Project: The Ultimate Computer Desk

[rider68]

I Have to say that your project is well shown and you have given allot of thought in planning out prior to building, if you should ever consider another project consider using a biscuit jointer for the carpentry aspects when jointing, It's quick to learn and a very fast process in which to assemble your work, giving a very professional finish with great strength.

Sorry that I am posting only now but I have not been near the forums for some time, (due to health) but if any one wants or needs advice for any future projects I would be glad to assist if required,

My qualification is that I was a carpentry joiner for many years, forming joints in the old days was taken as an art but with modern tech - and tooling around it's somewhat by passed,

Look forward to seeing to finished job, Great Post
Best regards Peter

 

[ultimatedesk]

Trimming the Desktop

nice cat
shame about the advertising

Hehe, thanks mickey megabyte - I don't mean to shove anything in your face, ie. advertise, but it seemed reasonable to thank them for supporting the project and sending some stuff my way - it IS nice stuff too

nice cat
shame about the advertising

Shame? how, he got a sponsor!! congratz!!

Hehe, thanks brayway

Because it's against the forums rules - Sponsor stuff removed.

Hey z3r010, sorry for not clarifying it with an admin earlier - I sent you a PM just so I don't step on anyones toes in the future.

I Have to say that your project is well shown and you have given allot of thought in planning out prior to building, if you should ever consider another project consider using a biscuit jointer for the carpentry aspects when jointing, It's quick to learn and a very fast process in which to assemble your work, giving a very professional finish with great strength.

Sorry that I am posting only now but I have not been near the forums for some time, (due to health) but if any one wants or needs advice for any future projects I would be glad to assist if required,

My qualification is that I was a carpentry joiner for many years, forming joints in the old days was taken as an art but with modern tech - and tooling around it's somewhat by passed,

Look forward to seeing to finished job, Great Post
Best regards Peter

Ooooh, very cool job there rider68, I am certainly considering using a biscuit joiner in the future - in fact - some parts of the project may even still be able to benefit from the use of a biscuit joiner, so stay tuned

Last time I left off, with regards to the table surface, I had just finished gluing and screwing it together. I put it on the backburner for about a week to dry while I worked on the drawers, and now I'm going to take it down in preparation for putting the outer trim on it.

Here it is:

All 4 sides were a bit off, with regards to the flushness. This was expected, as the initial sizing cuts were pretty rough, and it's better to have extra material than not enough.

Took out a straight-cut flush bit for the router, and some 60-grit sandpaper for the random orbital sander, and got to work. I did two passes with the router, because since the bit is not 1 1/2" tall, I couldn't trim the whole side of the table with just one pass.

And, after a bit of work, the final result:

The next step is to take a long strip of maple and turn it into trim for the table surface.

 

[D3LL]

Its looking good so far, Can't wait to see the finished product.

 

[ultimatedesk]

Thanks SevenForums

Its looking good so far, Can't wait to see the finished product.

Thanks D3LL! I can't wait until it's done too lol, my current desk is just not cutting it!

Thanks to z3r010, for confirming with me what's ok and not ok with regards to the sponsorship stuff. I won't post links to their websites, but I will of course, post a few pictures of the gear they're sending me, and add a big thanks to them.

There are some really great people in the industry that provide a lot of support for projects like this - so I apologize if some of you feel as though it's being put in your face as advertising, but hey, it's because of people like that that this project (And many others around on the Internet) will be 10x better, and get done 10x faster (Because without them, it'd be months before I could afford the hardware!)

Thanks to all of you who have been supporting this project so far, you're all really, really wonderful and I've enjoyed all of your comments and feedback.

I'll bring you some more good stuff later in the week - it's been crazy busy at work lately, and also too cold to do some work on the desk!

 

[ultimatedesk]

Adding Trim to the Desk Surface

The last time I left off, I had just finished flushing the sides of the table in preparation to add some trim. I found a nice piece of long maple that was just a little over 8 feet long, a little wider than 1.5 inches, and thick enough to cut some 1/4 inch strips from.

I layed it out, setup the table saw and cut myself a test piece.

Looks good!

Here's a pic of the cutting process. I'm afraid I had some difficulty with this. Actually, let me rephrase - the saw had some difficulty with this. I was still using the same blade I've been using the whole project - which needs replacement pretty badly. Asking it to cut through 1.5 inches of maple, for a length of 8 feet was asking a lot of it.

I made it through eventually, but the whole process left quite a few burn marks on the wood.

I glued and nailed the trim around the perimeter of the desk, which was a pretty straightforward process.

And then took out a hand plane to get rid of most of the excess material and bring the trim down flush with the desk surface. Some neat pictures here.

After some sanding with some 60-grit on the random orbit sander to get everything smooth, I went nuts with the wood filler.

At that point I stood the surface up in the back of the shop and called it a night.

Next update in the loop, I setup some dado blades in the table saw, mmm mmmm, that was fun!

Have a good weekend everyone!

