# DIY cherry cabinet, LEDs, etc. for 57g rimless (Many pictures)



## sns26 (Mar 29, 2010)

*Cabinet Pictures*

*Cabinet*: I wanted to try something other than the standard "2x4 frame plus plywood skin" approach. I used 3/4" cherry veneered plywood, solid cherry for the doors, base, and top, and curly maple for the trim. The beam across the top front is two pieces of 3/4" wood with a 1/8" steel bar sandwiched between them. This was utter overkill, but I didn't want the top beam to deflect downwards and interfere with the inset doors. And steel is way cheaper than cherry. The whole thing is a rat's nest of construction techniques--I used Kreg screws, glue, nails etc. depending on the day and my mood.

The cabinet sits on four heavy-duty leveling feet, which in turn will sit on 4"x4"x1/2" pieces of wood to distribute the load. I wanted to use leveling feet so that I could level the stand any time even after filling it. (I hate the look of an uneven water line in a rimless tank, and my floors are ancient and likely to sag and settle over time.) But leveling feet are ugly. So I built a false plinth subassembly that surrounds the base of the tank. The plinth hides the feet and makes the whole thing look a little nicer. It slides up and down over the cabinet with some coaxing.

Although the Oceanic tank has no top rim, it does have a bottom plastic rim. I didn't want to let that show, so I built a top frame subassembly to hide it. The top frame slides down over the tank once the tank is on the stand. I cut a profile into it to minimize the gap between the frame and the tank. I can remove it if necessary in case I get any major spills down the sides of the glass, but it's tight enough that I doubt that will be a big issue.


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## sns26 (Mar 29, 2010)

*LED array*

*LED Array*: The cosmetics aren't finished yet, but this is a 27-LED array based around Cree XP-G, XP-E, and XR-E stars. There are two strings of LEDs, one a mix of cool white and blue and the other a mix of warm and neutral white. Both are driven by dimmable Meanwell drivers. The heatsink is a 10" x 32" HeatsinkUSA purchase that I drilled and tapped for the LEDs. Again, time will tell how this thing performs. I'm still thinking about how to do a wood frame for this whole thing, and about whether I aim to hide the LEDs entirely from view or show them off. Many thanks to RedfishSC who gave me a lot of advice on this.


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## sns26 (Mar 29, 2010)

*Plumbing*

*Plumbing*: This is pretty basic stuff. The main thing was that I wanted to do everything inline and not go over the tank rim. So I'm using an inline Hydor, a PVC reactor, and a Odyssea canister filter to drive the works. 

The inflow uses 1" PVC fittings and 1" flex tubing. The outflow uses 5/8" flex tubing and 3/4" PVC fittings for the most part. Time will tell how this all works out. 

I'm also in the process of plumbing in hot and cold water supply into the tank. There's no easy way to plumb waste, though, so I think I'm going to be stuck with a hose to the toilet or lawn. Water supply is still worth it just for top-off purposes, though.


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## redfishsc (Aug 29, 2010)

Stunning work, I LOVE the combination of cherry and curly maple! And nice work on the LEDs!


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## Gatekeeper (Feb 20, 2007)

Did you drill the tank yourself?


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## JamesHockey (Nov 10, 2010)

Came pre drilled


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk


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## sns26 (Mar 29, 2010)

I didn't drill this myself. This was a "reef ready" tank that had two pre-drilled 1.75" holes; I just removed the big plastic overflow that was installed in front. 

The trouble with drilling myself is that the standard version of this tank has a tempered bottom. (I don't know if the reef ready version is tempered too, but who cares--the holes were already there for me.)

If I had to do this all over, I probably would have bought a custom tank from glasscages or something and had them drill it exactly the way I wanted it. The cost would not have been that much more and I could have ended up with a larger tank. Lesson learned!


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## roybot73 (Dec 15, 2007)

Fantastic build & sweet shop.
Can't wait to see what this becomes.


