Scratch Build Project SR-2 Desk

[The Boy Riley]

Now then, I was planning a new build for some time, I really fancied Silverstone cases, particularly the TJ07 or TJ11. Then a sheet of 10mm toughened glass sort of fell into my lap and sealed the deal... DESK!

I started getting parts together in late august then I was working for 6 weeks so it slowed the whole process down a bit.

The pictures are in the order I got everything with a few project log posts put together, so if something doesn’t make sense let me know and I can fix it

Bits:
EVGA SR-2
2x Intel Xeon 5650
24Gb Corsair Dominator
3x EVGA gtx580 SC
OCZ vertex 3 240Gb
2x Coolermaster silent pro gold 700W

Cooling:
EK-FB SR-2 Nickel plexi x2
EK-Supreme HF - Nickel
EK-FC580 GTX+ - Nickel x3
EK-RAM Dominator – Nickel x2
EK-Multioption RES X2 - 250 basic x2
EK d5 pump top rev 2 x2
Black Ice SR-1 360 Radiator x4
D5’s x2

It's all very shiny:



the quick test run



The plans for the desk had a few revisions as I was working in wales without a pc for a few weeks, so I got back at weekends with a whole different idea on how to do it.

This is what I settled on...



The desk design took a while as I have this thing for symmetry. I can make the frame at home, but the panels might have to be cut somewhere else, hence the whole desk is modeled.

This will be the first big build I've done for myself my previous builds have been nothing special, hence I'm pushing the boat out a bit.


24-11-11

Started making the frame this afternoon, the first three sections will take the longest so I'm starting there, here's the first round

The box and angle, ready to go together with the plans on the desk.


The first side...


The tools I think I'm going to be sick of in a few days


The last (and most awkward) side


One down... 25 to go...


You know when you draw something and think "that will be be dead simple to make"...

never again will I think that... or, I'll make everything under 750mm long (the travel on the milling machine bed:P)

Will be doing more of the same until the frame is done, so I'll post anything interesting

.................................................. ............

Picked up the panels on yesterday they turned out really well so hopefully I can make the desk to the same standard and let’s hope I didn’t miss anything when I drew them.

So here they are



I thought I'd start by making sure the motherboard tray fits, so cleaned up the edges and tapped the mounting holes.









Like a glove...



Throw in some cables





and a few blocks




Saving these till later as they'll be black sleeved



Making sure I my plan for the cables would work, I'll be tidying them up a bit but they seem to fit pretty well.



And some more of the cooling made its way here, only a few bits and pieces left now



And that’s pretty much it for now, got some more nuts and bolts on the way so I'll be carrying on with the frame midweek probably


Just a quick one, tarted up the rear panel, it still needs the hole cutting in the centre for the back of the Motherboard but I wanted to make sure the PSU's fit









Seems to worked well, I'll be carrying on with the frame tomorrow so hopefully I can see some parts fitting together soon.


I got bored and realised i could assemble one or two bits

With these :O



All the bolts for the desk (I hope)

plus a few bits and pieces









Still need to cut the hole for the back piece above, but thats some fun for another day



Good news everyone

my brother has let me use his camera so the pictures seem to have worked a bit better and I've pushed the boat out a bit and done a video :O

SO... I've been finishing off some of the frame, so I thought I'd play with this here camera and show you guys what I was upto.

First, sawn box section, with the outside edge touched up a bit...



As you can see, the cut face looks rubbish, and the inside edge needs a lot of attention... but if you put it on the milling machine



and then do this



It looks a little something like this...



and repeat...



So that's about 70% of the frame, the rest of it has 45 degree ends and could be a pain in the arse, but that's tomorrow's job

the pile of box section has got smaller too



If you guys want more videos of the making and stuff let me know I think this sort of stuff is interesting, but everyone else might think otherwise and to be honest, milling the ends was about the most exciting part of the frame

Only about another 100 M3 holes to drill and tap


Just a quick follow on from yesterday and some more video's

A video of one side of the smallest pieces, tried to keep it brief as it's not too thrilling, but at least you can see how I've been doing the frame.