 

[derekimo]

Looking good!
If your blade is burning the wood, it's mostly from not moving the material fast enough, try lowering the blade and make a few passes to cut through it so you keep the material moving. it takes longer to cut through but it will save alot of sanding time. Cleaning the blade will help too, if you can't get it sharpened right away.
Keep up the good work, can't wait to see this.

 

[crazyeyeschase]

Burn marks only add charactor great work i want more updates lol.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Burn marks in wood smell the best!

 

[Ciara]

Fascinating !

 

[Devilz]

it must be one hell of table, when will it be ready

 

[seekermeister]

I have no question about the fact that this desk is going to be a work of art, yet with the insulative qualities of wood, and the quirkyness of airflow, my main concern would be that all of the components received adequate cooling. I understand that you have planned for cooling, but sometimes planning is not the same thing as doing.

 

[ultimatedesk]

Dado Cutting

Looking good!
If your blade is burning the wood, it's mostly from not moving the material fast enough, try lowering the blade and make a few passes to cut through it so you keep the material moving. it takes longer to cut through but it will save alot of sanding time. Cleaning the blade will help too, if you can't get it sharpened right away.
Keep up the good work, can't wait to see this.

Ahh, never thought of just giving the blade a good cleaning. It can certainly use it (You'll see in this update just how beat up that blade is). It's funny - I've always been very weary of my cutting depth when I use a router and do multiple passes, but for some reason that idea completely eluded me with the table saw. Ah well.

Burn marks only add charactor great work i want more updates lol.

Hehe, it's been a while, but here they are!

Burn marks in wood smell the best!

Amen!

Fascinating !

Thanks Ciara! Welcome to the thread!

it must be one hell of table, when will it be ready

When will it be ready... I wish I knew lol - honestly though, I think by the end of March I'll have the table fully assembled and stained, and upstairs in its new home. It'll likely take me another month or two after that to work out the details like cable management, fan control, hardware selection etc...

I have no question about the fact that this desk is going to be a work of art, yet with the insulative qualities of wood, and the quirkyness of airflow, my main concern would be that all of the components received adequate cooling. I understand that you have planned for cooling, but sometimes planning is not the same thing as doing.

You are absolutely right - while it will certainly function as a perfectly reasonable desk, you've highlighted two of the main potential downfalls of the project. At the same time, you hit it on the head as well, it's just going to take a bit of experimenting. Who knows, maybe I'll have to line the compartments with metal or plastic, or maybe I'll have to switch to water cooling, or heck, cut open big holes everywhere Either way! Should be fun!

It's been a while since the last update, but basically, I got around to installing the dado blade on the table saw to make some important cuts for the two cabinets, and was able to do a bit of test fitting.

For those of you not really in the know, a dado blade has two regular saw blades (One for the left, one for the right) and some irregular shaped blades of varying thickness that you put in between, until you get the right width. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

The beauty of using dado blades in the table saw (At least I think) is that you can set it up at the right height and width, and then set the fence to the proper width and do all 3 of your supporting boards one after another so they will be lined up perfectly when it comes time for assembly.

I put 3 cuts in each of the 3 supporting walls of the left-hand cabinet. There was a bit of chipping, I should have probably put down some masking tape, but it's nothing major and will be on the inside anyways.

I threw on a bit of wood filler to patch up the chipped parts, and then let these 3 dry while I worked on the right-hand cabinet cuts.

I then had some time to put together a quick test fitting! Not bad! Some of the wood was just a bit crooked, so I'll have to spend some time with the sander to loosen up some of the dado joints.

This pretty much completes the first phase of the project - I won't have any use for any of the big, messy tools anymore.

All that's really left are a few small detail cuts, some holes need to be cut out, the whole thing needs to be sanded to pre-stain state, and then assembly and staining!

I'll be bringing all of the materials back to my place where I'll be doing just that.

 

[ultimatedesk]

Basement Move

And, through the miracle of internet technology, I'm bringing you the next update right away!

There wasn't much work done in this update - just thought I'd show everyone where the progress is going to be taking place from now on. The spooky basement in my building!

It's a really old house, at least over a hundred years old, in fact, there's a 12" x 12" solid beam of wood running as the main support member along the entire length of the house, it must be at least 30 feet long. Can't get those any more!!!

My main complaint with the basement is that I am constantly bashing my head on the low ceiling beams, and it's quite cold! Getting motivated to go work down there is not nearly as easy as working in the nice, heated wood shop.

Time to let the pictures do the talking:

I purchased a new shop vac at Canadian Tire along with a bunch of other stuff during the Boxing Week sales after Christmas. Sweet.

I also setup a plastic wall to help prevent sawdust from going all over the basement, as well as to help keep any breezes contained when it comes time to stain.

Some of my personal tools:

And there we have it! Until next time, have a good weekend!

 

[derekimo]

Looking good, thanks for the updates.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

The update on your project is fantastic. I can't get over the mass of the build. This is going to be a computer workplace that you want to dive under in a earthquake because it's built like brick sh_thouse. The whole house can come down and it's still going to be there !

