Child “resistant” stand on DIY build

[WeberKettleGuy]

Getting ready to build my own diy stand, but worried about how to secure the doors on the stand. We have a 6 month old boy, and he will be crawling any day. The tank is going in the living room, where we all spend a majority of our time. Curious to see how you all secure your stands from the kiddos. Pics would be excellent for ideas. Thanks!

 

[Troylee]

You can buy plenty of child proof cabinet locks or make something if you really wanted.. it’s no different than a kitchen cabinet.

 

[slojim]

I used rev-a -lok magnetic locks. I liked them.

 

[nothing_fancy]

First and foremost, regardless of the suggestions you get on child safe locks or heavy duty magnets get all of the chemicals you use out of the stand cabinet. You probably already know this for obvious reasons haha. Worst case they drink something, second worst case they pour all of something into your tank because they wanna help you out with your dosing. Anyway, you might look into modifying your cabinet draws with compression cam locks available here:

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.

www.mcmaster.com

 

[WeberKettleGuy]

First and foremost, regardless of the suggestions you get on child safe locks or heavy duty magnets get all of the chemicals you use out of the stand cabinet. You probably already know this for obvious reasons haha. Worst case they drink something, second worst case they pour all of something into your tank because they wanna help you out with your dosing. Anyway, you might look into modifying your cabinet draws with compression cam locks available here:

McMaster-Carr

McMaster-Carr is the complete source for your plant with over 595,000 products. 98% of products ordered ship from stock and deliver same or next day.

www.mcmaster.com

These latches are exactly what I’m after. Thank you!

probably the worse part of childproofing is having to move everything out of cabinet and closets up to higher levels, and having to learn and remember where you put it

 

[PotatoPig]

I used rev-a -lok magnetic locks. I liked them.

Seconded. Magnetic locks are the only type kiddos can’t work out how to defeat without the magnet. All the ones that require coordinated manipulation are basically mid level puzzles they’ll work out surprisingly quickly.

 

[ScottD]

I’ve been contemplating this as well as I have a 20 month old and 3 year old. Seeing your post and some of the replies made a light bulb go off. I’ve been wanting to do pull off panels instead of doors just for ease of use and the less hinderance in the area where my tank will be. I thought about embedding magnets in to hold the panels on but worried about the kids pulling them off and having it fall on them. Seeing this gave me an idea. We used magnet patches on our kitchen doors and drawers and have a few left over. I’m going to have to take a look at them tonight but I think they’ll work for what I need and they’re strong.

Here is a link to what we used. We started off with some latches that you had to pull out slightly and push a lever down but the youngest figured out that he could just brute force them open if he pulled hard enough. He hasn’t been able to do that with the magnetic latches


Magnetic Cabinet Locks (12-Pack 2 Keys) Baby Proofing & Child Safety by Skyla Homes - The Safest, Quickest and Easiest Multi-Purpose 3M Adhesive Child Proof Latches, No Screws or Tools Needed https://a.co/d/cg3gnO3

My thought is if I make a channel in the bottom the panel slides into, I can use these up top to secure the top portion. I’ll put one in each top corner so will just need to put two magnets on when I go to open it up, making it even harder for the kids to do it.

 

[Shon]

Besides plastic outlet covers, childproof door latches, chemicals into plastic lock boxes, kid-gate or changing a door to a dutch door and such. Anchor anything that can tip over, tv (strap anchors), bookshelf (screw to stud).. your tank stand.

also be mindful of decorations.. personal example: a flower vase can become an e.r trip for stitches.

 

[WeberKettleGuy]

I’ve been contemplating this as well as I have a 20 month old and 3 year old. Seeing your post and some of the replies made a light bulb go off. I’ve been wanting to do pull off panels instead of doors just for ease of use and the less hinderance in the area where my tank will be. I thought about embedding magnets in to hold the panels on but worried about the kids pulling them off and having it fall on them. Seeing this gave me an idea. We used magnet patches on our kitchen doors and drawers and have a few left over. I’m going to have to take a look at them tonight but I think they’ll work for what I need and they’re strong.

Here is a link to what we used. We started off with some latches that you had to pull out slightly and push a lever down but the youngest figured out that he could just brute force them open if he pulled hard enough. He hasn’t been able to do that with the magnetic latches


Magnetic Cabinet Locks (12-Pack 2 Keys) Baby Proofing & Child Safety by Skyla Homes - The Safest, Quickest and Easiest Multi-Purpose 3M Adhesive Child Proof Latches, No Screws or Tools Needed https://a.co/d/cg3gnO3

My thought is if I make a channel in the bottom the panel slides into, I can use these up top to secure the top portion. I’ll put one in each top corner so will just need to put two magnets on when I go to open it up, making it even harder for the kids to do it.

I'm assuming that you screw the magnetic lock latch to the drawer? most of these ads show that they are only held in place with 3M tape, which concerns me. It especially concerns me after hearing you talk about your little one using brute force to overpower the original safety latch. The locks you linked are much cheaper than the rev-a-loks.

I'm still leaning towards the "keyed" locks on the mcmaster site. I really like the hex key quarter turn locks as a hex key is much easier to obtain in the case of a lost key. (I've got way too many hex keys in the garage toolbox)

 

[ScottD]

I'm assuming that you screw the magnetic lock latch to the drawer? most of these ads show that they are only held in place with 3M tape, which concerns me. It especially concerns me after hearing you talk about your little one using brute force to overpower the original safety latch. The locks you linked are much cheaper than the rev-a-loks.