And I got some of the 45's cut today, the longer sections, I asked my Dad (as it's his workshop) what I could use for this, as I had in mind, just a vice with a rotating bed.

I was directed towards the vice in question...

I asked "could you not find a bigger one?" I asked in jest,

"That's the medium sized one, you can get the big one out of the garage if you can lift it..."

needless to say I did not see the need for a bigger vice, as you can see this one is a little on the meaty side as is...



But it certainly holds things very still.



And the finish turned out really well



and then they go on the stockpile ready to be drilled and tapped tomorrow



.................................................. .................................

Today was a really good day, mainly as you will see in the last three photos don't skip though, you'll spoil it !

to break up the tediousness of the day, I've done this update as a recipe, also my Mum was making my brothers birthday cake whilst I was working...

Today's to do list



First take your angle and square up the edge



Offset by the radius of your cutter





swap chucks



zero the Y axis



tool swap (centre drill)



score at 25mm and drill pilots then swap to 5mm drill



Get your magic magnet



Place magic magnet against the face of your angle and switch on.



release angle from the vice and rotate, then replace the angle using your magnet as a guide



repeat steps to score and drill



Enter the garage and try to spot the band saw



having located your saw, remove your bracket from the angle



take your newly liberated bracket and clamp it the the vice, then even up the edge, the same way the box section was done.



Measure the bracket and see how well your eyes did when you lined it up.



Pose your work on a non reflective surface





That kept me amused and for a little while I forgot that I needed to make 38 of these

But here's the best part

Grab some sections and have a play !







I think my mental age decreased to ten whilst putting these together

I managed to make ten this afternoon, before I retreated for food. Hopefully I can knock the rest of them out tomorrow, I had worked out some time saving methods by the 7th one Then maybe I can start assembling bits and cutting some more serious holes

And for those of you who are wondering the cake turned out pretty good too



thanks for reading guys, more to come over the weekend

[The Boy Riley]

So the brackets are nearly done, I was worried about how long it would take to touch up the second side of the brackets...



as there was a few of them...

then the realisation that I could just put some sort of jig on the vice



And after that, it went quite a bit faster...



then the crap lining of that cloud...



40 of them with one side that need finishing

I managed 20 tonight before I got bored and am heading to the pub

thanks for reading

[The Boy Riley]

Finally got the brackets finished, and started playing with the frame so I thought I'd throw up some pictures.

The start of the evening, find some space...



lay some parts out and try to remember how you numbered everything...



get the base together



faff about for a while because you found some holes you forgot to thread up then wait till the morning as the light was so terrible the pictures looked like they were on the yellow submarine



sit back and think... it's a bit big...

I've put this last image in as a bit of a teaser, I'm currently working through the panels cleaning up the edges and holes and then fitting them so those pictures will follow after Christmas

and... that feeling that it's a bit big soon disappears when you pop the motherboard tray in...



Have a great Christmas.

Sam.

[Bladesingerz]

Loving the desk so far, I hope you can keep the precission going, metal can be quite unforgiving
Amazing hardware btw, my wallet ran away when it saw that!

[Normano64]

Wow, that's some awesome work, a lot of nice details!

[KoSoVaR^]

Handyman incoming , i would love to see the result of this !
SUBBED!

[bugbear974]

Ok let's go for another computer desk!

[t4n6o]

looks good so far m8, cant wait to see the end result. BTW nice phone is that the W995 i have the same 1

[The Boy Riley]

Originally Posted by t4n6o

looks good so far m8, cant wait to see the end result. BTW nice phone is that the W995 i have the same 1

Indeed it is, it keeps the noise of the florescent lights in the workshop at bay when the machines aren't running

Thank you to everyone else for the interest and comments, hopefully I wont disappoint you all when it's finished.


