Projects: Mission Style Aquarium Stand, for 60 Gallon Fish Tank
This project took about 9 months complete. It's a completely original design to resemble the arts and crafts style of furniture making. I started with some research into the mission look, progressed to mechanical stabilities of lumber materials, and proceeded to do a few hand sketches and calculations. A few design challenges were to keep the product looking mission like and at the same time support at least 1200 pounds of dead weight, without using steal or other non wood materials. Other challenges would be using off the shelf lumber supplies, and building it with a very limited set of wood working tools and facilities (my garage, also home to the two cars). All while working on one or two other projects and working full time. My friends saw the original drawings I started with before construction, and I got comments like "You gota be kidding me, you'll never be able to build that!" or "Oh.. those poor fish", I said, why? "Because they will be flopping all over the floor after the entire thing collapses... I hope you know what you're doing."
In order to hold the massive weight of such an object I opted to use all mortise and tenon joints (see pictures below). These joints of course mandatory for true mission style furniture. Originally, I wanted to use real oak, but found out it was really hard to procure in the dimensions I wanted, and it costs so much! Maybe the next one will be oak! I also learned douglas fir (used in home frames) wood was very strong, and a lot of structural data was available for it. My first revision called for 8 2x6 rails for the main frame made of douglas fir. Because of the mortise and tenons, and other issues, my frame needed to hold 1/16 inch tolerances, or it would never fit together when done. I never did find quality 2x6s in doug fir, and even tried to compromise and bought some questionable lumber anyway. It didn't work out. Soon after I made the cuts, the wood warped enough that it was out of specification and useless. I then had a problem, where to get good 2x6 lumber? Well time was running short, and I decided to use 1x6 clear white pine, and glued it back to back to get 2x6s. It was a real compromise, but it did work. Next time I will insist on finding real 2x6s. I did use heavy duty 4x4 douglas fir posts for the legs; however if I ever did this project again I would use 4x4 milled project lumber (oak is best), since I found doug fir also seeps sticky sap (pitch) and also can warp and check a bit. The bottom or stand surface was 3/4 inch plywood, with oak veneer.
Before starting, I sketched it on paper, got approval from the boss (wife), then designed the entire project on the computer using Autocad. I did the engineering and analysis to know that the frame would safely support the mass I was applying to it. I also ran the plans by a few mechanical engineers just to get a second opinion on stability. The drawing was completed, and the homework done, so time to build.
The hardest part by far was cutting the deep mortises (slots) into the 4x4 posts without the aid of routers, jigs, mortising tools, or other modern convinces! All I could do is drill 1 inch holes to remove most of the material then carve the rest out by hand using a chisel. The tenons (tabs) weren't that easy either, as they were also done by hand. I started with prototyping a few joints, got good with the chisels, then went on to build out 16 mortise holes, (8 of them hunched) and 16 tenons. All holding very tight tolerances for wood, since any irregularities would result in a warped frame or worse!
I ripped up a large flat piece of clear white pine for the end slats. They were then drilled and fitted with dowels. The challenge being was assembling the slats and the joints. I had to think about it for a while, but I made it work.
After everything was cut and carved, after 9 months it was time to assemble! Since the frame was heavy, it took a good deal of physical strength to put it together and then take it back apart and make minor adjustments. In the end, I glued all the joints, and attempted to assemble before the glue set. Not EASY! It did turn out ok, as I used all my body weight to force the joints together. It fit well enough that I didn't need to clamp it.
Next was to build the bottom stand surface to hold the tank. On the inside of the rails, I placed 3/4 inch plywood cut to about 1/3 the width of the long rails as cleats to hold the bottom in. It had to be perfectly level, so I was very careful on this step. Elongated holes were used with screws to true and level the bottom. The cleats were held in with lots of 3 inch long deck screws. I then made a cross member down the center to reinforce the thing, as well as additional cleats in the middle. In some areas the long rails were 4 inches thick. I cut out a bottom out of 3/4 oak veneered ply wood and just dropped it in, no need for securing it, the tank does that very well. These details are not in the drawings.
I re-sanded everything and applied a neutral stain. I then decided on tung oil as a finish. It's non toxic (good for fish, pets, and kids) and very water proof. It's also easy to apply and gives a natural look. It's only problem seems to be it's very soft. My cats quickly etched their claws into it later on.
It was now done, and time to fill up the tank. It worked perfectly, and has been standing very solidly for over one year now. It seems to me it's even more stable then the store bought stands, and looks much nicer too. The stand is very elegant, and though it took a long time for me to build, it was worth it.
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If you would like to build this stand yourself download the scaled 1:10 drawings of this Mission Fish Tank Stand here: Autocad file fishtank.dwg or fishtankmission.pdf (adobe acrobat).
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Feel free to use these plans for your own stand. I take no responsibility or liability for the content of this web site and drawings, use at your own risk. All information is presented here is honest, true, in good faith, and to the best of my abilities. These plans are NOT to be sold anywhere, and in the public domain. Mass production of this stand is prohibited (unless you go though me :) If you post this information to your own web site, please give me credit.
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Last updated: October 30, 2006