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## sns26 (Mar 29, 2010)

The shop isn't mine - I pay to be a "member" of a local woodworking shop, which gives me access to a full range of nice tools (big table saws, planers, jointers, festool portable tools, etc.) that I couldn't justify owning myself. Woodworking is just a hobby for me.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

That treatment of the top and bottom of the stand is something I haven't seen before. It looks like a great design. And, a beautiful stand too.

Why not consider a Cherry/Maple enclosure for the LED light, keeping it a hanging light? With that you can keep the glare from the side of the LEDs from being a problem. With your obvious design skills you should be able to make a very good looking light fixture that way.


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## sns26 (Mar 29, 2010)

Hoppy said:


> That treatment of the top and bottom of the stand is something I haven't seen before. It looks like a great design. And, a beautiful stand too.


Thanks. The top and bottom subassemblies required some thinking and some unsuccessful trial runs. The tolerances had to be pretty tight to make both assemblies free to move around the cabinet without being visibly loose. Again, I was pretty obsessed with using and hiding leveling feet and with hiding that ugly tank rim.




Hoppy said:


> Why not consider a Cherry/Maple enclosure for the LED light, keeping it a hanging light? With that you can keep the glare from the side of the LEDs from being a problem.


Well, that's certainly the basic plan. I just would prefer to have the slimmest enclosure possible--my goal is to minimize the fixture, not draw attention to it. That goal is in some tension with the goal of hiding the LED point light sources or the glare they throw off. I'm probably just going to use this setup for a while until inspiration strikes.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

It helps a lot to hide the glare of LEDs if you put them on the inside of aluminum channels, as heat sinks. The sides of the channels do hide much of the glare, but not all of it.


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## TwoStrokeKing (Mar 24, 2011)

NICE! i like how clean under ur tank is!


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## sns26 (Mar 29, 2010)

*Light fixture is coming along...*

I finally got around to doing the light fixture. My wife told me to lay off the curly maple for the light. But I couldn't help myself. She was right--I should have done it all out of cherry. Oh well.

I drilled and tapped the heatsink to allow me to bolt the end pieces directly to it. That's what the holes you see are for. (I'll plug them before I finish the thing.) The rest is just compound miters and glue. Plus I slipped a few Kreg screws in to help hold the thing together while the glue set...


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

That looks very good, with the fins protruding that way - the best of both worlds. I'm going to be starting on a LED light for someone else, which won't be visible, or I would want to try this design.


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## sns26 (Mar 29, 2010)

Here's the finished product for the light fixture. (There's some artifacts in the photo that make the finish look worse than it is for some reason.)

I switched out the blue XP-Es I had been using. Now I'm using 2 dimmable Meanwell drivers to run: 
10 cool white Cree XP-Gs 
8 warm white Cree XP-Gs 
and 9 neutral whte Cree XP-Gs. 

I may put the blues back on at some later date, wired separately with their own driver. 

I have the drivers set to deliver about 1300 mA at max, but with both strings running at that power it's just ridiculously bright. That just has to be way too much light, even with the fixture 9" from the top of the tank. Fortunately it is easy to dim.

The overall color balance looks good to me, and with so much headroom in the overall output, it should be easy to tweak one string or the other to get it exactly the way I like it.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

You could put 60 degree lenses on the LEDs, and raise the light higher. That would give you much more even light intensity top to bottom in the tank. In any case, this is one of the best looking DIY stand and light combinations I have seen here.


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## ua hua (Oct 30, 2009)

Wow!! Very nice woodworking and DIY skills you have. I love seeing when people put as much thought into the cabinet for fishtanks, after all you see the stand the aquarium sits on just as much as you see the tank.:thumbsup:


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## Benn (May 10, 2011)

As said above, that tank is brilliant, your DIY skills are awesome!


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## sns26 (Mar 29, 2010)

Hoppy said:


> You could put 60 degree lenses on the LEDs, and raise the light higher. That would give you much more even light intensity top to bottom in the tank.