Hopefully you all had an awesome Christmas so here's what I got up to during that quiet bit on Christmas day in the afternoon when everyone is done with presents and stuff but before the food bit

fitted the rear panel...



was a little tight in the corners but with some light adjustment it soon looked the part





then moved onto the internal sides, you can now see where the one of the PSU's will live







Dropped in the panels either side of the motherboard tray





A quick shot of the grill retaining panels on the side, there are similar panels on the rear, I'll be getting to these in a day or so.



Then we flip and move onto the radiator panels...





for some reason I flipped it back and did the triangle pieces next, not entirely sure why...



you can see the third side of these is still open, I have these sections left to make, they are small but will be a pain in the arse

and flip back again to do the underside cover



then move onto the front underside panels, these aren't fully attached yet as the fronts and diagonals are missing.



please excuse the lighting in these last photos, I got it better nearer the end, I had a really big light and a small space to shine it

That's all the panels, now to see some parts in it...

















now then, I was hoping to get some input on the layout, I have this space and these parts. I have yet to decide where the reservoir and pump will be, and dependant on them I will put the hard drives on various panels, so if you get some time to spare let me know what you think.

This is also what I intend on doing with the tops of the radiators, it looks better in real life, but I'm undecided, think I'm going to wait until the panels and frame are painted to see if it looks good. the underside will have a traditional rad grill though, not these.



and the money shot, I did all this so I know where to cut the hole in the back panel :P



Thanks for reading and sorry for the quality of the photos, the ones of the components have really shown up my camera so I'll see what I can do for the future



Been playing with some switches and USBs today trying to work out how they will fit into the front sections, I can do a bit more detail about how the USB came about if anyone is interested, but it was pretty straight forward, the USB socket had the common courtesy to be metric unlike motherboards

The task... put one of these, in a box section like the one next to it...



about an hour later....









I will be replacing the screws with stainless allen bolts so it matches the rest of the desk, and cutting them to length on the inside, even though you cant see them...I'll know...

On to the power switch , this one was again pretty straight forward







And finally, the reset, I put this on the wrong side of the test piece for some reason, but the wire for this will sneak out in the gap around the back of the power switch. The switch will be underneath the section so it's not on display and the panel will cover it's screw, which will again be a stainless allen and cut to length...

The fun part of this was the spacer, as for the first time this build the lathe got involved (even if it was for about 5 minutes) if you need a 3mm internal, below 8mm external, 4.4 mm high spacer, do not spend ten minutes rooting through crap to find one... just make it...





A lot of effort for something you will never see, but again, I'll know it's there and now so do you

Thanks for reading, Hope everyone had a good Christmas

[dream1]

WOW This is just looking great. I love it. You can see how mush hard work had put it in.One thing more, are you sure 2x700w PSU is enough for SR2 and 3 video cards.You might have a problem with that. Anyway Happy NY and keep going

[M3cael]

Very nice!

[thetrashcanman]

wow this is awesome! Definitely subbed, I had an SR2 for a while, but splitting my money between my main computer and that was just silly, either had to be the computer I have or the SR2, not both, that would have been mad, but anyway I'm rambling (its late) can't wait for future update's and I must say I think the photography's been pretty good so far

[Cookie Monster]

None of the video's were working, I'll remove this if you edit your posts, you just need the code (bit in bold) from the URL - www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybwnemUCvfg then paste it in the youtube tags.

Originally Posted by The Boy Riley

[mav2000]

Very nice work...loving it..

[barfastic]

amazing!

[andrew8200m]

This is very cool indeed

[Sarakon]

I like PC desk builds looking very nice indeed

[logicmike]

WoW, That is amazing. keep it comming

[lilgoth89]

amazing work, keep the pix coming

[Angel OD]

I've always been a sucker for these amazing builds with low-cost hardware!

I wish I had the money to do something like that, hardware-wise.

But I love the idea for the desk, keep it up!