# 72 bowfront canopy project



## noobdood (Jul 19, 2008)

Today I started work on a canopy for my 72 bowfront that I picked up used. I'm trying to get it to match the stand as best as I can, which is just a standard oak plank stand.

I plan on painting it black to match the stand. I have to refinish the stand and do some repairs to it since some of the wood joints have come loose on it. Afterwords I'll give both a new coat of black paint.

Here is how it looks so far.


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## brianmccord2001 (Apr 9, 2008)

I am very interested in this thread, I have a 72 gallon bowfront that I want to build a canopy for. Is there anyway you can show your build of the canopy...or explain it?

-Brian


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## noobdood (Jul 19, 2008)

Yeah, I'll get some pics to show what I did. For now I'll try to explain what I did without the pics.

First of all I made it all using 1/2" plywood.

To start I set a strip of plywood on the front of the tank that was wide enough to cover the whole length of the bow and was cut the length of the tank (in my case 48 1/4"). I held it firmly in place and traced the shape of the bow onto the plywood. Then I used a jigsaw to cut along the line I drew. This leaves you with a somewhat jagged edge so I evened out the arc of the wood with a belt sander.

At this point the wood looks something like this.


After testing that the arc on the wood matched the arc of the glass I set the plywood back on the tank. I moved the plywood so it extened 3/4" over the front of the glass and traced the arc of the tank back onto the plywood and cut along the arc again with the jigsaw. This leaves you with a strip of plywood 3/4" deep in the shape of the arc.

Now the wood looks something like this.


This piece is the front piece of the bottom of the frame.

Next I cut some strips of plywood to the length I wanted for the hinged part of the hood (I think I used 6" length) and 3/4" wide. I taped the arc shaped piece of wood to the tank to hold it in the exact shape of the glass and marked the ends so I could cut them in order for them to make a nice joint with the 6" strips I just cut. Then I attached the 6" strips with a brad nailer.

It looked something like this.


This is the bottom frame.

I wanted my hood to have an overall 6" height so I cut a bunch of 5" long strips of plywood about 1.5" wide. I nailed these onto the bottom frame vertically with a brad nailer.

For the top I got another large piece of plywood and cut it to the width of the tank. Again I traced the shape of the bow onto the plywood and cut out the shape with a jigsaw. Just like before I used a belt sander to even out the arc. Then I ripped off about 6 or so inches on a tablesaw so the top would have the same depth as the bottom frame.

Like this.


Nail the arced half to the risers we put on the lower frame and you have the whole frame for the front part of the hood that will be hinged.

To make the planks that cover the frame I measured the width of the planks that my stand is made out of. Mine were 3 1/4" so thats what I decided to use on the front of the hood. I wanted the hood to cover up part of the plastic frame of the tank so for the height of the plank I added 3/4" giving me a total height of 6 3/4". I cut several pieces of plywood 3" x 6 3/4" making sure the grain would be going in an up and down direction when nailed onto the hood. I routed each peice with a 1/4" round bit. I measured off the center of the hood from the straight edge on the back and used a square to transfer the center point to the arced side. Mark the center point of one of the 3 x 6 3/4 planks. I lined up the plank in the center of the front of the hood and nailed it on with a brad nailer making sure it was level. Then just keep adding planks until you get to the ends of the hood. For the ends I needed to make some planks that were 3 1/4" wide instead of 3".

For the sides I made planks that were 6" x 6 3/4", routed the edges and nailed them on.

Now the whole front half of the hood is done.

For the back half of the hood you sorta make a box.

These instructions are kinda confusing. I'll try to get real pics to explain.


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## noobdood (Jul 19, 2008)

Ok I got some pics
I hope these help


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## Guest (Dec 12, 2008)

Nice job!!


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## noobdood (Jul 19, 2008)

kyoshi said:


> Nice job!!


thanks


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## noobdood (Jul 19, 2008)

Well I finished the canopy and fixed/repainted my stand. Here's some pics.

Stand - The stand was set in a puddle of water at some time and the plywood floor of the stand soaked up a lot of water and became moldy so I still have to make a new floor for it.


Canopy closed


Canopy open. There's plenty of room for glass tops to be opened and closed easily. 


When building my canopy, I left the rear portion small in relation to the front part so when opening and closing the lid the canopy would slide forward and back a little bit on the tank's frame. To deal with this I glued and nailed some blocks on the back corners of the canopy and used some small c-clamps to clamp the canopy to the tank. The clamps are painted and they won't be in the water so they won't rust and you can't see them when the hood is closed so they don't bother me at all, but if anyone else is making a hood like this you might want to keep this in mind.


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