Scratch Build – In Progress Project Oh no! Not another one! [desk] - 01.12.2016 - Pedals done

Oh no! Not another one!​

(Because all of a sudden numerous computer desk desks have popped up)​

Scratch-build by Journeyer​

This project was born in stages, but it was born as a result of love – surely. I first had a go at getting a project started some years ago, but that one died due to poor planning and poor time management. These days, whilst my two year old twins certainly take a lot of my time and attention, I do have more time on my hands to get busy modding – I’m also better at planning it.

I’d been thinking about doing something like this for quite some time, and I had just started designing it in Sketchup when I noticed this. That gave rise to a good bit of performance anxiety, but glorious as L3P's work was I still wanted to make my own. So I completed my Sketchup design to my satisfaction whilst leaving a few of the details open to be decided upon as construction commenced.

Hardware
The hardware that’s going into this desk is the hardware in my signature, though I am tempted to swap the 285s for a 680 or two – we’ll see. Everything will be watercooled, and apart from my already well established external CPU/GPU loop (which some of you may have seen here) I will be installing a second internal loop. For this second loop however, I am still missing a few bits – mainly the blocks and the reservoir .
Still needed
Chipset block.
Mosfet block.
RAM block.
Reservoir.
A bunch of compression fittings, or push-in fittings (my sketchup design uses solid pipe instead of tubing, we'll see if I can actually realise this).
decision regarding the power switch.
More brass.
Wire sleeving.
Piping, or tubing depending on my final decision regarding cooling loops.
And probably more...

SPONSORS

I am honored and grateful to add Noctua as a sponsor.


They have agreed to provide some fans for me at a generous discount, and I'm looking forward to have a look at them as soon as they arrive. Thank you Noctua.

I am proud and excited to be able to add Apem as a sponsor.


They have agreed to support me by providing me with two capacitive touch switches, and I am terribly excited to have a look at them as soon as I have them in hand. Have a look at their various products; they make some cool and interesting stuff. Thank you very much Apem, and a special thank you go out to Hans-Petter in Product Marketing. I truly appreciate it.

Let the building commence

So, without any further ado, let’s get started (please excuse the poor photos, but for now I’ve had to take them using my phone as the battery for my digital camera refuses to hold a charge anymore and I need to get a new one. I promise better photos as this project goes along).

My computer desk is an old IKEA model that looks like this:



As I did not want to build a new desk from the ground up, I decided early on that I would instead modify my current desk into something that would house my computer and, if possible, look the part as well. And even better; we have two of these desks, which means I can work on one whilst using the other for my computer until the new is ready. Excellent.

Sketchup design completed, materials purchased (though I’m still missing quite a few bits and pieces, and some material stock) and work could begin.

So, time to get modding...
First step is to remove the desk top from the frame.



Then I got out some stand-in parts and laid them out onto the plate in roughly the places they will be finally situated just to check placement and potential problems.



Then I proceeded to mark out the area to be cut.



Now it was time to move the plate outside and get the jigsaw and the drill.





A bit rough, let's get the sander...



That's better. Any irregularities still present will be sorted once all the side-panels are mounted and fitted. Speaking of which, it was now time to start making the side panels.

The desktop plate is a 20mm MDF plate, so it is quite solid. I will make the walls using 18mm pinewood panels, and the whole thing will eventually be stained and given a healthy layer of clearcoat that will hopefully be polished to a shine.

Pine, being quite soft, is easy to work with and easy to cut – particularly with my band saw. My design includes a desktop that slightly slants downwards from the rear end to the front. There is a 2cm drop from the back to the front, and as such I had to cut all the panels with this in mind. Splitting the panels lengthwise, and at an angle, was a simple job for my band saw, and as I cut the panels slightly larger than needed I only had to sand them down a bit afterwards.

As this process involved lots of running to and fro the bandsaw, and of sanding I did not spare time for photographing it. However, once the panels were more or less sized properly I started test-fitting them to the plate.







Most of the panels cut and sized more or less properly, it was time to fit them to the plate. Test fitting first showed that a couple of the panels would need to be sanded a bit more to fit perfectly together, but I had anticipated this so it’s no big thing. It’s better to have a few of the panels a bit larger than they need to be rather than having them turn out smaller.

 

So, I started marking out where to drill to fit 6mm wooden furniture plugs, and where to set the screws. The plugs will add stability and rigidity, whilst the screws will, well rather obviously, fasten everything together. This was a lengthy process involving swapping drill bits, adjusting drill bit stoppers in order for the holes for the plugs to be just deep enough. Then I drilled 6mm holes in the plate, and 3mm pilot holes in the panels for some countersunk 4mm brass screws that would hold the panels to the plate.

These little “whatshouldIcallthems” makes lining up the holes easy, and all in all it turned out beautifully.



Now that the panels had been fitted to the plate, I needed to start fitting the panels to each other. This was simply a matter of ensuring I had 90 degree corners by using a corner vice to hold the panels together, drilling a 3mm pilot hole through both panels, and then drilling a 5mm hole in the outer panel to lead the brass screws through. The screws were countersunk, and will, when the whole thing is finally mounted to be stained, be covered with wood filler to give the impression of being seamless. I will also apply wood filler to all corners, seams and other irregularities.