I'm still leaning towards the "keyed" locks on the mcmaster site. I really like the hex key quarter turn locks as a hex key is much easier to obtain in the case of a lost key. (I've got way too many hex keys in the garage toolbox)

Nope we just used the 3m tape and it’s held. The big difference is there’s no play in it so he can’t “get a running start” like with the other kind. The other style had a couple inches before the mechanism stopped them from opening so you could push down the lever, but that gave momentum to over power the mechanism too which he learned quickly. The ones I linked work well are nice in the same respect as what you talked about. Any magnet will unlock them if you miss place them. Could probably even use your magnetic scraper as a key for them.

 

[BamaCoastPyrat]

Seconded. Magnetic locks are the only type kiddos can’t work out how to defeat without the magnet. All the ones that require coordinated manipulation are basically mid level puzzles they’ll work out surprisingly quickly.

My little boy used to take the cabinet locks off of the kitchen cabinets and then bring us the lock just to assert his dominance.

 

[BamaCoastPyrat]

I’ve been contemplating this as well as I have a 20 month old and 3 year old. Seeing your post and some of the replies made a light bulb go off. I’ve been wanting to do pull off panels instead of doors just for ease of use and the less hinderance in the area where my tank will be. I thought about embedding magnets in to hold the panels on but worried about the kids pulling them off and having it fall on them. Seeing this gave me an idea. We used magnet patches on our kitchen doors and drawers and have a few left over. I’m going to have to take a look at them tonight but I think they’ll work for what I need and they’re strong.

Here is a link to what we used. We started off with some latches that you had to pull out slightly and push a lever down but the youngest figured out that he could just brute force them open if he pulled hard enough. He hasn’t been able to do that with the magnetic latches


Magnetic Cabinet Locks (12-Pack 2 Keys) Baby Proofing & Child Safety by Skyla Homes - The Safest, Quickest and Easiest Multi-Purpose 3M Adhesive Child Proof Latches, No Screws or Tools Needed https://a.co/d/cg3gnO3

My thought is if I make a channel in the bottom the panel slides into, I can use these up top to secure the top portion. I’ll put one in each top corner so will just need to put two magnets on when I go to open it up, making it even harder for the kids to do it.

So you are saying you would use a second lock in lieu of hinges so that you can pull the entire door off?

 

[ScottD]

So you are saying you would use a second lock in lieu of hinges so that you can pull the entire door off?

I’m thinking what I’ll do is use this magnetic locks on the top and the bottom will have a piece z aluminum like linked below. I’ll put the aluminum on the bottom edge and will slip over the frame of my stand so there won’t be any hinges. It’ll be a removable panel instead of doors.

I’ll try and draw a sketch up tomorrow and add it to my build thread.

Aluminum Z Bar by Orange Aluminum, Metal Rail Extrusion with Double-Angle Z-Channel Profile, 72-Inch Length https://a.co/d/eZuFVF0

 

[BamaCoastPyrat]

I’m thinking what I’ll do is use this magnetic locks on the top and the bottom will have a piece z aluminum like linked below. I’ll put the aluminum on the bottom edge and will slip over the frame of my stand so there won’t be any hinges. It’ll be a removable panel instead of doors.

I’ll try and draw a sketch up tomorrow and add it to my build thread.

Aluminum Z Bar by Orange Aluminum, Metal Rail Extrusion with Double-Angle Z-Channel Profile, 72-Inch Length https://a.co/d/eZuFVF0

That makes sense. I'm following now. That's a pretty cool idea.

 

[PotatoPig]

I’m thinking what I’ll do is use this magnetic locks on the top and the bottom will have a piece z aluminum like linked below. I’ll put the aluminum on the bottom edge and will slip over the frame of my stand so there won’t be any hinges. It’ll be a removable panel instead of doors.

I’ll try and draw a sketch up tomorrow and add it to my build thread.

Aluminum Z Bar by Orange Aluminum, Metal Rail Extrusion with Double-Angle Z-Channel Profile, 72-Inch Length https://a.co/d/eZuFVF0

Is the door wood? You could just attach a short piece of trim/hobby wood (the 1/4” thick stuff) or plywood to the base of the door, positioned so it lands inside the base trim. That’ll hold the base in place so the only way anyone can open it is via releasing the magnets at the top.

 

[WeberKettleGuy]

I’m thinking what I’ll do is use this magnetic locks on the top and the bottom will have a piece z aluminum like linked below. I’ll put the aluminum on the bottom edge and will slip over the frame of my stand so there won’t be any hinges. It’ll be a removable panel instead of doors.

I’ll try and draw a sketch up tomorrow and add it to my build thread.

Aluminum Z Bar by Orange Aluminum, Metal Rail Extrusion with Double-Angle Z-Channel Profile, 72-Inch Length https://a.co/d/eZuFVF0

I really like this idea, might have to look more into it when I do some sketches. I'm still trying to figure out how to do my "electronics" section of the sump, may even do this with a plexiglass cover.

 

[ScottD]

Is the door wood? You could just attach a short piece of trim/hobby wood (the 1/4” thick stuff) or plywood to the base of the door, positioned so it lands inside the base trim. That’ll hold the base in place so the only way anyone can open it is via releasing the magnets at the top.

Ya that’s the basic idea of what I’m thinking, just need to do it a little different for my setup.

 

[ScottD]

I really like this idea, might have to look more into it when I do some sketches. I'm still trying to figure out how to do my "electronics" section of the sump, may even do this with a plexiglass cover.

I’m at the same stage of my build as well, trying to figure out what I need for an electronics cabinet or area.
Feel free to stop by my build thread to bounce ideas if you want.

Build Thread - Diving back into the deep end with a 135 gallon cube

Hello everyone, We’ll start this off with a little history lesson. I grew up with various freshwater tanks including one right outside my bedroom window in the form of a 400 acre lake stocked with a multitude of different fish and animals. Growing up I visited aquariums over the years and...

www.reef2reef.com