70g Canopy Build Thread

[rededge2k1]

Earlier this month I built a canopy for ARC member vista (Thanh) for his Oceanic Ultimate 70g aquarium, and thought I would share with you guys.

Thanh wanted the canopy to include two 4" Icecap variable fans in the sides, an open back for airflow, cabinet doors to match his existing Oceanic stand, and enough height & room inside to house a LumenMax metal halide reflector. In talking back & forth with Thanh through PMs and emails, I came up with the following design for his new canopy.

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Construction began by laying out & cutting the front, back, and side panels from a sheet of 3/4" red oak plywood. The front corners were mitered to 45° to hide the edges of the plywood panels. Here you can see everything lined up for a dry fit and sitting in a "squaring jig" I made, which is nothing more than scrap pieces of wood laid out properly and pin nailed to a sheet of MDF to hold the panels in place. The more "extra hands," the better!

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After making sure everything fit properly, I made a large cutout in the back panel. This will allow air to move freely in/out as it is circulated through by the Icecap cooling fans. After laying out the cutout with a pencil & straightedge, the next step was to drill some holes in the corners so I could drop in a jig saw blade, then use the jig saw to make the rough cutout.

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Afterwards, I cleaned everything up with a handheld router and a straight cutting bit. This left a nice smooth, straight edge and rounded corners.

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I then used a Kreg jig to make pocket holes along both sides of the back panel. These screws, along with some wood glue and a rabbet joint to the canopy's side panels, will make a very, very strong joint.

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[rededge2k1]

The next step was to cut holes in the side panels to accommodate the 4" Icecap cooling fans. These fans require 4-5/8" holes. Since I don't have a hole saw this big to fit my drill, and didn't want to spend $40 to buy one, I used my handheld router and a homemade MDF circle-cutting template instead.

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To make this template, I simply measured the distance between the outer edge of my router's guide plate to the cutting edge of the straight cutting bit. Knowing this distance, I could then do a little simple math to layout and a cut a circular template that would guide my router to make a perfect 4-5/8" hole. It took a little extra time and some thinking, but in the end it worked perfectly and saved me $40.

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Here you can see the wire guard that came with the Icecap fans installed for a test fit.

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Next up was to make cutouts in the front panel for the cabinet door openings. Similar to the back panel cutout, this involved laying out the cut lines, making a rough cut with the jigsaw, and final cleanup cuts with the handheld router.

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[rededge2k1]

Now that the front, back, and side panels are all sized and all necessary cutouts made, its time to start some assembly. I lined up the panels in the squaring jig with some glue in the joints and pocket hole screws (where applicable) and tightened everything down with clamps. Then, to reinforce the mitered corner joints at the front corners of the canopy, I installed a length of 2x2 red oak in the inside corner with 1-5/8" wood screws & glue.

I cut the 2x2 stock to length and then predrilled for the screws:

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Next I used a 3/8" Forstner bit to widen the top 1/4" of the screw hole. This allow the head of the screw to be sunk below the surface of the wood, and little 3/8" oak caps to be glued in place to cover the holes.

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Before installing these supports, I rounded over the exposed corner on the router table for a slight decorative touch.

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[rededge2k1]

To complete the canopy frame, I installed the top panel. The top panel was cut to be about 1/8" oversized all around.

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After the top was glued & brad nailed in place, I used a handheld router and flush trim bit to remove the excess 1/8" of plywood all around. This resulted in a top that was flush and perfectly matched the dimensions of the front/back/side panels.

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Now that the canopy framework was complete, it was time to add the trim. Thanh wanted very simple trim work, so this was a breeze. 1x3 red oak stock, edges rounded over on the router table, 45° mitered corners, attached with glue and 1" pin nails. Pin nails leave a VERY small hole, since the nails are literally a pin and have no head. This is ideal for stain grade millwork, since you don't want to have to use any wood putty underneath your finish.

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[rededge2k1]

The next, and by far most intricate part of this build, was making the cabinet doors. Thanh needed the canopy doors to match the doors on his existing Oceanic stand. Problem is, the stile/rail edge profile of the Oceanic doors does not match any commonly available router bits (at least none that I could find, and I searched everywhere</em>. Eventually I had to match the profile by utilizing a handful of different router bits and configurations on the router table. If you look closely in the next three photos, you can see the edge profile come to life after each pass through the router table.

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The final cabinet door edge profile.

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Here you can see the profile I made, alongside the original, for comparison.

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Here are the door stiles & rails laid out around the door panels. The two panels will be routed to a raised panel door profile next.

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Making raised panel doors requires a serious router bit. I picked up this monster at Rockler Woodworking for $100; its expensive, big and heavy -- but it cuts like a champ. You'll need at least a 3hp router to spin a bit this size, and don't even think about doing this without a router table!

