got a bit worried hammering so close to the tank.

and there u have it a bit of putty and paint and your done! you could do it in a few hours and it looks good too as its nice simple with clean lines.

see ya.

and up close

 

[Vynn]

coOl

 

[ad_smith]

that looks nice, like the way the canopy matchs the stand.

where the get beer barrels from?

 

[Paul_MTS]

Very smart, is it a hand made canopy aswell?

 

[clutterydrawer]

that looks nice, like the way the canopy matchs the stand.

where the get beer barrels from?

he's a student

he probably stole them

 

[Puffer_freak]

I liked your diagrams

 

[Lenna]

Great idea, very resourceful

 

[Tolak]

Why empty beer kegs? If you are going to build a 3 keg stand, you may as well use full ones, & have the, umm,.... strength of liquid being non-compressable, yea, that's it!

Another great, cheap idea garbodude, I love cheap homemade stuff that works better than mass produced, over priced, under built disposible junk.

Tolak

 

[garbodude]

chears guys.

sorry i havent replyed but been pretty busy.

some of your questions.

yes i did "steal" the kegs but its not as bat as you think as if you brought one they would be about 200-300$ as its food grade stainless steal. but once kegs pass a certain date of use they get melted down and remade. the amount of stainless is worth about 18$ a keg. a friend that owns a pub gave me those , no skin off his nose. but i have stolen them before.

yes its a handmade canopy as well it does match i was going to do a DIY thread on that too but there are quite a few on here already. in my books one of the most important things is to have the face of the canopy situated below the water surface line- in this tank its about 3cm below as it evaporates heaps. it makes it look 10 times better. you get what i mean?

you dont have to worry about their being fluid in there as the cylindrical shape of the kegs and the stainless being 4mm thick they are super strong. ps if the were full they would be drunken very quickly...

reply if you have any othe queries or you want a DIY thread on the canopy.

cheers guys and girls.

 

[Dane]

Cute idea

If you never want to move those kegs again lol, you can just fill them up with sand...