Scratch Build – In Progress Budget Desk Build Completed

Hi guys, I've been around for a while looking through build logs (never said much), and one thing in particular that grabbed my attention is the FAMOUS L3P D3SK by Peter, but I always knew and still know that I will never be able to afford to build something like it. So years went by and I finally decided to attempt a desk mod with my current part and a $100 budget

Not going to share details on PC parts seeing as it's nothing spectacular.

Oh and before I start; I know that build logs normally only attract attention where there's a lot of shiny and expensive stuff or extreme machinery involved, but for those interested in reading this, thanks a lot.

So the start:

Seeing as I won't be installing watercooling in the PC, there's no use to have a large compartment for components, so after spending hours on Google Sketch, here's what I decided on:

Wood will be Supawood, that will be painted black.



I had to go for double layer instead on one.



Not very good at Sketchup



Will get the sheet wood on Saturday, started working on the huge grill but can't decide on which one



That's it for now

EDIT: Had to fix broken image url's

 

Certainly following this one

 

Minimalist, simple, straightforward, only a small glass window, could be neat.

I prefer the first grille, for what it's worth.

 

I'm honored

Seems that everyone likes that design, your input is appreciated

 

Though, looking at what you're doing, there's no reason you couldn't put two 360mm radiators in at a later date. Seems to be plenty of space underneath the motherboard tray for a pump/res and you could even fit a third in the back with some rearranging of the PSU.

You don't need a massive space to fit a lot of cooling in, though it's pretty rare you need more than two triples for cool and quiet running. About the only tweak to allow for an upgrade would be making sure you have ~80mm of space between the front panel and motherboard tray/longest GPU and a width of ~400mm inside.

/pointless aside.

Hoping for updates.

 

It's highly unlikely that I will ever install watercooling other than my existing Corsair H60 in the case, but even if I were to make the front grills compatible with a 360 rad, I don't have a rad to measure. As for the space between the motherboard and the fans, there's more than enough

Will try to post an update tomorrow, will hopefully get the wood tomorrow to start cutting, couldn't get to it today

Also I'm considering making a poll on the fan grill design, but I will try to get a couple more designs first before I do that.

EDIT: I worked on a couple different grill designs, but I didn't like any of them so I made a poll for the 2 grill types that are posted here.

 

Removed

 

So after the recent issues with the punching I had to change the design for a different punching tool and settled with this


So then an attempt at punching and....





But I then noticed that I screwed up with the cut out for the GPU slots, and not only that, the sizes I got from a post on bit-tech had the incorrect sizes and they slots were off by 3mm so I had to cut them out and use the plate from a donor case.




Doesn't look that great but it'll have to do until I can get some cash to remake it in alloy with the correct sizes.

I also did a quick test to see if a motherboard fits with a card of some sort.



So seeing as I had to change the tool for the rear panel I had to change the design for the fan grille, so the poll is now rendered useless as I came up with a design that I liked and went with it. (Anyone know how I can close/remove the poll?)



I can't put my finger on it but I'm pretty sure I've seen something that looks similar to this...
But I went ahead and cut it out anyways...



And I got home and installed some fans to see what it will look like...




Lights off...



For some reason the one fan is brighter than the others even though they are running the same RPM and just to make sure I swapped the power connectors and still got the same effect.

So seeing as both plates work I need to clean them and send them of to powder coating as soon as I finish the PSU bracket.

Also I'm very sorry about the horrible images, I'm the worst photographer and the best camera I have is my cell but I hope you guys enjoy the update.

EDIT: I also chopped the pipes on my Corsair H60 to extent the pipes and to add a res to it



More to come soon!

 

looking very nice, by any chance this case: http://forums.bit-tech.net/showpost.php?p=3394623&postcount=60

 

Very nice, I'd love to build a desk myself one day. Subbed!

 

I actually like your new fan grill better than the originals, leaving the center fan open like that and offsetting the slots to follow the edge of the circle looks much more refined

Reminding me that I need to re-build my computer desk before long . . .

