Wood or aluminum?
 

I now need to suspend my light box from 2 inverted "L" brackets. I can get these made out of aluminum, but not quite the look I'm going for.

If I use 2" square hard wood, what are the chances it's going to bend from the weight? Light is about 35 pounds. I can brace the top foot, but the 2 feet behind the tank would be just straight pieces. I'd prefer they didn't bend eventually.

Thoughts?

hangers
 

if you don't want to see any bracing you could router /dado the top and back of the wood and screw in heavy duty angle .it would hold the weight as the angle will push into the wall stopping the arm from bending down

I thought of that, but my routering skills are a bit lacking :) These will be attached to the back of the stand too, not the wall. So top of stand to top of the tank (at least) would need support. Unless the wood would be strong enough? I suspect not tho..

hangers
 

if your hangers are above eye level it wouldn't matter abot the top of the hanger.run the back of the wood through a table saw with some stacked blades for a thicker cut,moving the guide closer to the blades each cut;just about an 1/2 inch past the angle ,and at the same thickness.if your attaching to the stand make sure it starts at the base,and it is screwed in the base and top of the stand

You can get 1" square al or steel tube bent to your specs as well.
If steel, you could have it powder coated for anti corrosion

I have a guy locally that can weld aluminum for me. I'll probably go for 2" square tube for a beefier look. It just won't finish as well as wood with the welds. I have 2x4 mounts built into the stand already, so mounting the arms is taken care of.
I would hang it from the ceiling, but I have set the tank up in a temp location before I move it into position and I don't want to suspend it twice.

Brad, I can't remember, do you have a table saw? or access to one?

I like the idea of metal, doesn't have to be aluminum if your going to paint it, and there are lots of paints out there that you can get any look you want really.

but if you are set on a wood look you could go with 1" AL or steel tube and then dado a 1" channel in your wood to conceal it in the wood. now I would do this for you, but you never come to visit :biggrin:

Steve

Nope, no table saw. It's a limiting factor :)

I did aluminum and then painted it black. It hides the welds nicely but is a bit dramatic. Then again its only seen from the "tank room" side of things....

I found anything with wood gets covered in salt and swells a little from the moisture. Then again, I do have some seriously splashy a$$hats for fish...

Have you thought about acrylic? I saw a couple years ago in cayman islands a light hung with acrylic and when light went through it it was pretty much invisble so it looked like the light was floating. I don't know if you would be able to do it with the way you want to hang your light. Its still a pretty cool idea though.

On a separate note I agree with the guys saying to router it in then add aluminum where you can't see it.

Good Luck !! :)

Have a look at how 2" al would look before you ask for that. For me 2" is a bit bulky, but that's just me.
If you have your welder do the job, he could grind the welds flat so that you would not even see them. Seamless look. Just a bit more $
If he uses the proper grinding grit, you would not even see scratches.

2" is fine, my LFS has it over their tank. I don't want too thin, as it might look out of place. Haven't decided yet. Might try and add a metal core to a wood arm. I have the tools, just questionable skills, and I'd like to keep my remaining fingers in tact :)

If you use a hardwood like oak it should be fine.

Having trouble locating a 2x3 piece of oak. I found some fir today, and it didn't look like it would warp.

I would stick with Oak or other hardwood. Windsor plywood in Langford should have what you need. You could even use Chakte Kok or Bubinga ;-P

Hmm, I love Thai!! Anyway, ya, I'll go look there. Was there yesterday, should have looked then.

going to have a hard time finding that size in any lengths, but if you do be prepared to blow a lot of money

West Wind Hardwood Inc. in Sidney (they do custom mill work also, so if you have your metal supports they might be able to make the wood covers)


reamer hardwoods (keating x roads)

I have bought a lot from Westwind, never bought from Reamer.

Windsor plywood is very expensive and don't have much of a selection, but be warned you are looking at rough cut lumber anywhere so you need to plane it, sand it ect...


when you get into solid chunks of wood the size your talking about you could be talking 5 bucks a inch and higher instead of board foot, so talking with west wind about what you want to do and seeing how much they would charge to do the mill work might be reasonable , worth seeing how much it would cost anyways.

I have a bunch of oak 2x4s here but to be honest I wouldn't use it for what you want as it will warp over time. with the steel inside and the wood as a decorative cover that would be ok.

how heavy is your light fixture?

Steve

Probably 35 pounds total. I'll probably go aluminum, quicker to have it made vs doing all the wood work myself. I have enough other jobs to do :)