Better than Garf

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The resultant drawings are way too overbuilt. There is no need to have 4x4's holding up the tank. The sheathing specified (3/4") is more than enough to hold up the tank.

I also think that the GARF stand is overbuilt. But I guess people want that extra piece of mind. I ran the calculations, and 3/4" ply is plenty to hold up a 55 gallon with a very good safety factor.

Jim
 
Overbuilt?!?!? Well I suppose with the 3/4" siding then yes, but it recommended that my new nearly 50 Gallon cube be built with 2X2s. 2X2s at 44" TALL! no way. For a stand that tall and heavy? not enough reassurance for me.

R-
 
I'd put my PE stamp on it.

I'll put it this way, building a stand for 800# out of 2x4's is comparable to building you house out of 12" wide flange I-beams.

Can it be done?....yes
Do you need to?....no

The pages that give you plans just do one thing, overbuild. I guarantee that the people that wrote those pages really just slapped the stand together. Nothing more....no calculations.
 
Odds are they're not mechanical engineers and don't have the information to figure the average compression load of white pine or any of the other nifty engineering werds that I promptly forgot the minute I decided to change majors! :D

Most plans overbuild because it's easy and 2x4's are cheap. :D
 
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