DIY JBJ 28 Nano Canopy

[redfishblewfish]

DIY JBJ 28 Nano Cube Canopy

I am new to Manhattan Reefs and recently started building a stand for a JBJ 28. I?m documenting that build HERE, but thought it might be worthwhile to also post the canopy I first built, that was started this past January.


The reason I built the canopy is twofold. The primary reason is that I would like to switch to LEDs, and I find the JBJ hood and any retro kits to be too costly, so I?m considering one of those dimmable Chinese jobs for around $170. The second reason is that I snapped one of the hinge pieces, and in attempting to change it by unscrewing those miniature screws, both of those screws, which were well rusted, snapped off.


The main use of materials will be inexpensive fir strips (ca 2 ?? x 5/8?) for the carcass and ? plywood for the skin.


The first thing I did was to trace the front arch of the tank on a piece of fir strip, screwed this to a second piece, and cut that out on the band saw. I know not everyone has a band saw, so a saber saw or coping saw could be used. I cut the line ?fat? and then used a power rasp to bring it to the line (Hand rasping or a belt sander would work as well):

One of these pieces will be the top front brace and the other the lower front brace of the carcass.


Next were the side and back brace pieces. The lower pieces I ripped at 5/8? wide while the upper pieces were ripped at 1 inch wide. The 5/8 pieces will nicely fit on the frame of the nano, while I wanted a little more meat on the upper pieces?..I tend to over-build.

For the upright supports, I made L-brackets by ripping the fir stripping. With the front uprights, I first determined the angle at the corners so that I could adjust the angle of the saw:

The boards were ripped, glued (waterproof glue), and nailed. The 90o L brackets will be for the two back uprights, while the angled ones go up front. I will throw this one number at you?..I?m looking to make this canopy about 16-17 inches high, so these L-brackets are 16 inches right now.

Going back to the lower front arched brace, I scribed a line approximately 5/8 inches wide. This was done by eye, and not actually measured.

Using the band saw, I cut this line fat and rasped up to the line. Again, the top front frame piece was left whole.


With all the lower frame pieces done, the front, side and back braces were given lap joints and glued up. Here?s the lower frame all finished:

And here?s the top frame clamped to my saw table to assure it is nice and square while the glue dries. (The same was actually done for the bottom frame.)

Assembled the carcass with glue and 3d finishing nails.

 

[Deep Dive Coral]

Looks awesome so far. Keep the pics coming

 

[redfishblewfish]

Skinning the Canopy

I used ? inch exterior plywood salvaged from a job. To bend the front piece over the arced front, I cut grooves the entire height of the plywood about half way through. To simplify this process, I began by making the first cut down the middle, than moved the saw over a half inch.

I then made a pass, flipped the board around and made a second pass?.now three gooves:

I continued this process, moving a half inch and making two cuts, until the entire board was grooved every half inch.

All these grooves every half inch make bending the board over the arc very easy. The back was glued on and the front was glued, clamped and screwed on the two outer uprights. Small scratches and the screw holes were filled with wood filler.

DOOR CONUNDRUM

While this glue and filler dries, I?m now scratching my head over the doors. Whatever the design, I plan on putting doors on both sides of the canopy. My original thought was to have a small fixed panel on the front and back side, with a door in the middle of these two panels, hinged at the back.

PLAN A

This then changed to the door hinged at the top.

PLAN B

And this then changed to only one front panel and the door hinged all the way at the back.

PLAN C

And the latest thought is to have no hinges?.they rust up within a couple months anyway?.and put in two grooved pieces, front and back, and have the door simply slide up and off the canopy.

PLAN D

I kicked these door designs around in my head and eventually came up with a fifth choice?..later.

 

[redfishblewfish]

The First Fitting


Sanded the filler and put the canopy on the tank. The first fitting:

I?m happy with the way it fits. The front brace fits like a glove:

As well as the back brace:

I marked for the two pump wires and the heater wire to relieve the lower back brace. Even though they have wire chases on the sides, I?m going to run the wires out the back.



I was able to attach two fixed side panels, slap on a bunch of wood filler, and do a fair amount of sanding. You can also see the wire cut-outs I did in the back portion of the canopy.

Close up of wire cut-out:

I also cut out the doors and slapped a good bit of wood filler on them as well.

I?ve made a decision on the two doors?..no hinges, magnets or anything metal. They will slide in and out, but not like Plan D above. They will look more like Plan C, but no hinges, and no noticeable sliding components.


