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New Desk Mod
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 ------------- Countertop ------------- 5" PSU shelf ------------- GP/HTPC motherboard ------------- HDD/ODD shelf ------------- 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 :) |
Well I just got back from Lowe's. Wow are they overpriced compared to Home Depot on some things.
6' piece of cheap countertop starts at 60 dollars. That would be half the cost of the desk right there. So I went cheap and bought 3 3/4 x 8 x 72 whitewood and a quart of poly/stain for a total of 22 dollars :) Bench station is no longer going to be part of the desk, as my current situation, my aunt is nervous about having large quantities of frozen CO2 in the house :p so I will probably just take my original idea for a bench table, and work with that since it will more easily be moved around. Desk will still have my main rig built in though. and I will just throw together a 2 level benchstation for now for air cooled benching. Should have some preliminary snaps up tomorrow. Running back to Lowe's to return some light bulbs, and will pick up some more 1x2 strap boards for the removable shelves, and I forgot drawer rails for the keyboard tray :p |
We need pics!!!
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We need pics! :D
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I promise I will uplaod some project log style pics tomorrow. I am mixing up the design a bit, as I said, will have to do a separate bench station. Just going to throw together a 5 minute Navig style one for now.
Thinking of adopting two server rack style pedestals instead and running one with a knockout for the KB tray. Would be easier, and give me more flexibility I think just gotta double check the measurements. Also got a great idea for the modular design too.. Will post it up tomorrow :) |
Sorry for the lag, lots going on here :( Been crazy busy and yesterday it rained so no cutting wood outside *sigh
Anyway, decided to take care of bench rig first. All I have left to do is take it out of the case and swap it onto the bench rack and MAYBE screw in 4 bolts to hold the top on nice and square. Will do this in a few minutes when I finish my lunch Quick job took about 75 minutes, and stupid me trusted the cheap ass table saw for measurement and straight cuts, so top and bottom are just a smidgen off as you can see in the second pic. Thumbnails for photobucket for full 1MB pics, not really necessary I suppose though Have not decided on whether to just use a piece of pipe strap for the card bracket, or was thinking of two metal rods or straps that "pinch the top of the expansion bracket. Not really needed until I go with some type of 3rd party cooling on the card though I suppose :) IF this was something I was going to invest anytime I would probably sand and stain/poly it. And I may do that at another time, but not right now. http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3464.jpghttp://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3465.jpg http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3467.jpghttp://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3468.jpg http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3469.jpghttp://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3470.jpg http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3471.jpg |
HAHA nice!
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Very cool:D
Congrats mate:) Keep it up:D |
Thanks guys
Took as long to take it out of the old case, clean it up and put it on the bench station as it did to build the freaking thing :s Loose molex plus was originally going to be for IDE DVD-RW but I went SATA instead. (IDE drive is a lightscribe drive so will go in my 24/7 rig) Smaller heatsink is because this CPU runs cooler than my 920 and is going right next to an AC vent :) It will eventually be getting an upgrade when I can afford it. Zip ties were left long so I can staple them to the bottom to hold that rat's nest in place. First bench station built, think now that I know what I am doing, I can make some improvements and still knock these out in under an hour :) Oh, going to get a piece of strap steel for straight across the back as a pci expansion support, but with the dual slot cooler and the closely placed PIE slots on this ASuS board, I do not need it, card rests on the release level of the slot next to it perfectly lol Smoking a cigarette and going to go cobble together the top for my desk (only part of my desk that has not changed after the first design lol http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3472.jpg http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3473.jpg http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3476.jpg http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3477.jpg |
looks good man!
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Hot damned Neuromancer, TOP NOTCH BUILD! :clapping:
I love it man, awesome work. :clapping: Kool guy points awarded! SUpescool2 |
Wow amazing build!!!! What talent :D
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lol thanks guys. It's not much really.
