Help Calculating Tank Spread Weight ?

[Defiance]

Hiya's,

Can anyone help me ?? lol

I will try and keep it simple (especially for me he he)

Making a 6' x 2' x2' tank stand out of 1.5" x 1.5" 14swg mild steel box section

Overall height of the stand allowing for both a top and bottom board (ply/block or mdf) will be 28"

Length 72" dead

Depth 24" dead (later i will add all wood around the framework, but for now i'm just making the stand ready for my new tank (hopefully delivered a week from today))

The top/bottom identical, simply 72" x 24" overall with 2 horizontal braces (so as you look from above it will have 4 braces evenly spaced this includes what will be the "ends"

Same goes with bottom, and same as the top .5" board to spread weight

So Q is, anyone have an idea of a formula or better still a decent guesstimate as to what weight/spread ratio would be ?

Or can it be simple as to divide the stand/tank/water weight by the area of the board which it all stands on ? (hmm even then i wouldn't know the formula)

Just hope someone might make sense of this above he he

Cheers

Tony

 

[chrisbassist]

should be roughly .15 lbs per square cm.

but the best person for stuff like this would be bignose. you could always try sending a PM directing him to this topic...

 

[Defiance]

Hiya,
Thanks for the reply

It's just that the floor is a post war (circa 1946) solid concrete slabs, then a kind of fibreglass or maybe rockwool i can't rem offhand from when i had to repair a crack in the kitchen, then a thickish top concrete screed (think offhand the top screeding was 1 1/2" thick) off we are on the top level of a 2 storey flat

So hence the trying to find out, and also a sturdy framed base with boarding on the bottom to spread the weight

Worst case scenario, i will have to cut the screed/insulation out, add heavy/hard foam on the concrete base then bring up to floor level with a decent concrete mix, this of course would A: be a pain B: involve some engineer i guess so causing C: a fair wad of cash outlay

Cheers Again

Tony

 

[OldMan47]

With the floor that you are trying to protect, I would be tempted to say that a vertical tie member, call it a leg, every 2 feet would be plenty to spread the weight out and protect that floor. The concrete will be very strong but is also very rigid and susceptible to breaking easily from concentrated stresses. By placing the weight on a solid frame, as you suggested, that has no more than 2 feet of space between supports in any direction from the next vertical member, I would expect the concrete to be able to handle the weight with ease. When it comes to the tank, it is not going to be as strong as the concrete so I would use at least 3/4 inch plywood or MDF to top the stand so that the glass has more than a support every 2 feet. The heavy plywood will make the tank support more uniform, less at the single points of the legs.

 

[chrisbassist]

also bear in mind that I didn't account for the weight of the glass, only the water, but i did round up, so that should take care of a little bit...

 

[Defiance]

Hiya's,

Started tacking my stand earlier, delivery note on metal says weight delivered was 36kilo, seems a bit heavier to me but hey ho

I think i can get 3/4in mdf etc, will check metric size and get nearest over, or what about exterior marine ply ?? it's not going to be seen and if there's any part needing it i can fill n sand etc

Eventually the steel stand will be clad in wood but only thin as obviously the steel's doing the load bearing

Well again, Many Thanks for the replies

Cheers

Tony

 

[OldMan47]

That plywood or MDF would be about 18 mm.

 

[Defiance]

Hiya,

B & Q have either 18mm mdf or ply (ply temperate hardwood @ £55 is rediculous lol) and also a constuction ply in 18mm, depending how this looks i might go with this

So if i can't get it cheaper (a sister works at a builders merchants and she gets a staff discount ) it'll be a trip to B & Q and get them to cut it for me

Cheers Again

Tony