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Our DSA Neo 105 Build

That is sweet. Now I want to remake mine. Well, maybe not. It was a lot of work.
Lol, I know what you mean. I spent about two months working on my sump design and build after work and on weekends. Had it just about done, when I saw the Roller Mat go on sale for Black Friday. I was thinking, should I build a whole new sump with roller mat design? Too much work went into the first one not to use it. For the time being, I decided against building another new sump, but I ordered a roller mat anyways. Figured if I didn't, I'd probably kick myself later.


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Lol, I know what you mean. I spent about two months working on my sump design and build after work and on weekends. Had it just about done, when I saw the Roller Mat go on sale for Black Friday. I was thinking, should I build a whole new sump with roller mat design? Too much work went into the first one not to use it. For the time being, I decided against building another new sump, but I ordered a roller mat anyways. Figured if I didn't, I'd probably kick myself later.


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That's so funny, I almost bought that roller mat too with the same thinking.
 
I decided that I wanted a side door on the stand with an inner wall to help keep electronic separated from sump section. So I cut a hole in the side of my stand, yay, fun.

First I masked the stand to protect from scratching. Then used a skillsaw along a straight edge jig to cut as much as possible without over cutting the corners. Then finished cutting the corners with a jigsaw.
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It came out pretty clean. Love Festools!
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Next, I cut oak strips to line the inside of the cutout and the outside of the door.
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Oak trimmed door with masking still applied from when I cut it out of the side of the stand.
Trim was attached with wood glue and pin nails.
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To strengthen the side of the stand I decided build and inner face frame to reinforce the side. I got to use my domino cutter to make these mortise and tenon style joints.
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Dominoed, glued and clamped
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Here you can see the frame is covered in glue and ready to be installed in the stand. I cut Kreig Jig pockets for screws into the opposing side of the piece. See next pic.
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Frame installed in the stand. There are screws in every oval slot and a couple extra screws straight in across the top and near the top sides.
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Here I've glued angle cut dowels in all the screw slots. I'll trim and sand them once dry.
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I want to get some Festool stuff, just because, but so far I can't justify going beyond Dewalt/Milwaukee lol. Nice work as always. Why 3 sides and not all 4?
Good question. My main goal was to reinforce the top of the stand under the tank after the section of wall was removed. So the top piece is essentially a header like you'd find over a window or door. The two sides support and hold the header from the ground up. Although, it would be stronger with a forth piece across the bottom. I decided it would be strong enough without it. I wanted to have more floor space inside the dry section of the stand for equipment and storage.
 
Congrats to you and @Ashalye on the imminent arrival! I'm also jealous of this tank in a big way - the DSA 105 is a great size/layout and they're out of business now.

This sump design looks very cool and the quality of work here is impressive.

Keep the thread updated, I'm excited to see how it goes.
 
I am enjoying your build journal and thought I'd stop lurking. I also have a DSA 105 and love its dimensions since I was limited to 4' length. I am NOT pleased to hear DSA went out of business along with my warranty, but that would be a different thread. I look forward to more updates about your tank build
 
Congrats guys, figured something was coming when you both went quite :D

Cherish these moments, my guy is a few weeks away from his first birthday and it didnt seem that long ago I was chatting you guys up at MACNA while mine was not even crawling at the time

You did good mom
 
Matt has made good progress on the sump and plumbing lately. Our baby arrived before the tank was finished though. Today we went to Neptune Aquatics and got some lighting tips from Robert, so baby M got his first visit to our LFS.

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I see you've got him in front of the sps tank.
 
Picking up where I left off with the build thread.

I decided to paint the inside of the stand white and make an interior wall for the electronics.
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Apply black caulk around lower trim to keep out water.
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Now to prep for final coat of paint
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After painting
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Shiny!

How are you planning to mount the electronics? On the wall? Or there will be another control panel?

Not sure, I haven't got that far. I was just going to attach the electronics with stainless steel screws to the wall and run a wire manager down the middle. Let me know if you have some other ideas.
 
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