Almost have the top built of the desk. Need to add one more crossmember in the cetner to stiffen it up. I took a pic of the framework to hopefully help understand the "modular" nature of the design. each pedestal will have 3 or 4 2x4 legs that will come up on outsides of each "box" on the ends of the desk (which is why the outside supports are 1 1/2" in from the ends. The pedestal legs will make it flush, and MDF will be used for the pedestal "sides" to enclose it. Oh I know what you are thinking, yes it would be silly to have such a strong framework and then have the desktop supported by the 3/4 inch whiteboard. I will be leaving a small gap and pedestal will be screwed or cotter pinned to the framework so the desktop does not take any abuse. After I get the other crossmember in, there will be more sanding, a little putty to fill in the screw holes, and than stain and polyurethane. (I am taking a shortcut and using a poly stain rather than separate coats, need this desk done asap). Tried squeezing it together so there is no gaps at all between the boards, (there is a tiny one) but my table saw sucks so was not going to try and refinish the boards for a perfect flush joint. May end up skipping the putty, the black screws will barely be noticeable with the very dark stain I chose, if it means waiting to get this finished, (I do not have any stainable putty here). http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3479.jpghttp://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3482.jpg |
Cool points added from here as well. Lovin this wooden theme man. Makes me want to go up the street to Lowe's to build me one.
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Best part is NO SHORTS!
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If I had the money to buy tools to work with metal. Believe me, I would work with metal. IT is much easier to do (if you have the tools) and you can build lighter, stronger things with it. Do not have to worry about angles and such with flanges and bolt throughs... I do not even have a good wood working setup. I am as ghetto as you can get :) (short of having no power tools at all ;) ):Hi: Quote:
That is all I was wearing most of the day :rofl |
Just got back from Lowes :)
Swapped out the keyboard tray for a 16" wide piece since all I could find were 16" drawer rails. Grabbed some more lumber 2x4's and 1x2 white boards. Also picked up some cheap ass particle board, did not feel like tracking someone down to cut a 4x8 sheet of MDF board down so it would fit in my Aunt's jag. :s Little crazy today getting ready for my Aunt's big party tomorrow, but should hopefully have time to get some stuff done and update with some pics tonight :) Side note : the bench station is kicking, can't wait to drop it in front of a AC vent :) Swapped out the tuniq for a little 92mm Xigmatek rifle cooler, but I strapped the 120mm panaflo to it, so temps are pretty good even in this hot ass room. Also I have it blowing on the back of the 4890 so that dropped 2-3C too even OC'ed to 990/1100 (cant wait to OV it and see how she screams :)) Had to drop a 80mm on the Pi ram though, it was getting warm at 940 4-4-4 1T :) and a 120 on the raptor (fits real nice in the front will take a snap of it later are air cooled up :) If I do not get this desk fixed up soon I am going to have to put my TB drives on here, hard having to find a futuremark server that does not take an hour :s |
Futuremark app download server? Try Majorgeeks, they're pretty quick on the d/l.
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Anywho, got some more time in today.. so pic updates :) Yah im ghetto so sue me :p http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...Picture025.jpghttp://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...Picture026.jpghttp://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...Picture027.jpg http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...Picture028.jpghttp://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...Picture029.jpg Tomorrow the second pedestal gets its sides installed. (tenatively, the little pedestal is large enough to hold a full tower case. 10 inches wide, 23" tall and 20" deep. The biggun is standard 19" width for server and many audio components. Going to add the 2 shelves tomorrow and steelwool the top, and reapply stain. keyboard tray is going to be ~33" cause I got a 3' piece of 16" bullnose MDF instead of the 4' piece of 12" Also bought a can of semigloss poly to super seal the top cause, lets face it, I will be soldering and DIcing on this mofo. Gotta have it last more than a few months :) Note to self: Do not stain in a unlit shed at 9 o clock at night. Cant get an even layer. LOL As crap as I think it looks my aunt wants me to build her a new dinign room table now *sigh. Going to have to explain to her this will cut into my benching time... Will upload a video when complete of how easy this POS is to assemble. Man.. I can't believe how well it worked out :) It just drops together, but tight enough it has no wobble. I really wish I had real tools to work with :) One more pic.. The bench station as used in my move up the ladder in spi runs yesterday. http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...Picture022.jpg |
Ghetto Priceless :D
It'd look alot cooler with a cpu pot affixed to to it fight12 |
Hey.. it is a work in prgress.. It will have that soon enough :)
Notice I took a side shot of the inprocess build of the bench station. Those are LONG mobo standoffs (do not work in any cae I ever had..) I am hoping... that they are long enough that no routing of the top tray is necessary to handle backplate and insulation :) Will have to poly it though to make sure warping does not occur...oh yeah I bought the poly today :) |
Wow who knew u were so talented :rofl
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No one :p
Ghetto rigged a fan door for the CPU area. Tonight, maybe tomorrow, think I could use a glass of single malt tonight :), I will get everything installed on the mobo tray. Except for the PCI expansion bracket. Need more parts for that. Poly takes 72 hours to fully cure :( In the morning depending on how clean it looks drying in the shed I may sand it down clean it up and bring it in the house for the last coat. The fan door will be rebuilt, and should I get my stereo here EVER, the drawer only looks 12 inches tall I can still throw a shelf and my amp in there :) In the meantime I can fill it full of mobo boxes :) Hers the last few pics before I get around to posting final completed ones http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3497.jpghttp://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3490.jpghttp://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3491.jpg http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3494.jpghttp://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3495.jpg Desktop look awful in that picture, it has been cleaned up though (went over it with a coffee filter (yah I am ghetto, I do not have lint free cloths :p) to get all the crap off it before the first coat of poly. |
Well things have been kind of crazy lately, every time I think I will have some personal time to get to finishing off the desk, something comes up. Now that my EX is moved into her new place right up the street I am there too much watching hte kids while she is at work.