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It's easier to make several light passes through the router, rather than one deep cut, to reduce the chance of splintering & tearout. It's also much safer and easier on the nerves.

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The raised panel process makes a LOT of sawdust! I ended up with a garbage bag of red oak shavings, and this was only for two small panels. I think my shop needs a dust collection system next

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Here you can see the completed raised panels, after making several light passes, slowly working all the way to full depth of cut of the raised panel bit.

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[rededge2k1]

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Next I cut a 1/4" groove in the door stiles & rails to accommodate the raised panel tongues:

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The backside of the doors, showing the backcut made by the raised panel bit:

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It's not shown here, but a 1/8" gap was left between the stiles/rails and the raised panel to allow for expansion/contraction. "Space balls" were used to hold the panel in place while maintaining the proper gap all around the panel.

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Another comparison shot, showing the raised panel door style made to match the existing Oceanic cabinet doors:

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The ends of the door stiles & rails were mitered to 45°. I personally don't like building cabinet doors using this method, but it's the Oceanic style and so I had to match it.

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The miter joints were reinforced with glue & biscuits, nothing else.

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The completed door, prior to sanding.

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Concealed euro hinges installed. These were sunk into 35mm holes, which were drilled using a drill press and 35mm Forstner bit.

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[rededge2k1]

The cabinet doors installed and ready for line-up:

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The stain work begins...I applied three coats of a custom stain color blend, followed by two coats of semi-gloss polyurethane (all oil based). And of course, lots of sanding in between. This picture was taken after the first coat, so the saturation and "evenness" was still in the works

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Installing the Icecap cooling fans:

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I added little felt bumper pads to the door corners, for a nice soft closing action.

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I'm annoyed at my photography skills, or lack thereof. Even with a Nikon D60 camera and a few photography classes I'm still terrible -- these pictures don't even come close to doing the canopy justice.

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All packed up and ready for delivery to Thanh's home!

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[rededge2k1]

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[ichthyoid]

Man you do beautiful work, but then you know that. Really nice.

 

[rededge2k1]

ichthyoid;502209 wrote: Man you do beautiful work, but then you know that. Really nice.

Thanks for the kind words! I'm definitely still learning, it's amazing how quickly one can pick this stuff up if he/she just takes a stab at it. I learned everything I know about woodworking thus far by screwing stuff up, learning from my mistakes, and doing it again.

Dustin

 

[brianjfinn]

Dustin, I'm always so impressed and intrigued by your work. Very nice!

 

[elfloyd]

Nice Dustin... very nice!

 

[tony_caliente]

If you are still learning....I would hate to see the stuff built by those that think they know what they are doing. You are on incredibly talented artisan!

Could you have built the same cabinetry (and demensions) without the center brace? If so, how would it be engineered differently?

 

[rededge2k1]

Tony_Caliente;502251 wrote: Could you have built the same cabinetry (and dimensions) without the center brace? If so, how would it be engineered differently?

Certainly, it wouldn't affect the overall design at all. It doesn't serve any structural purpose, it's just there to divide the doors and keep light from spilling out between them.

To remove the center brace, just make a large cutout in the front panel, much the same as the back panel cutout. Then, attach a 2" or so wide strip of wood to the back inside edge of one of the cabinet doors. This strip would block the light when the doors are closed, but when the doors are opened, it would swing out since it's attached to the door.

I did this on the 50g Breeder Stand & Canopy build, see the link below for pictures, post #9:
http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showpost.php?p=473423&postcount=9">http://www.atlantareefclub.org/forums/showpost.php?p=473423&postcount=9</a>


Dustin

 

[tony_caliente]

If I did, I would pay you to build it for me. i can't stand (no pun intended) navigting around that thing. And I would love to expand my sump, but don't what to do it by joining to smaller sumps. Thanks for the reply.

 

[thanhreef]

Thank you very much, Dustin. You did a great work... awesome job :thumbs:. I just installed new lighting and put new canopy on tank yesterday. The color of new capnoy and the stand is 99% match. I really love. I am going to post some photos later on today.

Dusin is easy to work with. If someone needs the custom built, I highly recommended :thumbs:.

 

[slayer]

takes a lot to impress me.. but dude nice work..very cool.

 

[ichthyoid]

RedEDGE2k1;502217 wrote: Thanks for the kind words! I'm definitely still learning, it's amazing how quickly one can pick this stuff up if he/she just takes a stab at it. I learned everything I know about woodworking thus far by screwing stuff up, learning from my mistakes, and doing it again.

Dustin

Wise man!

FWIW-I have often said that I learn far more from my mistakes than my successes... If true, I should be a genius!

 

[skriz]

Nice build, Dustin.

Your build threads and "shop" are getting progressively better with each build!

Well done.

 

[kday25]

Excellent! Very nice.

The New Yankee Workshop must be your favorite show. Norm would be proud.