I do have 60 degree optics, but haven't decided yet whether to use them. I don't want to raise the light fixture much higher than it is right now. From a design viewpoint (as opposed to a plant happiness viewpoint), 9" above the tank is about right. Most importantly, at this height the wood frame blocks the direct glare from the LEDs unless you bend down and look up. If I were to move it higher, the light would be distracting. And the fixture is already high enough that it doesn't obscure one's view of the entire open top of the tank--that was a major design criterion. 



Hoppy said:


> In any case, this is one of the best looking DIY stand and light combinations I have seen here.


Thanks (and thanks to all others who posted nice words). It's been a lot of work, and I didn't have the skills to do it before I started. This is my first cabinet of any kind. 

I'm now sort of terrified to actually plant this tank and get it going. I am good with a table saw, but still learning how to use fertilizers, CO2 and so on. Fortunately, there's still some DIY bits to procrastinate on--I need to enclose my driver/dimmer/wiring rat's nest, and put some finishing touches on the stand interior.


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## reybie (Jun 7, 2007)

Great job on the stand and LED fixture!


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

sns26 said:


> I do have 60 degree optics, but haven't decided yet whether to use them. I don't want to raise the light fixture much higher than it is right now. From a design viewpoint (as opposed to a plant happiness viewpoint), 9" above the tank is about right. Most importantly, at this height the wood frame blocks the direct glare from the LEDs unless you bend down and look up. If I were to move it higher, the light would be distracting. And the fixture is already high enough that it doesn't obscure one's view of the entire open top of the tank--that was a major design criterion.


You have obviously done a thorough job thinking out the design tradeoffs you faced. With the 60 degree optics, at 30 inches from the LEDs the light cone would be about 30 inches in diameter, but the cone of maximum intensity would be about 15 inches in diameter, just about perfect for that tank. There would be about 6 inches of the cone that would be reflected back into the tank from the front and back glass, helping to equalize the PAR across the substrate. At the point where the cone intersects the waterline, the diameter would be about 9 inches, which shouldn't be distracting to viewers. Without the optics I think quite a bit of light will spillover the front and back of the tank. The best way to decide, as you have realized, is to try it without the optics to see what it does, than add the optics if they seem to be needed.


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## Tbakes (Mar 16, 2011)

As a fellow woodworker and aquarist, I love the functionality and the design elements of your stand. I like your use of the CM - cherry and curley maple go together so well! 

-Tony


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## larams67 (Jan 24, 2006)

Love the maple trim. I'm jealous.


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## Oughtsix (Apr 8, 2011)

Very nicely done!

The only part I question is choking the FX5 down to 5/8" tubing to go through the heater. This seems like a waste of the cleaning power of the FX5.

You might consider building a bypass of 1" pipe/hose around the heater but still keeping the heater in a straight line with the pipe. This way the water will want to continue in a straight path through the heater but the water that is choked by the 5/8" orifice will be routed through 2 X 1" T's and 2 x 1" 90 degree elbows around the heater. Should provide plenty of circulation through the heater while not crippling the flow of the FX5.

Your cherry is very beautiful... and it will get prettier as it ages!


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## sns26 (Mar 29, 2010)

Oughtsix said:


> You might consider building a bypass of 1" pipe/hose around the heater but still keeping the heater in a straight line with the pipe. This way the water will want to continue in a straight path through the heater but the water that is choked by the 5/8" orifice will be routed through 2 X 1" T's and 2 x 1" 90 degree elbows around the heater.


I scratched my head about that one for a while. I hadn't thought of your idea, and will certainly give it a go if I'm not getting the circulation I want. For what it's worth, here are updated pictures of the plumbing and stand interior. 