School starts soon though, so should really free up some me time :) Anywho, the video did not turn out of me putting it together (got a nice 3 second video of the floor though) I never claimed to be a camera man lol. But the modular nature works great :) http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3505.jpghttp://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3511.jpghttp://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3512.jpg Will be cutting up a cardboard box to funnel all air from the vent into my temporary IPC (integrated PC) door. Should help get me past 3700 MHz with the freak cooler on it :) Bench station is temporarily on top of the desk. This will probably go in front of the AC vent for some more benching in the near future, once I finish the IPC up. Went to start working on the IPC tray but am having trouble locating my standoffs, so might not get it started tonight, and I am not home for long unfortunately, so probably will not get a lot done. Tomorrow I hope to get home early though, so should get a lot of time to get it all finished up. Once I finish with the IPC I will attach my wire management clips and get that mess cleared up as well. |
Not happy with the way the IPC tray turned out, think it is going to be reworked as a dual layer setup. But I am out of time today.
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3513.jpghttp://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3514.jpghttp://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3515.jpghttp://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...h_100_3516.jpg |
I was just gonna say "Paint it!" and there you have it, some paint work. :D
Should end up lookin like a champeen setup bro :good: |
Well its up an running for now. running WinFLP as my main OS unfortunately, cant find my XP CDs and the cheap ass wireless controllers I have do not support Vista or Mojave.
Back home for a few hours before I have to go watch the kids again. Going to try and get this rig setup for benching. Might have an i7 setup coming soon as well :) So might have to completely rebuild this setup lol |
Whee!
Might have to hold off building a new IPC tray. Considering I just bested my old max clock on the 920 by 150MHz :) 3850MHz air cooled, with no CPUNB voltage controls!!! |
WOot! :D
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Forgot to update this.
flew past that old 3850, I hit 4.1 GHz on this setup :) Anywho update since it was updated :) Been running the 920 (amd) with CnQ enabled for so long thought I redesign could work especially after seeing this when I cleaned the fans the other day http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u.../th_ipc002.jpg So, since temps were below 30C even when running civ4 and a video and IMing and web browsing. I decided to elevate the case which mean t a reduction in height. The placement before took advantage of the AC vent right near the desk, now however it blows heat when it is on (it is shut though, I still have my window open despite lows in the 40's cold air just does not come into this room with dual monitors, an amp and one or more PCs running. :) ). So that ain't helping. Now it fits on top (better wireless signal now too) replaced the tuniq with a clip on scythe something or other. (15 dollar impulse grab on OCF) Had to rotate PSU down to flat hood, which works with the silverstone would not have functioned with the FSP since its a bottom cooled PSU. (notice how all the cheap PSUs have a big bottom fan?) Got annoyed with the door I had made that housed the 5 fans, going to make another, but for now, this will work. Note after first design forgot how loud a raptor is, pipestrap when fastened securely works like a guitar string, the tatatatatat a tat of the raptor seeking was too much. Took the pipe strap, folded all 4 pieces down at a 90 degree angle, placed a book on it, and put the raptor on the book. Complete silence again :) Temps suck again. 28C idle 48C load. (much different than my previous 38C load) I am overvolting still I think, I was running CnQ while OCed before, but its AMD, so vcore really does not effect temps. So I have not changed it. Might make it a juice hungry pig though, so perhaps I should. I toyed around with the idea of flipping the mobo so the IO panel faced forward but was recessed enough that the wires did not stick out too far) but the main idea for flipping it (aside from USB action oh which I removed my front panel wires gotta hook that back up when I tidy this up) was wireless signal integrity. Decided against it, and since it is up top now, accessing the IO panel from the back of the desk is actually pretty easy. I left USB devices in the bottom slot, so finding a freshy is no big deal, follow a cable in by hand and pop. No looking necessary :) ) Only thing I pop in and out is camera, external HDD and USB flash. Will eventually readd the front panel USB/FW, and audio but not right now. Gotta come up with the scratch to get some moddin' supplies first (new front panels mainly ;) ) Still got my little button on a wire for power control LOL http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u.../th_ipc004.jpg http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u.../th_ipc005.jpg |
TBH not really sure (and TB more H, don't really care) how these guys hide EVERY wire.
