Scratch Build: The Ultimate Computer Desk

linkin

VIP Member
You have inspired me to build my own desk rather than buy one :D

I suppose it'll have to wait until after we move.
 

jgoff14

New Member
Would you be willing to build the desk and ship it, or do some sort of Ikea type set up and just send it ready to assemble?! I'd love to buy one, what did that run you if you don't mind me asking?
 

ultimatedesk

New Member
All Setup

Looks really good!
Thanks Nevakonaza! Love the name, too ;)

You have inspired me to build my own desk rather than buy one :D

I suppose it'll have to wait until after we move.
Awesome man! Building your own is soo worth it!

That is just incredible. Very, very good job :D
Thanks Aastii!

Awesome keep it up everything is coming together nicely.
Thank you FXB :)

Looking amazing, cant wait for it to be done, please keep updating us :)
Thanks IknowLITTLE! Plenty more to come ;)

Good job mate, whats your final costs for this ?
Thanks bigfella, so far I think I have spent between 500 and 600 Canadian for the wood, stain + polyurethane, staining supplies, misc supplies, drawer slides, etc... That's a pretty approximate number though - that doesn't include all the tools I purchased that would be considered "investments" that shouldn't be included in the cost of the project.

Would you be willing to build the desk and ship it, or do some sort of Ikea type set up and just send it ready to assemble?! I'd love to buy one, what did that run you if you don't mind me asking?
Hey jgoff14, while it's really very nice of you to even inquire about purchasing something like that, it would have to require some discussion to determine the actual cost of having something like this built and shipped. So far, as mentioned above, I estimated having spent around 600 in materials alone. It weighs almost 200 pounds, and is 8 feet long - the shipping charge I am sure would be rather phenomenal. Thirdly, with the number of hours I have put into making this project work, there would be a rather hefty labour charge to make a second one!! PM me if you're still seriously interested, however!

So - I finally had some time this weekend to do a bit of work on The Ultimate Computer Desk.

Here's a little shot of the desk as it sits now. Note that the drawers aren't installed, there's clutter everywhere, the two cabinets are not lined up in any particular fashion, and of course, no hardware has yet been installed.

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If you didn't notice, I finally said to myself "Ok Mr. You've been working on this desk for 8 months - time for a present". I ~finally~ ditched my old CRT monitor (Which was nice, at 1600x1200 resolution) and purchased myself a brand new 27" Asus. Sweet!

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That was my first new computer component in ages!


I moved on to the next part of the project, which was installing the drawers, so I got to work. Sorry about the pictures, I think I accidentally turned the auto focus off!

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Imagine my surprise when I went to go and slide the drawer in. The drawer was too wide! I accomodated for 0.25" on each side of the drawer, for the width of the drawer slides. Unfortunately, these particular drawer slides were 3/16's of an inch wider than I accounted for... Here's a wonderfully in focus shot:

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So my options were:
1. Redo the drawers completely, making them a total of 6/16's (3/8's) skinnier, or
2. Shave off 3/16's" from each side, about 1.5" tall, along the length of both sides, of each of the drawers.

What a bummer! I thought oh well, it'll actually look pretty tidy with the sides shaved anyways, and also give additional support, so here goes!

Time to tape up my poor drawers. They're about to get scratched up pretty bad!

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Setting up the tablesaw for some "guidelines" - 3/16's of an inch deep, set the fence at 2" and then 3.5" if I remember correctly.

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And there you go, some proper guidelines for the material that will need to be removed.

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This was a pretty big surprise, but not too major, and nothing that cannot be done well.
 

Aastii

VIP Member
Are we going to be seeing "the ultimate computer chair" after this? you have to change from that when you have this kick ass desk there, surely :p

it's all looking great :good:
 

ultimatedesk

New Member
Fixing the Drawers

Man. you are getting so close. Can't wait til it is done.
Thanks!

Are we going to be seeing "the ultimate computer chair" after this? you have to change from that when you have this kick ass desk there, surely :p

it's all looking great :good:
lmao, you're not the first person to mention that lol - it'll be replaced soon enough, dontcha worry! ;)

So, after I used the table saw to make my reference cuts, I grabbed the router with a 1/2" flush cut bit, set it at the appropriate depth and went to town. Making the reference cuts made the rest of this usually tedious job easy.

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When I went to do the reference cuts on the shorter drawers, I realized... there were a bunch of screws in the way. Ooops! Good thing I noticed so quickly!

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I had to go and remove all woodfiller and the screws that were in the way of the 3/16's inch material removal. This meant all the screws along the bottom, and 1 or 2 at the front and back of the drawer. What a pain!