One picture below shows the whole works, the other shows the plumbing without the filter so you can see what I did to plumb in the water supply. 
I modified a PVC reactor so that I could use it as an "input" for water into the tank from the faucet shown in the picture. The faucet allows easy top-offs and water changes, but I'll still use the old hose-to-toilet/lawn approach to drain. (There wasn't any good way to plumb in a waste line, or I'd have done that in a second...) There's a ball valve on the reactor that I can use to isolate the water input. The gray tee on the inlet side is just a bit of future-proofing. It lets me attach anything I want to that 3/4" threaded port. The most obvious use I can think of now is a dedicated drain hose, but for right now I think I'll just go over the tank rim for my water changes.

I've also included a shot of the bizarro reflections that the array generates--at least when there's nothing in the tank to absorb or diffuse any light.


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## cggorman (May 9, 2009)

Beautiful work!

Curious to hear how you like that Fluval once everything is set up and stable. I had to replace a dead Rena XP3 and considered the Fluval FX5 but ended up going modular instead.


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## Optix (May 31, 2011)

very very nice setup

only problem I see is, how will you tell water level when filling when youre in your cabinet turning knobs?


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## sns26 (Mar 29, 2010)

It's really no trouble. The fill rate isn't that fast, after all. And I don't have to hold the faucets open--I just open them up and then close them off when the water is about right. 

Um, not that I've actually gotten this tank going yet. It's still dry. I gotta summon up the energy for that soon.



Optix said:


> only problem I see is, how will you tell water level when filling when youre in your cabinet turning knobs?


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## sns26 (Mar 29, 2010)

cggorman said:


> Curious to hear how you like that Fluval once everything is set up and stable. I had to replace a dead Rena XP3 and considered the Fluval FX5 but ended up going modular instead.


In keeping with the "why did I have to do everything the hard way" theme, that's actually not a Fluval FX5. It's an Odyssea CFS 5000, with some of the standard DIY modifications - notably, re-sized o-rings, and a plywood ring brace for the top clamps.


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## redfishsc (Aug 29, 2010)

I still LOVE your tank. I finally got mine built and finished, and tomorrow is the day it all gets wrapped up. 

I love the natural color of the wood. Normally I would do the same thing, but I wound up using several different similar wood species in my stand, and the colors were random enough to look odd (birch, maple, and ash). My way of saving $$ lol, so I stained it a dark coffee color. 

How do you like that Odyssea filter? I'd never seen one before.


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## jcgd (Feb 18, 2004)

sns26 said:


> I switched out the blue XP-Es I had been using. Now I'm using 2 dimmable Meanwell drivers to run:
> 10 cool white Cree XP-Gs
> 8 warm white Cree XP-Gs
> and 9 neutral whte Cree XP-Gs.
> ...


From the info I've gathered, it would seem this would be rather yellow. Would you agree? I'm thinking it would be around 5000k.


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## sns26 (Mar 29, 2010)

redfishsc said:


> How do you like that Odyssea filter? I'd never seen one before.


It's a little finicky in ways well detailed on the long thread in the equipment forum. But at $55 or so delivered to my doorstep, it was a total steal. I had to do something to limit my expenditures on this tank. (So far, I've also been saving a lot of money by leaving it empty.)



justincgdick said:


> From the info I've gathered, it would seem this would be rather yellow. Would you agree?


You know, it's just hard for me to say. I tend to like the "warmer" tank colors, and I love the green glow that a room gets from a well planted and well-lit tank. My aim here was to have enough lighting headroom between the two Cree strings that I could turn down one or the other string to make the lighting overall a bit cool or a bit warm without feeling that I needed more light.

Again, I need to plant this tank and get it going


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## 150EH (Dec 6, 2004)

That's a really nice job, I need to learn about the LED's soon, it really seems the way to go. I do a bit of cabinet making as well, so far at home I've been lazy with MDF and Poplar face frames, caulk & paint, but it's nice to see someone put in the work, details details, details.

Are you going to get pulls for the doors and get rid of the blue tape???


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## sns26 (Mar 29, 2010)

150EH said:


> Are you going to get pulls for the doors and get rid of the blue tape???


Aw come on. That's my signature design element. It's been there for four months now. Can't change it.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

sns26 said:


> Aw come on. That's my signature design element. It's been there for four months now. Can't change it.


