Due to a recent move, my bedroom is currently doubling as a office, so I need to design a desk that will hold my LCD, possibly my 24" CRT, have a built in GP/HTPC and of course a benching station.
(This process is going to take a few months to get exactly as I want, but needs to be usable within a week
As well as being built for less than $100 hopefully)
Design is going to be completely modular for easy break down and transport (albeit heavy, since I am using wood and the right pedestal will conceivably be supporting a 100 pound monitor). Thinking, two separate pedestals, a framework to lay across the top, that holds them together, and double as support for the counter top, that will also "drop into place."
So far the design is as follows.
6' piece of counter top
2 Pedestals for support.
Left side pedestal will include internalized PSUs, Storage Optical / HDD and the HTPC motherboard. Counter above pedestal will include frame work for mounting a motherboard for benching. Looking at a nominal 12" effective internal width (with 2x4 legs making it 15" wide)
Still working out the layout. Originally was planning on having the benchstation mounted towards the back of the counter over the pedestal, and a piece of glass looking down on the HTPC motherboard mounted internally. Decided to forgo this option because I do not have a router for making a nice ledge for the glass to sit on, and protecting against leaks might prove a little difficult. Still the design will leave this as an option for future upgrades.
Right side pedestal will have a 20" effective width. This is large enough to insert a receiver and amp if I choose. Optionally, the Right side pedestal may end up becoming a ~16U (28" which I have not measured but sounds about right for desktop height) server chassis. This would definitely make internalizing the HTPC much simpler, but not something I can do right now. (Still I can build one fairly cheap, but making them aesthetically pleasing....
I will be fashioning a heavy duty keyboard tray that reaches both pedestals. This is tentatively only 34" minus the width of the drawer rails I intend to use, will be a little tight, but ALOT better most KB trays. And it is a lot smaller than the 5' I want, but making knockouts on the pedestals would be too much work.
All shelves will be removable. 1x1 wood rails, for simple placement.
I have been racking my brain trying to come up with a metal open shelving design that would allow greater airflow and cable management than simple wood shelves or those ugly white flimsy storage racks that everyone has. I think I may have come up with something. Home depot has paint trays that fit into a 5 gallon bucket for commercial/industrial paint jobs
Click this for an image. I will probably have to reinforce it with strap steel or more simply, 1x1's to be able to support a receiver on the right pedestal but it might work really well for the motherboard tray.
Left pedestal is still up in the air for design. I have 3-pin fan extensions of 1' length and I have a half dozen 3' SATA cables. Unfortunately PSUs are not so easy to change the lengths of, since 24 pin 8 pin CPU and PCIE plugs are very important and should not be extended probably, The design will probably HAVE to be in this layout.
Bench board
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Countertop
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5" PSU shelf
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GP/HTPC motherboard
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HDD/ODD shelf
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Storage space for extra optical disks and my CD binder.
Now I originally wanted the GP/HTPC motherboard directly under the counter top, built on a vented shelf, so that the HDD/ODD shelf would have 3x120mm fans filtered sucking air in from the right side, going up through the shelves, and out at the top of the pedestal on the left side. It is probably going to be built first and then played with I suppose.
Was wondering if anyone had any suggestions, specifically with the wood working.
I am probably going to build 2x4 "boxes" which is a weak design laterally, but hopefully will have enough 1x1 rails to stiffen it up.
Also looking for advice on how to make it modular, simply. I have thought of two methods so far.
Lots and lots of dowels.
Or attach "legs" of 1x1 or maybe even 2x4 to the rim of the counter to keep the frame work from sliding out. legs mounted internally on the support frame will hold the pedestals in place, so the whole thing is "locked together" as one unit, but lifting it straight up it comes apart with no tools.
Lift off counter top
Lift off support frame
Pedestals are now unattached to each other.
I have some sketches drawn up but do not have a scanner hooked up yet to help visualize it. And have not played with google sketch up enough yet to attempt to draw it in that.
Hopefully my word pictures are good enough
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