Scratch Build – In Progress TMXDesk ~ Full Desk Enclosed Liquid Cooled Case

Hello friends

My name is TMX and I'm from Vancouver, Canada. I'm posting a build log of a project I'm working on.

I originally started posting this on overclock.net but i thought you guys might be interested as well.
I was inspired by L3P's wall mounted desk design and decided I wanted to make something similar. The idea of a self-contained desk-case with no wires hanging out really appeals to me. That being said I'm also designing a leg-mounted version in case I move and it is unfeasible to wall-mount a desk in the new space.
I'm using Autodesk Inventor to design the desk specifications.

Here's the layout design with major pieces included:



The desk measures roughly:
Width: 50"
Depth: 24"
Height: 7"

(For you metric folks that's roughly 1300mm wide, 600mm deep and 180mm tall.)

I don't like flat, square, boring objects, so I've created a slanted edge case with beveled edges. All the edges have a nice .25" fillet as well to give it a nice rounded look.
The idea is to create a central desk piece that is suspended within a rectangular metal frame. The metal frame is then attached and supported by detachable wall mounts or legs.
The frame will most likely be made out of high strength aluminum or possibly thin stainless steel. Depending on cost and availability.

Heres a quick gif:


Here's some images of the design in wall mount format:




Here's some images of the design in Leg mount format:



I've got my parts and water loop planned out, but its going to take some time to order all the parts. Some are out of stock so I may need to wait a bit.
Unlike L3P I have neither the vendor or financial support so progress will be made when I have either the time or money do to so. My apologies in advance for the pace of progress.
Little by little this project will get done.

I've got more updates to post so bear with me.
Feedback and comments welcome!

 

The original design followed in L3P's footsteps using aluminum sheet metal pressed into a box but that was extremely limiting in terms of design. It also meant if I wanted to produce more of these things for other people in the future they would need to be individually pressed and welded each time.

What I decided was to use acrylic plexiglass. This allowed me the most freedom in terms of design. Acrylic ABS comes in many different colors, thickness and finishes. For my design I'm using 1/4" thick high gloss black acrylic sheet. I worked with a local plastics company to CNC a thermoforming mold. It's already finished and they've formed the first part.

The bucket is finished! (I'm referring to the plastic housing of the desk as the "bucket").






Sorry for the poor quality of these photos, there wasn't a lot of sunshine in Vancouver the past couple weeks. I'll try to figure out a better setup for taking photos. Also I'll properly dust the bucket next time =D
Got more updates on the way.