Hinged door to Electronics and Trunk

Step 3: Hinged door to Electronics and Trunk

The final part of the tank base construction is creating the hinged top and trunk. This provides protection for the electronic components while offering access and storage.

The top hinged door has pretty simple construction, using two 2 1/2 " x 3 " nickel plated hinges (or 4 for more stability) the hinge is positioned at the center of the plywood side paneling. The plywood top is cut into 2 pieces which open out

*place small blocks of spare 2 x 3 wood on the other side of the plywood when you drill these hinges into place (for support), you do this because the hinges and plywood top will not be able to support the weight of the tank (its too thin)

the trunk is created using the 17" pre-cut 2 x 3 to make the base structure longer. You need to align the 2 x 3s in pairs (as shown in picture 3) The bottom 2 x 3 should lay flat and the second should sit vertically on the edge of the 2 x 3----> this should look like a capital L ! (see picture 3) these will sit on the base structure of the tank, flush against the back plywood wall

Set these 2 x 3s in place with liquid nails and allow to cure
once the wood is cured together you should nail the lower trunk support into place one or two medium size nails evenly spaced should make sure they never come undone :)

The plywood base of the trunk rests atop three 2 X 3s spaced 6" apart from the edge of the trunk see picture 4 and the note in the base construction section of this instructable.

TRUNK:

- the trunk opens upwards so that you can store the ipod dock for travel as well as whatever else will fit; this is made possible by having the top of the plywood trunk attached to the base structure with 2 sets of nickel plated hinges (the same as was used in the Electronics door)

- the flat area of the trunk door is 18.4" x 24", cut this out of a plywood sheet
-also cut 2 more 17" 2 x 3s and set them with liquid nails a half inch from the 18" edge of the plywood cutout

-once the wood is set you can drill into place the hinges, allow enough space when placing the hinges so that the trunk can open smoothly and without trouble. Make sure the side with the 2 x 3s is facing down, the 2 x 3s will guide the movement of the trunk better.

**check out my Google Sketchup 3D model of the musictank for more info**