 

[McDougal]

Speaking of computer desks....mine is old and falling apart, I need a new one, so many things I need to replace lol.

I think this project is an awesome idea ! Keep up the good work!

 

[Golden]

Oh nice storage of the wood clamps!

 

[Coke Robot]

Wow.......:shock:

That is something! If you'll be putting in a furnace filter, you MUST have really good airflow or have the skimpiest filter since your airflow will be brought down since furnace filters are rated for I believe way over 100 cfp of air. Find 160mm case fans since they will provide a junk of air.

I actually considered doing this in my case build, but you could duct the air from the outside of the case to go right through and over the processor heatsink in the gaming portion, direct cool air with a dedicated line.

So from what I'm understanding is basically, this is going to be like a server/home computer hybrid terminal type of thing off that show 24? What I'm not getting from your prelim sketch is the two video cards next to each other, is one of them going to be extended from the lower motherboard by means of a PCI-E card extension type thing?

One must consider noise and vibration, with the fan wall section you got going, secure that with some silicone caulking and a couple of screws so the vibration of the fans transfer into the silicone and not make so many issues there. Also, see if you can track down some noise dampening foam, either case foam or car noise insulation foam.

Wow..............:shock:

 

[ultimatedesk]

Quick Test Fitting

Looking good, thanks for the updates.

Anytime! At least until the project is done

The update on your project is fantastic. I can't get over the mass of the build. This is going to be a computer workplace that you want to dive under in a earthquake because it's built like brick sh_thouse. The whole house can come down and it's still going to be there !

Honestly, if I were to do this project again, there would be a few areas I would save weight and density on, however, the way it is now, it's going to be able to stand up to an incredible amount of abuse!!

Speaking of computer desks....mine is old and falling apart, I need a new one, so many things I need to replace lol.

I think this project is an awesome idea ! Keep up the good work!

Thanks a lot McDougal, I appreciate it

Oh nice storage of the wood clamps!

Hehehe, works out pretty well doesn't it? I think I'd like to build a vertical rack for them some day soon, however

Wow.......:shock:

That is something! If you'll be putting in a furnace filter, you MUST have really good airflow or have the skimpiest filter since your airflow will be brought down since furnace filters are rated for I believe way over 100 cfp of air. Find 160mm case fans since they will provide a junk of air.

I actually considered doing this in my case build, but you could duct the air from the outside of the case to go right through and over the processor heatsink in the gaming portion, direct cool air with a dedicated line.

So from what I'm understanding is basically, this is going to be like a server/home computer hybrid terminal type of thing off that show 24? What I'm not getting from your prelim sketch is the two video cards next to each other, is one of them going to be extended from the lower motherboard by means of a PCI-E card extension type thing?

One must consider noise and vibration, with the fan wall section you got going, secure that with some silicone caulking and a couple of screws so the vibration of the fans transfer into the silicone and not make so many issues there. Also, see if you can track down some noise dampening foam, either case foam or car noise insulation foam.

Wow..............:shock:

Hey Coke Robot, thanks for all the good feedback there, I really appreciate it. I had no idea what the typical cfm expectations on furnace filters are. I think that it is a good initial idea, but realistically, I will probably have to try several different materials until I get the best balance of air filtration vs. air restriction.

The ducting thing is a good idea, however, I think that the space is confined enough that air will have no other option but to go over the main components.

There are two completely separate computer systems. The two video cards is a plan for having a Crossfire or SLI dual-video card setup for the gaming system (If I can ever afford something like that of course).

Agreed, the noise isolation / vibration isolation will require some experimenting as well. I have been saving a bunch of different types of packing materials and have a nice collection of materials to experiment with (Foams, closed cell, open cell, etc..)

So, I did a bit of work in the basement the other night, and since the next part of the project is going to be assembly, I decided to give it another shot at test fitting, since the last time I tried it was just loosely put together.

Time to get out the sander with some 80 grit. The hose on my shop vac is a little over 2", and I didn't have an adapter to attach it to the DeWalt ROB Sander unfortunately, so a little tape had to do the job.

I took each piece one by one and sanded down the edges where they slide into the dado cuts. I had to do a surprising amount of sanding, as the fit was incredibly tight.

I also took the time to label each piece (Top, Middle, Bottom, and which side faces the front) so that it could be easily repeatable when it comes time for final assembly.

Almost there. So tight! I needed a rubber mallet to set some of them, and then remove them afterwards.

This shelf was just ~slightly~ warped, and needed a lot of sanding so that one end was nice and snug, and this end actually a bit of free space (Hello wood filler!)

A couple more progress shots:

And, all tightly assembled. I could probably jump on this box...

I spent about an hour and a half doing that, and honestly, it was freezing cold down there and that's about all I could stand for that evening. Until next time!

 

[crazyeyeschase]

Awesome looks pretty good