Particle Board Stand Worries

[eisfish]

I'm going to be building a new canopy for my 46g Bow so I've been doing a lot of DIY research.

In doing so, I've seen lots of talk about the evil of particle board.

I was planning on using my existing Oceanic stand on the basis of the following:

It looks good
A bowfront stand uniformly seems to be a PITA to build
It's lasted this long, and seems to be in good shape
My wife already thinks I'm crazy

It will be supporting more weight than its previous FW role, specifically: a 36" Maristar lighting unit, the new canopy, 50 lbs of rock.

I know I could build a stand that would support a Mack truck, but if my existing one will support my new setup, that's all I care about.

Thoughts?

[DrBDC]

I would go with a plywood myself. You can wet the plywood and bend it for the bow. It may require a thinner plywood for the skin though. The support structure underneath you just have to draw it and cut it. The underneath support really only requires work on 2 pieces in the stand and 2 in the canopy. Now curved doors I guess would be the same process just on a smaller scale.

On your existing stand, just go with it if you want. Rock really doesn't weigh that terribly much more. At about 8 lbs per gallon of water, you could figure out the increase by placing the rocks in and measuring the displacement. Then do some math at exactly how much more it is. Even the non particle wood stands that are from the factory are really flimsey and lightweight. It's more of the direction of force applied through the board on it's side vs. true strength of the board.

[BeanAnimal]

by cutting parallel saw kerfs on the back side of you plywood or MDF, you can get it to bend in a uniform manner. Build yourself a little jig for the shape.... cover it with wax paper or something that the wood glue will not stick to. Fill the kerfs with glue and bend the piece to the form and clamp it. When it dries it will be in the bowfront shape and not be full of stress.

You can use ply or MDF as long as you treat it properly when finishing it.

Bean

[eisfish]

Thanks for the bow building tips, but my question is really "Will I be okay with my existing stand?"

That's one yes from DrBDC.

[Sk8r]

If you thoroughly coat it with about 4 deep coats of polyethylene marine, I might trust it, but I don't like it.

[eisfish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8524549#post8524549 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sk8r
If you thoroughly coat it with about 4 deep coats of polyethylene marine, I might trust it, but I don't like it.

I'm not talking about building a new stand, I'm talking about my existing stand.

Let me simplify the question: Are the stands (Oceanic to be specific) you get at retail crap?

[BeanAnimal]

The existing stand will be fine as long as you are happy with the way it looks and can build a hood to match.