You can use various colors of fingernail polish to dress up the blue tape:icon_mrgr


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## redfishsc (Aug 29, 2010)

150EH said:


> Are you going to get pulls for the doors and get rid of the blue tape???



He's a great carpenter but he's lacking a little in his refinement. You see, in my custom build, I'm much more sophisticated, and my overall design execution is much more refined and elegant. 

I used clear tape. Packing tape, even, for durability and unparalleled clarity.

And. It's been there for several months!


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## redfishsc (Aug 29, 2010)

By the way, do you have anything in this tank yet?? I want to see the LEDs in action!


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## sns26 (Mar 29, 2010)

redfishsc said:


> By the way, do you have anything in this tank yet?? I want to see the LEDs in action!


Planted it yesterday: see my tank journal for pictures. This aquasoil stuff is weird. Ammonia is off the charts, hardly any hardness, and pH is down to 6.5. Fortunately there is nothing besides plant in there.


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## mountaindew (Dec 10, 2008)

Nice wood work!
I always enjoy looking at good quality work.
mD


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## sns26 (Mar 29, 2010)

I've now had this tank going for a couple of weeks. My most important observation is this: it is nice to be able to adjust your lighting intensity by raising or lowering a hanging fixture. But it is truly awesome to be able to do it by turning a dimmer knob. 

Someone tells you that your glosso wants more light? Just spin the dial. If you are building a DIY led array, I would suggest that you overbuild (w/r/t number of LEDs and heatsink) and then dim down as necessary. Unless you are severely cost constrained, the lighting headroom is very nice to have.


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## madness (Jul 31, 2011)

Amazing looking cabinet and light fixture enclosure.

REALLY nice looking.


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## WingoAgency (Jan 10, 2006)

sns26 said:


> I finally got around to doing the light fixture. My wife told me to lay off the curly maple for the light. But I couldn't help myself. She was right--I should have done it all out of cherry. Oh well.
> 
> I drilled and tapped the heatsink to allow me to bolt the end pieces directly to it. That's what the holes you see are for. (I'll plug them before I finish the thing.) The rest is just compound miters and glue. Plus I slipped a few Kreg screws in to help hold the thing together while the glue set...


That's a lot of heat sink!!!!

How much you have spent on that?


I also agreed that the ability of dimming down is very important both for viewing pleasure and also in case you switch the inhabitants. Multiple colors is also something I preached giving you the ability to adjust to the exact color tone you want and provide a fuller spectrum to the inhabitants that may require slightly different spectrum radiation.


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## sns26 (Mar 29, 2010)

WingoAgency said:


> That's a lot of heat sink!!!! How much you have spent on that?


I spent about $90 on the heatsink. I don't have tons of money, but I'm even shorter on time. I saw a path to a fixture design that I liked, and the fact that it involved a $90 piece mattered far less than the fact that it allowed me to shortcut the build by using the (rigid, tappable, unbreakable) heatsink as the skeleton for the rest of the fixture rather than worrying about building a wood-framed fixture that would be strong enough so I wouldn't worry about having it fall apart and electrocute my fish.

But more importantly, it's worth noting that when I drive both strings at 1300 mA, my big old heatsink gets plenty warm. Well within the design tolerances of the Crees, but noticeably hot to the touch. So yeah, I could have gone with something less beefy, but not much less without adding a (noisy/annoying/ugly) fan.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

So, I know the whole world, along with me, is waiting to find out if the blue tape is still a dominant feature of the design. If not, were you able to find something that looks even better, and what was it?


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## Calmia22 (Aug 20, 2011)

Hoppy said:


> So, I know the whole world, along with me, is waiting to find out if the blue tape is still a dominant feature of the design. If not, were you able to find something that looks even better, and what was it?



But... but the blue tape is what makes the stand.


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## bsmith (Jan 8, 2007)

HOLY CRAP!!! I just looked at the pics you updated in the first post and WOW that is a beautiful stand and canopy my friend. I really wish you lived close to me as I would quickly become your best friend and coerce you into building a stand for my 40b and a future 120-p for me. 

