Another Steel Stand!

[JPG@CFI]

Guy's and Gal's,

We have been swamped this month, but had time to squeeze a few steel builds into the schedule. Come check out this sweet bad boy. This one is for my good friend Carol. It is a 60x30x30 stand built with 3/16ths thick 1.25" x 1.25" square tube. I do use .030 wire, as I checked my Mig machine.

Enjoy, Jason

 

[sandswhitson]

Jason,

Just a thought but with the bigger stands you may want to add some gussets to prevent any side loading of the stand. I know it may be a little overkill but I would definently add some corner gussets.

 

[Nana Chloropsis]

Hey! That's my stand! WOOHOOOOOO!arty: NICE Jason, thanks!

This is just the beginning, wait 'till you see the tank he is making for me. This bad boy will be 60 long, 24 deep and 30 front to back. More details as we progress.... meanwhile, I am collecting frags and frags. Small hint..... tank will be called "The Chalice Palace"

 

[JPG@CFI]

Sandswhitson,

That is an interesting idea. What size would you start adding gussets?

Back when steel was cheap, I used alot of 2" x 2" x .250 thich square tubing, and I built my 2 main glue up table, and I will tell ya, they are STOUT. If you ever make it over to my side, stop by.

I still have some 3"x3"x .375 square tube left over from my welding table build. One could blow a tube lifting an 8' piece of that stuff. It holds some tonage!

 

[sandswhitson]

I don't know if there is a certain size that I would start adding gussets but it sure would make me feel better if I knew there could be no movement side to side putting stress on the welds and with the tubing you are only getting short welds to hold the whole stand together. Stand looks great by the way.

 

[JPG@CFI]

All the shorter connecting pieces are heavily beveled to ensure deep penetration. I worked in a welding shop that built certified roll cages for 1/4 mile race cars. Everything that CFI puts it's name on is top notch, and built for extreme enviroments. Thanks for the thumbs up, Jason

 

[spectra]

Gussets are not really needed on a stand that small. I have built a few stands over the years and have not had an issues one. I do like to use 2x2 most of the time though. Biggest tank so far has been about 275 gallons. I have also seen a few scary stands.

Stand looks great keep up the work. What typoe of finish are you going to put on it?

 

[Herefishyfishy]

All you really need is pairs of gusset plates welded on 4 corners (bottom or top) to really be 100% safe against shear. I would prefer the top. They don't even have to be very large to really beef up the tensile strength and hold up against hmmmmm, an earthquake? Nice to have a major factor of safety when failure would be catastrophic. I was very glad my stand was ready during the last one years back.

Though it would use more costly material, some diagonal posts would accomplish the same.

 

[sandswhitson]

Exactly what I was thinking. There is always a chance of an earthquake or other outside force acting on our stands. Without corner bracing you are relying on just a couple inches of material supporting something that weighs a couple thousand pounds. When you gusset the corners together the strength against shearing goes up tremendously.

 

[Nana Chloropsis]

Boy, I am glad that Jason and the engineers here are on top of this! As I told Jason when we met and discussed everything, I wanted a super-sturdy stand, which is why I went the steel route vs. a husband-homemade stand. I mentioned earthquake "proof" and we talked about attaching the stand to the wall behind it as an extra measure. Thoughts?

I would like to pick up the stand early next week, how long would it take to add corner gussets on the top corners, Jason? Sorry, I know you are busy busy!

 

[Herefishyfishy]

Never attach a tank stand to the floor or wall with fixed fasteners except with perhaps with long cables or springs.
Seismic protection needs to allow slip also known as isolation. In an earthquake, the ground is going to move and shift side to side. Most buildings including homes, are fixed to the ground through the foundation. The tank has an enormous amount of weight and thus inertia. The floor should be able to shift under the stable tank stand. During the last Olympia quake, Marty Finn came home expecting his tank to be destroyed. It had lost a lot of water but was intact. It ended up having slid off it's original location. He determined if it was attached to the wall, even with straps, it would have ripped itself to bits. I have seen the same elsewhere.

A sliding tank does a lot better than one thrusting back and forth.

The Seismic Design Handbook - Google Books

 

[returnofsid]

Very nice build quality!!

Definitely do NOT attach it to the wall, for the exact reasons Mike mentioned!! Gussets would be inexpensive, and ad a ton of shear (sideways) strength. As mentioned, it would only take a small gusset, in each of the 4 corners. Diagonal bracing adds a remarkable amount of strength, and adds the strength in a direction that no vertical or horizontal member can add.

As an analogy:

With Floor Joists, in a home, a 2X12 floor joist is strong, vertically, as long as there's nothing to cause any sideways stress, such as an earthquake, ground settling or even a wind storm, creating "shear." Adding a diagonal brace, even a 1X4, between each joist, adds tremendous strength, against any possible "shear" movement.