So the next step was molding. I wanted something simple, so I went with regular lattice strips (ca 1 1/16? x 1/4?.) I actually cut my own from extra molding stock I had. The molding will be applied on the whole upper and lower edges of the canopy. I began with the two pieces on the front curved section.



Just like with the plywood on the front, I cut kerfs in the molding every half inch, about 2/3?s the way through.

This were glued on the top and bottom edges of the front piece?..with loads of clamps?.here is the last one glued with just two clamps left to remove.

The kerfs were then filled with wood filler.

 

[redfishblewfish]

The Doors


As I mentioned in the above post, I installed the lattice molding. For the lower side, I continued that molding all the way to the back with no plywood side behind.

This open molding portion will fit the lower part of the side door just by sliding behind the molding.


For the top portion of the side door, I began by cutting a second board the same width as the top brace, but a few inches shorter. I placed this on the top side brace and marked were I was going to cut biscuit slots, top and bottom (four inches from either end).

Biscuit slots were cut top and bottom and biscuits glued into the lower brace only.

So now this top brace (cleat) with the biscuit cuts will be put on top of the glued biscuits and the plywood side put in place (with glue on the side of the brace). Clamps are installed to hold the plywood side and this top cleat. After the glue dries, the clamps are removed and the top of the side door looks like this?.cleat, plywood and top molding.

So the open side of the canopy, with molding installed, and biscuits installed, looks like this.

So with the side panel installed?. ?..here is how the new canopy looks (without paint).

I must admit, I really like my choice of the size of the opening?.it will make access very easy.

Now, while I finish up doing the final fittings and painting, I need to fit an LED fixture to put into this thing.



Fitting the Doors


Today I spent some time fitting the doors. I want them to slip very easily in and out now, because I figure the paint will add some thickness to them, albeit very thin. Most of the ?fitting? was rasping down the side of the top brace.


I also did a fair amount of touching up with wood filler and sanding. Hopefully I?ll be able to prime tonight.


The last thing I installed on the canopy were lattice strips where the fixed plywood side meets the plywood on the door. The concern was that a sliver of light would shine through this slit if I didn?t cover it. Before putting on these pieces, I cut a smidge off of half the length using the router table.

This would assure that any paint thickness on these pieces won?t interfere with the door sliding in and out.


These were glued and clamped into place.

 

[redfishblewfish]

PAINTING


The whole canopy was primed with Kilz Complete. I then usually paint the inside and out with a quality exterior latex, but this time I decided to use spray paint??. for two reasons. The canopy is relatively small (not much paint), and those kerfs on the inside of the front panel were a pain to prime with a brush. Gloss white on the inside, flat black on the outside?..both are the $0.97/can at HD.


So the inside was painted first?.no taping or paper covering. This was allowed to dry overnight. The gloss white looked good.


Because some of the pieces were a mix of white and black, I needed to tape and paper this thing. I was expecting to pay less than a buck for a painter?s tape, and was shocked to find blue painter?s tape at $3.20/roll?.and that was for the thinnest, 0.7 inches. Next to this 3M product was the same size and length, but regular colored, light tan tape, called Tartan. This cost $0.70/roll. I purchased a roll of each so I could test out this Tartan. Once home I found it had a similar feeling to the 3M?.a paper tape with low tack. But the test would be if it releases from the surface, without damaging the surface, while at the same time leaving no residue. So I used a little of both when I taped up the canopy, and found that the inexpensive Tartan performed exactly like the more expensive 3M product.

So the plan is to give this thing three or four coats of top coat, let it dry well, and then sand with a 400 grit paper. That will be followed with one more finish coat. Here it is after two coats:

Well I?m a little PO?ed. When I pulled off the tape and newspaper, some of the ink from the newspaper transferred to the paint. This was especially true on the flat door panels.

I?m still playing with the final fitting?..some of the paint it too thick and I?m rasping it off, along with additional wood. I?ll just do paint touch-up when it?s all fitting nicely. But here it is:

And I took the current JBJ hood and put it on top to get an idea of how it will look.

I ordered a full spectrum dimmable 120 W ?Chinese? fixture off ebay. Although unbranded, I think it?s an Evergrow D120 (The same fixture ReefBreeders sells)?..comes with 90 degree optics. While I waited for the fixture to arrive, I temporarily hung an older 120W TauTronics fixture in the canopy.

Since it wasn?t dimmable, and feeling 120W of LED?s was too much for a JBJ 28, I ran white only or blues only?..never both at the same time.


