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I have had building an equipment cabinet on my to-do list for over five years. The equipement is currently attached to a piece of scrap plywood I had laying around. It has added some organization to the equipement, but I want it to dissapear behind cabinet doors. Here is what my tank looks like now with the equipment off to the left.
So after five years, I'm just getting around to building it now. In the process I discovered a couple things (other than I'm a heck of a procrastinator), one being how my simple brain works....or doesn't work. What held me up for years was mulling over the design as I thought about this in the classical way of building a cabinet....build a box and cover it with a faceframe. And that's were I struggled...I couldn't design what I wanted in the box. That is, until I recently thought about first building the faceframe and then the box. This one change in approach almost immediately clarified by design.
To start the faceframe, I went to HD and purchased what I thought was 1x3 stock. This actually should measure 3/4 by 2 1/2 inches. The 2 1/2 was right on, but the thickness was slightly less. That's when I discovered the wood came from Chile. I scratched my head and wondered why we are importing pine....don't we make anything anymore? Pine is a wood that readily grows here and is now farmed as well, as a renewable resourse.
The reason I bring up the thickness is that I planned on a wider base rail using a regular pine board (3/4 inch thick), and a wide plywood mid rail as well. So for the base rail, I had to run that through the planner to thin it down to the same thickness. For the plywood, I was able to find a piece of oak furniture grade I had that also was the right thickness. The reason for the plywood mid rail is the width. If done in pine, the wide width would be problematic as the wood expanded and contracted with changes in moisture. Plywood is much more stable. All faceframe pieces were drilled with pocket holes (Kreg.)
Here is the frame laid out....no screws or glue yet (NOTE, picture purposely posted sideways.)
The retangular cut-outs in the plywood mid rail are for two ReefKeeper 2 head units:
So I'm finally on my way!
The next step is to modify the right stile to fit the stand and wrap around the canopy. That's what happens when stand, canopy and side cabinet aren't designed together.
So after five years, I'm just getting around to building it now. In the process I discovered a couple things (other than I'm a heck of a procrastinator), one being how my simple brain works....or doesn't work. What held me up for years was mulling over the design as I thought about this in the classical way of building a cabinet....build a box and cover it with a faceframe. And that's were I struggled...I couldn't design what I wanted in the box. That is, until I recently thought about first building the faceframe and then the box. This one change in approach almost immediately clarified by design.
To start the faceframe, I went to HD and purchased what I thought was 1x3 stock. This actually should measure 3/4 by 2 1/2 inches. The 2 1/2 was right on, but the thickness was slightly less. That's when I discovered the wood came from Chile. I scratched my head and wondered why we are importing pine....don't we make anything anymore? Pine is a wood that readily grows here and is now farmed as well, as a renewable resourse.
The reason I bring up the thickness is that I planned on a wider base rail using a regular pine board (3/4 inch thick), and a wide plywood mid rail as well. So for the base rail, I had to run that through the planner to thin it down to the same thickness. For the plywood, I was able to find a piece of oak furniture grade I had that also was the right thickness. The reason for the plywood mid rail is the width. If done in pine, the wide width would be problematic as the wood expanded and contracted with changes in moisture. Plywood is much more stable. All faceframe pieces were drilled with pocket holes (Kreg.)
Here is the frame laid out....no screws or glue yet (NOTE, picture purposely posted sideways.)
The retangular cut-outs in the plywood mid rail are for two ReefKeeper 2 head units:
So I'm finally on my way!
The next step is to modify the right stile to fit the stand and wrap around the canopy. That's what happens when stand, canopy and side cabinet aren't designed together.
