bowfront canopy help

[drandrew31]

Hey all,
I was wondering if anybody knows where I could buy a bowfront canopy or have one made. I have a 155 gallon bowfront tank.
Normally, I would just head to the drawing board and make it myself... but the actual curve really has me stumped... any ideas?? thanks!

 

[mikem]

You can soak 1x3 lumber in water to get the bend you'll need for the frame.

 

[rgarofalo]

do you have a band saw?

 

[mikem]

do you have a band saw?

To back-cut the framing instead of soaking the wood?
That was my next suggestion

 

[redfishbluefish]

Three ways:

Make a curved piece of wood by making a template and gluing thin strips to match the bend:
Make a template of the bend you want on a scrap piece of plywood. I’d just trace the curve of the tank on the plywood. Now fasten small blocks of wood every couple of inches. Using thin strips of wood, lay them along the template curve, gluing in between each laminate. You are essentially making your own plywood with the curve in it. Now clamp it up with every clamp you can get your hands on and let it set up overnight.

Make a curved piece of wood by kerf cutting the back side and bending the board:

Take whatever wood you wish to use and put a cut almost all the way through the back side of the board. Dependant on the variety of wood, this might be anywhere from an 1/8 to a 1/16 of wood remaining. Repeat this every 1/8 – ¼ of an inch all the way down the length you wish to bend. Again, using a template and ideally steaming (but wetting will work as well), slowing start to bend the board to match the template of the curve. Glue up boards, top and bottom to lock in the curve. Trim off excess.

Making a curved cabinet using plywood skeleton:

Cut the curved shapes out of plywood. Also use plywood to make the rest of the skeleton for the cabinet. Now skin the cabinet with lathe, beadboard or other thin material. The thin strips are only an inch or so wide and able to easily go along the curve to the cabinet.


My choice would be the third one...plywood skeleton.

 

[rgarofalo]

I would do a combo of #1 and 3
the top and bottom rail you would use the glue up, then skin it thin

 

[mott768]

If you want to purchase a canopy any store that sells oceanic would be able to order you one but they are not cheap....if you don't want to build one another option would be to hire a cabinet maker or wood craftsman to make one for you. I'd ask MikeM maybe you could hire him he does really nice work.