What I noticed over the next couple weeks was that my water evaporation rate went through the roof. With the conventional JBJ hood, I was consuming maybe 1 to 2 cups per day. With the new canopy and temporary lights, I was now up to 2 to 3 quarts per day. I believe this excess amount of evaporation was coming from two things??..The open top of the canopy and the fan action coming from the lights being within the canopy.


To cut down on evaporation, I decided to close up the canopy and move the lights outside the canopy?.the fans and exhaust anyway. A half inch piece of plywood was cut to fit the top. Here is the canopy upside down with the plywood top lying inside.

A hole was cut into this top, slightly smaller than the dimension of the light fixture.

Now this cut was actually done at a 45 degree angle (from the top side), so that the bevel on the light fixture would rest in this hole:

 

[jcs11236]

Looks good

 

[redfishblewfish]

The new fixture arrived and I?ve temporarily hung that over the tank to acclimate the livestock in the tank. It just so happens to be that it is the same size and design of the TauTronics, so here is that fixture resting in the canopy top, so you can get the idea of what I?m talking about. No hanging stuff needed?.the light will simply rest on the top of the canopy, fitting in the beveled cut-out.


View From The Top:

View From the Bottom:

Now to paint this up and install it?.with screws, just in case I want to take it out.

Hopefully here?s the final build part of this canopy?.the new top cover, lights and moonlights. The moon light (EBay ? ca $10), was hardwired and therefore I had to drill a big hole into the top to slide the light in (7/8 inch hole). I made a plug to cover this hole. You can see this plug in photos below.


View From the Inside (actually I have the canopy off the tank and upside down.):

View From the Top:

View Form the Front (with camera lens level to the top):

I?m so happy with the way this build turned out, I?m now thinking of the design of a new stand?..about four or five inches higher than the current stand, and it will have the bellied front, just like the canopy.



This build seems like it is never-ending. A fellow reefer told me I?d have this problem, and he was right?..condensation. It was OK when the lights were on, because I think the slight amount of heat coming off the lights kept it at bay. But after one night, with lights out, this is what I found on the front wood:

And the light was actually dripping condensation:

So 1/16? plexiglass was cut and held in place by a frame:

I remain having a slight bit of concern over the amount of condensation on the inside of the canopy. Just have to keep an eye on it. At least the light will remain dry now.

 

[redfishblewfish]

Ventilating the Canopy

This really is turning into a never-ending project. The condensation is so bad (and by the way, the standard JBJ hood condensed like crazy as well), that water is dripping off the bottom of the doors. Now I closed this up to minimize evaporation, but now I?m going to have to open it up some, and find a balance between condensation and evaporation.

So here?s the first shot at handling the excess condensation. Since I?m going to build a new stand, I used one of the grates in the current JBJ stand to vent the canopy. I cut into the upper back panel and applied a small amount of silicone. I?m going to try this passive approach first to see if this cuts down the condensation.

The one rear vent wasn?t enough. So six more vents were added to the top of the canopy. At first four, but that wasn?t enough, so two more were added for a total of six:

The way this was done was to first drill holes in the canopy top using a two inch hole saw. The hole was slightly enlarged using a rasp.

The idea was to then fill these holes with plastic knock-out test caps ($0.25/each at HD)?..

??that were cut with groves to allow ventilation.

This was easier said than done. Here is how I did this and the difficulties I had.


First the cap was marked where the tab was on the top of the cap. I wanted to make sure this tab was in line with the saw blade so that it would be cut off. The cap was then hot glued to a piece of scrap plywood.

On the left side of the scrap plywood, ? inch marks were made. The saw blade has a kerf of approximately 1/8 inch, so spacing ever ? inch should leave approximately 1/8 inch of plastic. A piece of tape was applied to the back rest of the saw table and a reference line was applied. So now the plywood can be moved in ? inch increments to this reference line to make the cuts in the cap.

Now for the problems: No matter how slow, or how deep, or shallow the cuts, the cap would get torn apart by the saw blade. I first tried duct tape on the front edge of the cap, and finally covering the whole cap with duct tape. This helped in only keeping the cap from total self-destruction. I was still breaking one or more connections of the plastic to the edge of the cap, but the tape was now holding them from getting totally torn off. Of the nine caps I ended up cutting, three were total losses, and only one was cut that was perfect. The rest had one of more breaks that were fixed with a drop of frag glue. Here are two caps, one where I was first experimenting taping just the front edge and the other were I taped the entire top of the cap.

The caps were then taped and painted with flat black paint. It also looks like I?ve found that happy medium between moisture build up and evaporation. First thing in the morning there is a slight amount of moisture on the inside of the canopy, but not so much that it is running and forming drops. Shortly after the lights come on, the moisture is gone.