Great work! :thumbsup:


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## audioaficionado (Apr 19, 2011)

Calmia22 said:


> But... but the blue tape is what makes the stand.


Just as long as it isn't what's holding it together :biggrin:


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## BoxxerBoyDrew (Oct 16, 2005)

BEAUTIFUL BUILD!!! 

I am SOOOO GLAD up decided to put the Curly Maple on the Hood too! It ties the stand and hood together! I think you would have kicked yourself if you didn't put it on there after finishing it! The heat sync is a awesome Idea too! I need to read up on the Led lighting, but I am just now updating to T5 lighting! LOL 

The wood shop is a AWESOME THING to have at your disposal! I SOOO WISH I could use the Wood Shop at the High School where I grew up! It had VERY GOOD Equipment, and TONS of work benches to assemble everything on! I use my Garage floor most of the time, and it is no where near level! So it makes my assembling a challenge! For small stuff I use my Table Saw, but aquarium stands are a bit big! I have our old Kitchen Table in the Garage, but it is COVERED in Bullet Casting supplies, and my 17 yo Sans JUNK! I will have to look around to see if we have something like You have access to here in the Waco area! 

Anyway GREAT BUILD, and GOOD LUCK with the tank!
Drew


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## sns26 (Mar 29, 2010)

Hoppy said:


> So, I know the whole world, along with me, is waiting to find out if the blue tape is still a dominant feature of the design. If not, were you able to find something that looks even better, and what was it?


The problem that I've found with blue tape is that it's not particularly durable. After some time, the adhesive loses its...er...stickum...and also sometimes the tape tears if you pull too hard. I feel that anyone who wishes to travel my road should know that before they begin.

With that said, I can now say that blue tape satisfies the core DIY requirements: cheeep, eeeasy, and eeeefective. I just bought a second roll of it for less than the price of even one metal knob. My wife wishes to add (insert dripping sarcasm) that any of you who are trying to sell this approach to your spouses should remember that there are different colors available.


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## Calmia22 (Aug 20, 2011)

audioaficionado said:


> Just as long as it isn't what's holding it together :biggrin:


He would need duct tape then..


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## sns26 (Mar 29, 2010)

*I gave up...*

I finally broke down and put some knobs on. I suppose I can always tape over the holes if I don't like them. But my wife bought them for me for my birthday so I'd probably get some flak for that.


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## sns26 (Mar 29, 2010)

Cripes, are my doors really that askew?! I swear it's an optical illusion. And now the knobs look crooked. @#[email protected] Where's that tape.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

I really like those knobs! I always wanted to use something like that, but never did find a good place to do so. It does look like the doors are up to 1/16" inch off in height adjustment. But, if you correct that, the knobs will be that far off. But, if you try to re-drill the hole for a knob, it will probably be off in the other direction. But, if you then adjust the other knob, it may be off horizontally. Isn't cabinet making fun?


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## sns26 (Mar 29, 2010)

Hoppy said:


> I really like those knobs! I always wanted to use something like that, but never did find a good place to do so. It does look like the doors are up to 1/16" inch off in height adjustment. But, if you correct that, the knobs will be that far off. But, if you try to re-drill the hole for a knob, it will probably be off in the other direction. But, if you then adjust the other knob, it may be off horizontally. Isn't cabinet making fun?


I put the knobs in the same spot on each door, so presumably straightening out any door errors will line the knobs up too. But (a) I think this is an optical illusion, (b) I'm not going to check if I'm right, and (c) if you think I'd try to fix it and thereby make it worse you're....well, probably right.


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## Hoppy (Dec 24, 2005)

Unfortunately, my comment was based on when I built a complete set of cabinets for a big kitchen remodel. I finally "corrected" my mistakes by drilling out the knob mounting holes oversize, as much as double the screw size on some! I learned what "frustrated" means with that project.


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