i know a few people on here have built their own desks, i was just wondering if anybody had some tips before i started mine. here's my sketchup: it's 30" deep, 30" tall, and 6' wide. the monitor shelf is 3' wide to accomodate twin 22" screens, and i may or may not keep the printer shelf underneath. the cable management shelf is 6"deep and 1' off the ground so i can still rest my feet comfortably under it. let me know what you think.
Looks good, and you've got the right idea about leg room. My biggest complaint about my current desk is that I can't stretch out my legs in front of me because there's a shelf in the way. Though I'd suggest you build a cardboard mockup first, just so you can be sure you like the layout.
just a few question what are you going to use to build it ? wood .. and that shelve underneath just doesn't look that secure to me .... bur I'm a bit weird in that part i always ask my father to sit on the stuff i make to make sure it holds loool
i'm going to build it out of 5/8" MDF. i don't think i'm going to put the shelf underneath, i'll get a short file cabinet and put it under there instead.
My only advice is to make sure it has enough support, considering how wide it is, you may want to put a 1x1 down the front edge, and possible down the middle as well. The worst thing I did when I built my case was to go cheap on the surface. I just painted it, and while it wasn't super sticky it was just bad enough to look ugly when the monitor pressed down on it. (I tried finding a faux wood grain surface for it, but couldn't find anything local.) I definitely like the cable trough. I just used cup hooks and it looked/functioned terribly
im thinking of building a desk when i move house a bit bigger than that one tho ill post it up ofc when i start to design. im to a little concerned about the warp you may get from leaning on the dfront middle section constantly the perspective isn't spot on but you get the gisti think this would suit you better any chance of some side on cross section shots?
oh and to add the desk im currently at has a similar design and has a large support running the length of the front of the top surfaceto counter this warp
well my advice is to make it in wood ..or at least build the structure in wood or metal so you wont have problems with it ....but that just me ...i'm a bit neurotic about things breaking lool
I built mine with 10mm ply and 5mmX100mm softwood. Why stick to the conventional why not build something like an arcade cabinet of even a cockpit?
I'd advise against building it out of MDF. It is to heavy, and very little strength in comparison to plywood. This means you will need much more bracing for a span such as the desk surface. If you do go this route, make sure to use pilot holes for your screws, as it splits on the end easily. Use a good wood glue on all joints. Here are some examples of a desk I made for a friend's music production. Click for larger size...
i actually am just finishing building my desk. got everything together. just need to cut the top sheet for the top surface. my desk is very huge tho its sort of an L-shaped desk. it about 80 inches wide and 93 inches long. and its 28 inches high. ill need to take pics of it yet. but make sure you use thick enough wood and that you have enough supports. what i did is cause its so huge i made it in three sections. one where you sit infront of where the monitor is and keyboard tray. another piece was the corner piece. and then the side piece. i just used plywood we had. used alot of 3/4" plywood. each section we glued together and air nailed. then when its put in my room we just screw each section together. for the top i bought 2 sheets of 1/4" stuff. not sure what it's called. but its hard and smooth and gives a nice top for the desk. altogether its cost me like $40 for those 2 sheets of wood and everything else we had. but i will need to buy brackets to have adjustable shelves ( 2 shelves are adjustable ) and then drawer sliders and keyboard tray slider thingy.
When I built my desk, I was pretty lucky, I was able to actually build it into an alcove in my room. If you feel like going for something that will be tough and damn hard wearing, why don't you look at buying a length of kitchen worktop? I did that, black granite/marble effect, 6ft wide and 2 feet deep, all for the princely sum of £40.
thanks for all the advice. i am slightly restricted in my options here, as i am renting right now, so no building into the room . i also cannot paint, and was thinking that mdf would be better than plywood as it has a smoother surface. i don't really like working with mdf, but it's cheap. i know it sags horribly too, so some sort of bracing is probably a good idea. i also can't get too complicated because i have no saw. the hardware store will cut the wood for me at $0.50 per cut, and my plans right now are for 2 sheets of wood and 9 cuts. click the image for the .skp edit:maximumshow - beautiful job on that desk. i'm jealous.
Nice idea, I like the design, but I'd put some serious consideration into building it out of 1" MDF tbh. With 2*22" CRT's it's got at least 60kg of weight to hold, that's without you resting on it.
Don't go for mdf, if you can help it. Over time it'll sag, maybe not initially that much, but after several months, you'll notice it. Veneered plywood could be a good idea, you can get it in a variety of thicknesses and finishes.
Kitchen Worktop makes a great desk surface. It will support pretty much anything with just some strong legs and if you get a decent thickness you can screw directly into the underside to attach them. You can normally buy small lengths (less than 3m) as off cuts, which makes it nice and cheap.
Here's my desk in my room, you could do something similar but with legs rather than mounting it from the wall. A kitchen worktop is a great choice, lots of finishes, extremely durable and strong as well as something a little different. I'd seriously recommend checking it out.
And just on cue and example of a worktop desk appears! Worktop is very tough too, I had a desk made of it in my parents house (back in the day!) and it had no end of abuse from CRT monitors and cheap case feet and didnt scratch.