 

Haven't seen that case before now but I have to say, that's very impressive work you've done there.

Thanks a lot man

 

Update:

Started working on the wood to get the desk assembled.

Moving over from steel to wood was huge for me seeing as I have 0 experience with woodwork so this was quite fun

First thing to do was to make the table top look like it is a proper "table top" so I had to put some edges around it.







The next part was to assemble the compartment for the PC Parts, unfortunately I didn't take photos of it.... (Still getting used to taking photos of my work)

Then I had to get the legs of the table on. After I put the legs on I was disappointed by how it looked so I'm going to make some changes to it, it's going to be tough to do with the legs mounted already...





And finally the desk stands on it's own.



Still need to reinforce the desk at the back and have a compartment for cable management for my multiplugs and speakers and so on, but I need to get the desk to work so I can finish the desk there.

As the headline states, this is a budget build but I can't help but feel there's so much more that can be done to the desk so it doesn't look so "plain". Any ideas???

 

So after giving it some thought I decided to do some changes to the legs, I got my hands on a nice Router but decided not to use it yet and rather make use of the Jigsaw that we had at work.

Didn't get much done seeing as I had a ton of work to do before I could work on the desk but I managed to squeezed in an hour or so to see how far I will get.

The Desk at work



Started with the one side and cut the 38mm square tubings and fitted it after I cut the first legs angle




Again, sorry for the bad photos

Flipped the desk upright and added a 10mm Alloy tubing



Then I started to cut a slot in the leg to mount a alloy tubing in the slot




Then drilled the one side into the slot to get the tubing through




I need to drill a hole on the other end of the tubing but I have no idea how I'm going to achieve that without having to drill it skew..

I wanted to start making 4 83mm Holes next to the slot but the hole saw's teeth are blunt so it won't cut... So I will have to make another plan there, won't cut them with the jigsaw as I will screw that up completely

 

How about an angle drill attachment like this?

 

So it's been a while since I've posted any updates but before we continue...

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Now that we got that out of the way, I barely got any work done on the desk in December but I started again a couple of days ago.

First thing to do was to finish the other leg:




Then one of my friends decided he wanted to start a project of his own, a Arcade Machine

So some of my time went into helping him with his project:



^My Friend^



But back to the desk build; after I finished the last leg I turned the table upright:



And then I realized that the table was very unstable so I ripped out the back support and made a new/larger one:





Now the table is stable and doesn't even move even if I try to force it.

I then decided to use my case as a donor case for the desk build, but I had to improvise to keep my PC running:



Shame on me



Then I decided to swop the back panel I made out for a wooden one seeing as I have a proper motherboard tray/card support:





Started routing in some slots for air vents:





Is it just me or is my photography "skills" improving?



I guess not

I then routed out the bottom part for it but I have to pics of it

I got myself a new set of speakers and decided to mod them with the desk :




Google image ^

One thing that bothers me is that the covers of the satellite speakers are grey, I'm not sure if it will clash with the rest of the color theme or if it will blend in, if not I will have them painted red

On a side note: I started re-sizing all the images as it loads forever

That's it for now.
More updates SOON!

 

Good work dude! Nice to see you pressing on even when things haven't ended up 100% how you wanted them! Looking forward to seeing how you integrate those speakers.

 

Thanks mate, it really means a lot. The idea around the speakers are to have them mounted about 75mm above the desk on 13mm Alloy Tubing so that they will be stationary with hidden cables and they will be able to swivel but that idea turned out to be a lot harder to manage than I thought. So I will have to sit back and rethink the idea.

 

Looks great, Cant wait to see the final desk

 

really good work here, about your speakers, it can be cool to integrate them directyly inside the desk ! Like this sort of product : http://cdn-maison-deco.ladmedia.fr/...05902-1-fre-FR/Prise-escamotable_w641h478.jpg