I am not about beauty, I am about function. This functions well. I am happy. Not going to pull 4.1 GHz with this crappy cooler, but I do not need it to. Desktop has plenty of snap at 800MHz CPU 800 MHz RAM 2200 MHz NB :) LOL |
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That is inserted into the top tier of the right pedestal of my desk. It is not "mounted" I did drop the drawer (and now need to stain the top of it since at one time it was a two tier drawer until I cut it down)
Tried pulling the IPC tray out to cover the top of it, but the edges stick out . LOL If you are asking what is the raptor mounted too? Its not.. LOL Its floating and COMPLETELY silent Tis only my third raptor, they All chatter. The flexy bends, and the paper between (approx 200 sheets of paper_) make the rpator completely silent silent though. Once I get some thinker styrofoam padding like in the bottom of a mobo box, folded 3-4 times, I will pull the book out and finish reading it (or at least swap it out for the next book on my list :) |
Been a while, guess it is time to get back to work on it.
About 50% finished construction of the case today. Lots of sanding staining and painting left to do of course, after I build the second half ;) http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...stuff004-1.jpg Wide open area in hte front houses the radiator and ultraKaze fans. Thin area holds DVD RW Vertically as well as fan controller, and another piece of wood to fill it in. http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...stuff005-1.jpg Motherboard tray will be painted black. Other side is already cut but still working out details on how I want to do the back piece. Should be almost entirely open to allow air to pass through, but also need to make mobo tray removable. HDD and PSU mounted along top.. (left side bottom pic) reverse ATX style, to put waterblock down low, pump on bottom and res somewhere in there as well. Case will be stained to match the desk. Desk is being fixed to allow the slightly larger case to slide into the left pedestal :) |
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Well I braved the afternoon chill to sand and stain the case today (no pics it got too dark out) and threw a quick coat of black paint on the mobo tray. Still looks like shit... oh well.
Decided to go with completely open back. For best case air flow, and also decided to redo my IPS into a "cube" so the left pedestal of the desk is going to get drawers. I have one built already, will build one more and a small shelf for a recharging station. Case, is going to need to be moved too much to worry about putting it in the desk, so will go along side it instead. Nickel pulls I was originally going to use for the case will probably go on the drawers instead. Drawer will be sanded and stained when I get the second one built :) |
New server case arrived. Not bad for $15
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811182566 It is missing the crossbar unfortunately, but everything else looks to be in great shape. Couple scratches on top, everything else looks mint. Really surprised the guy sold it so cheap :) Getting ready to power down and install the DAAMIT build into it and then slide it into the desk :) |
Nice case actually, space for 7 HD's and prolly a few more.
Would make a nice WHS setup ;) |
Yes it would.. but I will be going server/workstation with it of course :)
Picked up a PC client off of Craigslist SHOCK! So this is getting pushed back for a few hours. |
Its a process
http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...an/ewww003.jpg http://i167.photobucket.com/albums/u...an/ewww002.jpg Mounting hte rad now. My 2 year old can of black paint that I used to paint hte mobo tray with decided to go belly up and just shoot paint blobs so the rad mount is not going to be super cool awesome looking for now... maybe later. Also started freaking out and thinking how do I mount the DVDRW and fan controller with the side already on. DUH undo for screws and mount it to the side panel geez :) Also decided that I am not going to pop in another piece of wood. If I did not throw out the piece of black aluminum that I have I am going to make a plate for the rest, so I can mount power and reset switches and whatever else I think might work well there. (another 5.25" bay device maybe?) Oh and I have the "front panel" PCB with speaker mike and USB ports on it I will mount in there eventually as well :) |
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