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After getting all of the extra material removed, I drilled some new counter-sink holes (Since the old ones were taken off with the router), re-inserted the screws, and gave all the dressers a light sanding, since I would have to redo the polyurethane coat anyways (They got pretty scratched up). In this pic, I had already re-stained the portion where I removed the extra material.

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So. Next - polyurethaning the drawers... AGAIN!
 

ultimatedesk

New Member
While getting ready to re-polyurethane the drawers, I also took the time to stain and poly the right-hand cabinet door, as well as the two pieces that will be above each of the cubby holes on the top of the desk

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Re-polyurethaning the drawers went really well - they look fantastic

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Things have been pretty busy in the shop - have been re-glassing a war-horse of a canoe at the same time!

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Here are the first couple drawers installed. They fit perfectly - the slides fit right into the grooves that I cut out. This photo turned out a little redder than reality

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Getting the actual slides lined up and screwed in straight took a bit of patience, but well worth the effort

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Ahh, nice and messy, but finally got the drawers in.

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Some of the things I'll need to be working on shortly:

- Front Panel (Fan controls, LED's, Power/Reset switches, USB, Audio Jacks)
- Fan Installation (Foam surrounds, filter fitting)
- Hardware selection

After the hardware is selected and installed, I will be able to focus on cable routing and placement of the drives.
 

ultimatedesk

New Member
Up and Coming Preview

Looks awesome, looks like it's nearly finished from the external impressions :)
Gettin there eh? Now the fun stuff begins....

Definitely got a lot of time invested in this project. Looks good :good:
Thanks voyagerfan99, it's been around 9 or 10 months now I think lol

Sorry for the delay in updates everyone - I've been enjoying the beautiful summer weather we've been getting lately and haven't been putting a tremendous effort into getting the desk finished.

Surprise though - I did manage to get quite a bit done, and I've had some good fortune lately as well. I expect to post several updates this week, so just to get you back into the spirit of things, here's this weeks preview!

4x Scythe Ultra Kaze 120mm x 38mm 3000RPM
4x Scythe Slipstream 120mm x 25mm 1900RPM
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Lots of foam cutting and trimming, and a sweet, sweet ruler from the Moddders Inc Featured Rig of the Month Contest(Thanks! I'm honored!)
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Hmm, what's this?
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Holy moly cool prize pack Modders Inc! I still can't believe I won this - perfect stuff for The Ultimate Computer Desk!
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Finally removed the protective cover from these babies - they look soo nice!
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Hmm? Another surprise?...
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Oh good lord! What kind of super monster is that!!?
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Bwahahaha
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Ok, so maybe a lot's happened in the past couple weeks. I haven't been posting any updates because I've been tinkering around with hardware AND enjoying some good outdoor times. I'm thinking that the next round of updates in the following month or so will be ultra exciting - things are starting to wrap up!

Seeya soon!
 

Aastii

VIP Member
There has been a hell of a lot of work gone into this and all of it is paying off, that is a hell of a (nearly) end result
 

FXB

New Member
That's great I can't wait to see the next updates. What form factor is the motherboard it look pretty big.
 

ultimatedesk

New Member
Fan Setup

There has been a hell of a lot of work gone into this and all of it is paying off, that is a hell of a (nearly) end result
Thanks Aastii, it has certainly been a long time.. getting there though! Fun stuff is starting!

That's great I can't wait to see the next updates. What form factor is the motherboard it look pretty big.
Thanks FXB - I think it is an SSE form factor. I'm not too familiar with server board form factors.

Nice, but you should have got gentle typhoons :)
Mmm, I considered it, but I think these ones have better pressure and will be more ideal for pulling air through the air filter I plan on using.

After gluing a few blocks of foam together with a spray adhesive, I trimmed the block down to the appropriate size using a bandsaw.

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Unfortunately, it wouldn't fit in order to do the vertical cut...

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So I took out the trusty hand saw!

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Here's the plan for the fan layout

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At first I tried cutting the holes with a good quality knife, but the cuts were not very consistent and it took a long time. I ended up using an old drywall saw, which worked perfectly.

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Test fit

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Cut some more holes

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Awesome!

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Let's see how it looks in the right-hand cabinet

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LOL - hilarious. It shouldn't fit like that. At least, it didn't during my initial measurements! I'll have to tweak that a bit later!

On to the crazy fans. I decided to go with 3 instead of 4. There just wasn't enough room for foam between each of the fans, and I figured there would be a lot of vibrational noise if they were touching. I could always go to 4 in the future if this proves to be insufficient.

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Lookin good

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Stay tuned! More stuff tomorrow!
 
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