Once all the panels were safely screwed down and to eachother, I test-fitted the whole thing to the desk frame (please excuse the mess). You will also see that I have moved the radiator to a new position compared to my original idea when I first laid out the parts earlier. I have also opted for the larger GTS280 Stealth as I found that by recessing it into the plate I could make it fit underneath the new desk surface.





But there was one problem I should have anticipated, but didn’t. Those short corner panels that are set at 45 degrees to the straight panels tricked me. Obviously I should have cut all edges there at equal angles to eachother, and not just the angled panels, but I didn’t. I hope I can rectify this with wood filler and by sanding down the excess wood, but if I can’t – or if it doesn’t end up looking any good – I will remake all those panels. So here’s a picture of me being an idiot:



And now for the mandatory spider pic; this little cutie had built a large, beautiful web from our gazebo.

 

All the panels have now been fastened, and they are ready to be sanded, sanded and sanded some more. I hope to achieve a really smooth finish, and thus I will be smoothing out all surfaces as much as I am able to before staining and varnishing.

First though, there are a bunch of holes to cut and components to integrate.
I will start with the motherboard backplate.

Originally I intended to simply buy a ready-made Lian-Li mobo tray, but I decided that this would look out of place and instead opted to make my own using 1mm brass plate. So I first made a 2D backplate projection in Sketchup, printed it 1:1 and glued it to a sheet of 1mm brass that I had in my workshed (I need to get more brass when making the tray, so it’s time to call in favour from my father in law). Then I simply cut this from the brass sheet, scored along the bend lines and bent the flaps with my fingers crossed. I had only one chance to make this right, and if I didn’t I would have to wait until more brass could be obtained.





The bends turned out OK, at least given the equipment I had to do them with, but if I ever make another one of these I will first get (or make) a proper bending brake.

After all the slots had been cut the job that I had dreaded began – filing. It took the better part of two nights amounting to a total of six hours of filing, but at last the edges were straightened and the holes were done. I still have to deburr the edges and drill mounting holes, but all in all the backplate is done – though will require a good polish before mounting.





Tonight I will be giving those edges a final once-over, and then I will set about drilling mounting holes, polishing it and marking the cutout on the proper panel on the desk. Until next time; ta-ta.

 

Looking good, definately different to the other desk builds, mod on sir! : )

 

Thank you, and I hope the process and the end-result will be interesting.

 

Really like your work! brass and wood is such a combination

The corner issue, classic!

 

Hey Journeyer, excellent start

Quick question: would you mind sharing this template? I looked everywere for something like this but couldn't find it anywhere on the web.

Keep up the good work

 

Nice start !!!

Pls share template

thank you

 

Yeah, I'd take the template aswell

Besides, these oldschool IKEA-desks are very good actually and are offering alot for it's rather cheap price

 

Thank you all for the encouragements, it is much appreciated.
Now, before I go out to file some edges, drill some holes and do some polishing...

I uploaded the template here as the Sketchup Components Library seems to be having issues.

In order to print 1:1 from Sketchup, do the following:

- Select "camera" and then choose "parallel projection"
- Goto print
- Enter scaling 1 to 1 and untick "fit to page"
- Print on A3 paper

 

Your design looks amazing man, very good idea to use a U desk
Will you be hiding the wiring anywhere?
Subb'd btw!

 

Thank you.
Yes, I plan to route wire channels into the plate, and then make the channels into a "feature".

 

U make more pics of the back plate ?????

 

Thanks for the SU-file, much appreciated and you'll have some +rep for it

 

Thank's a lot, man! I have to admit that the file hosting website you've used was a bit creepy but I figured what the heck and clicked on the most likely button and it downloaded without a hitch. It's great when people do things in sketchup which are precisely to scale. makes it so much easier to work into other designs. now I need to figure out how the +rep thing works

 

Yes I did take a few more photos after finishing it yesterday, though I still have a bit more polishing to do before I'm fully satisfied with it. However, as I will be handling it a bit while mounting it, dismounting it and so on, I will wait until it's time to apply the final finish. I'll post the finished pictures of the backplate in my next update which I think will be posted friday (if I can get some good work done tonight that is).

My pleasure.
And yes I agree, the file hosting site seemed a bit creepy, but as the Components Library wouldn't play along I had to find an alternative. And that site was one of the top results on google so I figured "what the hell..."

Edit: By the way. Regarding the backplate template; I ended up cutting off that bottom flap as it would not be required, and would in fact get in the way for my purposes. Wether or not you need it depends on your designs I guess, but it's just a heads up: you might not need that bottom flap.

 

Thank you for sharing template !!!

 

I have that same desk, I'm sitting at it now...

 

I like these pc desk combo things .. I would like to see more storage though for incidentals such as I tend to find have accumulated on my desk during the week.. (okay I may just buy a bin and have it next to my desk..would solve many problems ..) nice work so far..

 

Just to reaffirm that this is going ahead; I am having a few beers and working on an update. I have also acquired a new battery for my camera. All is well.

Expect update later tonight or tomorrow if I end up working into the wee hours.