Tek Light Legs

Well, I don't want to hang my new 36" tek lights because I will be upgradfing from a 50 gallon 0" long tank to a 75 gallon 48" tank. The 75 gallon will be moved slightly to the right and the center of the 50 will not be the center of the 75. Since the fixure is 36" I cannot buy the expensive legs that they sell...nor would I even if the fixture was 30" long. As a fix i decided to build legs for the light. The legs will be wrapped around the lip of the tank and attached to an old splash guard that will fit into the tek light.

Materials:
5: 5/8" x 4" x 4" acrylic
2: 1/4" x 4" x 4" acrylic
2: .1" x 12 x 4 acrylic
5oz tube of Weld-on 16

Step 1:

Measure the height and width of the lip of the tank. Mine was 1/4" high and 1/2" wide.

Step 2:

Measure and cut all pieces of acrylic to the desired lengths. I will be using the 5/8" acrylic as the main support and the 1/4" acrylic as the hooks for the lip.



The acrylic with the paper cover is going to be cut into 16 1" x 1" pieces and used to add additional support to where the legs attach to the .1" thick acrylic sheet. The pieces with the blue cover will be used to help stop the bending of the .1" acrylic.

Step 3:

Don't break the dremel. Fortunately, I was able to open it up and tinker around with it to fix it.


Step 4:
With the dremel fixed, continue cutting the acrylic.

Steps 5 and 6:

Weld the main leg brace to the 1/4" acrylic you just cut. Allow the weld to set and dry. Weld the 1" x 1/2" x 1/4" acrylic onto the 1/4" acrylic lip.



The 4 pieces shown in steps 5 and 6 will sit on the lip of the tank. There will be two on each side of the fixture. More photos updates when the lights arrive.

 

Step 7:

Don't set smoke detector off...

 

Sweet, very good woek

 

Thank you.

Legs are now complete.

Front:


Top:


All that is left to do is get the fixture in the mail, cut the splash gaurd to the right size then weld the legs to the splash guard. Hopefully that will all occur tomorrow before bedtime. I will let all the weld-on cure until sunday afternoon then install the new lights

 

Beautiful work, look like they should work far better than the manufacturers. And way less costly.

 

looking great

 

Looks great!! I can't wait to see the finished product.

 

Meh, looks ok. Could use some paint. lol

 

The tek light:



The legs finally finished and now curing until sunday morning.




They aren't the prettiest things in the world but they will hold and only cost me $20 to make and I have a lot of left over acrylic and weld-on 16. I think I could have gone with the 2.5 oz tube.

 

Another awesome job.

Necessity is the mother of invention for sure - and these days, so is trying to stick to a budget....These are a great and cost-smart solution. It is so unfortunate that the manufacturer's legs for these units are so blinking expensive.

I applaud the design!

+K