It's jojo's diy acrylic cube tank

[its.jojo]

Hey ya'll, I'm Joseph. I've had a diy acrylic system up and running for the past 18 months or so. Currently its a 24X36X16 rimless. I do love it but its bowing out on the edges so I've I've decided to upgrade my system and use a eurobrace this time around.

The plan is to build an acrylic cube with dimensions around 36"X36"X24 tall.

First I'll weld the stand up then size the tank to fit just right. Pictures attached show material and beginnings of the stand construction.

 

[sstanley223]

Hey ya'll, I'm Joseph. I've had a diy acrylic system up and running for the past 18 months or so. Currently its a 24X36X16 rimless. I do love it but its bowing out on the edges so I've I've decided to upgrade my system and use a eurobrace this time around.

The plan is to build an acrylic cube with dimensions around 36"X36"X24 tall.

First I'll weld the stand up then size the tank to fit just right. Pictures attached show material and beginnings of the stand construction.

Sweet! I'm into the steel too! Watching!

 

[BornHandy]

Following.

 

[Jacked Reefer]

DIY? count me in! the possible anime reference is a bonus too...

 

[its.jojo]

For those that like to read ahead I recently set up an Instagram account:

@its_jojo77

 

[its.jojo]

DIY? count me in! the possible anime reference is a bonus too...

I’m not too familiar with much anime. Which reference did I accidentally hit upon?! Lol

 

[its.jojo]

With the side assemblies created and welds ground, its time to attach the beams that connect the two assemblies.

I only have one picture available at the moment. Plus I'll add that not everything went according to plan at this stage. I'll dig up some more photos later and explain the mishap.

 

[Jacked Reefer]

I’m not too familiar with much anime. Which reference did I accidentally hit upon?! Lol

Ah darn. Just the main character of an anime I watch is named Jonathan and goes by the nickname jojo. Thought maybe there was correlation.

 

[its.jojo]

Ah darn. Just the main character of an anime I watch is named Jonathan and goes by the nickname jojo. Thought maybe there was correlation.

Oh gotcha, yeah there’s a handful of people that call me jojo. I haven’t seen the Jonathan one.

 

[its.jojo]

Here’s a couple snaps of my current setup:

First pic is on the other side of my desk:

Second pic is my daily view:

 

[its.jojo]

Different angle and different time of day of the current setup. Working hard on the new setup though.

 

[its.jojo]

Here's more pictures of progress. Working my way around attaching the rest of the cross beams to one of the side assemblies.

I was doing my best to square everything up using the aluminum framing square.

Tack everything into place.

Moved the unit to the floor to begin to attach the other side assembly.

 

[its.jojo]

I never put in the detail of the stand material thickness: it's 3/16".

I plan on not placing any vertical bracing in the stand besides the 4 legs. I think the 3/16" steel should be strong enough across the span of 37" on all four sides.

Here's some pictures of my best welder. It also happens to be my only welder.

The trouble, with this welder is it's a little under powered for 3/16" thick steel. So I attempted to pre-heat my welds with the torch for better penetration. I believe the resulting welds are gonna work

 

[its.jojo]

Back to the the welding of the second side assembly.

Getting all the way to the last beam and I noticed it's not aligned.

So the thought was to grind down some of the welds on the top assembly (not shown in picture) and use the pipe clamp to force it back into alignment. Then tack it in place and fix it.

 

[its.jojo]

With those welds fixed I welded in a center brace on the top and bottom. But can’t find progress pics of that work.

So here’s pictures of the next steps (paint).


I decided to paint and not powder coat. Hopefully that decision won’t come back to bite me in the future. Rustoleum clean metal primer for first coat and gloss white for two final coats.

I do printing for a living so most of the work now is being done at my shop. There’s lots of space and supplies too. Here’s a pic of the metal roller cleaner (MRC) that I used to wipe off the steel before applying the paint.

Primer on all sides except the bottom. So now it’s flipped to finish it.

 

[its.jojo]

First pic is dry primer. The rest are after a fresh coat of the gloss.

 

[its.jojo]

I purchased a 4x8 sheet of birch plywood and cut it into a couple pieces that fit the top of the stand. I painted them the same paint as the rest of the stand. After painting a couple coats, I stuck the two pieces together with double stick tape (no pictures of that part of the work)

 

[its.jojo]

I purchased one more piece of 4’x8’ plywood. This time it’s to build the doors.

I hope to mount the doors flush with magnet push latches so they are completely and easily removable.

But first they need to be cut and painted.

I marked the lines with a t-square.

Cutting in the morning before work.

And before coffee.

Gearing up for paint.

Gloss white like the rest of the stand.
You might also notice that I cut the corners at an angle to make room for the welds on the stand.

 

[its.jojo]

Now for the bottom plate that holds the sump. Scrap piece of treated plywood. And scrap piece of pvc rigid foam (so I don’t have to paint anymore. Lol)

 

[its.jojo]

Up next I need to skin the sides of the plywood top. I cut strips of 1.5” poplar from Home Depot.

(yes that’s a sneak peek of the tank itself)