Desk Design

[airman]

So...ever since I've owned a computer, I've never had a decent desk. By decent, I mean more than an 18" by 36" desk that I got for $15 at a yard sale, or a 20" by 40" "desk" that was built into the wall at my parents' house. Now that summertime is here, and I don't have summer classes (first time in three years), I have time to build me a desk worth having. I have a contact that has a CNC wood router, which will allow me to set a 4'x8' piece of nice wood (like 3/4" birch, or something that will look good and have a good finish) on a table, and have it cut out everything for me in one pass. Sand down the edges, and done.

 

I will be building the frame of out 1.25" steel square tubing. I may have the wood router countersink some bolt holes to attach the wood to the frame. In fact, thinking of that now, I will definitely be doing that.

 

The four 1.5" holes are now 1" holes (in the corners) for my surround setup. Another thing I've never been able to do: fit more than 3 speakers on a desk (fronts and center). The offset one in the middle is obviously for everything else (monitor signal and power, keyboard, mouse, whatever else). I offset is so that I could scoot the monitor all the way back. I would have the holes closer to the edge, but I wanted to leave 1.75" around the entire thing so that the frame won't be in the way of the cable holes (1.25" tubing leaves 0.25" from the edge, and 0.25" from the cable holes). I may go dual monitor with this setup (my 24" and a 19" Samsung)

 

I've designed this to fit in the corner of my room. I am limited on the right side by a window in that wall, and the door comes in on the left side, so I didn't want to make it stick out too far on either side. I'll definitely be posting a worklog on this, so I'll be keeping this updated once I can get the ball rolling by getting some steel and time to get the wood cut out.

 

[hosnappp]

So...ever since I've owned a computer, I've never had a decent desk. By decent, I mean more than an 18" by 36" desk that I got for $15 at a yard sale, or a 20" by 40" "desk" that was built into the wall at my parents' house. Now that summertime is here, and I don't have summer classes (first time in three years), I have time to build me a desk worth having. I have a contact that has a CNC wood router, which will allow me to set a 4'x8' piece of nice wood (like 3/4" birch, or something that will look good and have a good finish) on a table, and have it cut out everything for me in one pass. Sand down the edges, and done.

 

I will be building the frame of out 1.25" steel square tubing. I may have the wood router countersink some bolt holes to attach the wood to the frame. In fact, thinking of that now, I will definitely be doing that.

 

The four 1.5" holes are now 1" holes (in the corners) for my surround setup. Another thing I've never been able to do: fit more than 3 speakers on a desk (fronts and center). The offset one in the middle is obviously for everything else (monitor signal and power, keyboard, mouse, whatever else). I offset is so that I could scoot the monitor all the way back. I would have the holes closer to the edge, but I wanted to leave 1.75" around the entire thing so that the frame won't be in the way of the cable holes (1.25" tubing leaves 0.25" from the edge, and 0.25" from the cable holes). I may go dual monitor with this setup (my 24" and a 19" Samsung)

 

I've designed this to fit in the corner of my room. I am limited on the right side by a window in that wall, and the door comes in on the left side, so I didn't want to make it stick out too far on either side. I'll definitely be posting a worklog on this, so I'll be keeping this updated once I can get the ball rolling by getting some steel and time to get the wood cut out.

 

 

I think it looks nice, man. But rounded desks can be kind of annoying. No place to put your shoulders. Unless you have a seat to cover that for ya.

[jlqrb]

I think it looks nice, man. But rounded desks can be kind of annoying. No place to put your shoulders. Unless you have a seat to cover that for ya.

 

It looks like a nice design. However, I would get rid of the area on the left as it would take up a lot of room and not really be needed. Unless you are a lefty

Edited May 6, 2010 by jlqrb

[greengiant912]

The holes I take it are for your cables, I would personally make the holes a more oval shape and wider, because it is sometimes a pain to fish all your cables threw the hole lol. We used to use a 3" hole saw on our counters at the gaming center I worked at to let us fish the cables and stuff threw the counter, it was a pain to try and fish those cables when you had 4 other cables clogging that hole lol... If that makes any sense. o.o

[Deathmineral]

The holes I take it are for your cables, I would personally make the holes a more oval shape and wider, because it is sometimes a pain to fish all your cables threw the hole lol. We used to use a 3" hole saw on our counters at the gaming center I worked at to let us fish the cables and stuff threw the counter, it was a pain to try and fish those cables when you had 4 other cables clogging that hole lol... If that makes any sense. o.o

I think this is a pretty good idea since a lot of cable connections are in rectangle shape most of the time. Also, will the hole for the cables be edged with anything in particular? I've used desks at school before that simply had the hole cut out and nothing covering the edges, making moving a wired mouse a bit more difficult.

[airman]

I think this is a pretty good idea since a lot of cable connections are in rectangle shape most of the time. Also, will the hole for the cables be edged with anything in particular? I've used desks at school before that simply had the hole cut out and nothing covering the edges, making moving a wired mouse a bit more difficult.

 

 

yeah, there will be grommets for the holes. (you know, the ones you buy at an office supply store) I've never had a problem with a 2.5" one getting clogged, so I think i'm gonna stick with that.

 

what's this about shoulders, btw?

 

the area to the left and right will be for doing homework and whatnot, so i'll be keeping it.

 

a buddy of mine built a similar desk, see here.

 

[bp9801]

I think the idea is pretty solid man. I've been wanting to build my own desk for a while, but I've done enough work to my current one to hopefully last for a few more years.

 

I'll be awaiting the build log for it, should be pretty good.

[bishop245]

looks good to me. I may be doing a desk build myself as my current one is too small with 4 monitors side by side and other parts of the desk have had alot of stress from my old quad setup, so its about time for something new for me. I will have to do everything myself as i dont have any real life friends anymore, but I am not to bad with a jig saw, skill saw, sawzall, drills, ect... Good luck on your build

[slick2500]

I always prefered the old used door and some 2x4's.

 

I need a bigger desk.

[GSG-9]

If its going in the corner did you consider adding a 2nd level in the corner for storage above the monitor? I just thought of it because the desk appears to be designed with space in mind.

 

I always prefered the old used door and some 2x4's.

 

I need a bigger desk.

 

I have the old door going on right now.

[Dariuas]

I have been considering making some changes to my desk too; I have my monitors mounted on full profile mounts on the wall; but I want to have individual holes in the desk for each cable, so everything flows well.

Good design though, I'd like to see the finished product.