The Ultimate Computer Desk - 2 Integrated Desktops

[ultimatedesk]

Hey all,

Long time lurker, first time poster! It's because of your creativity that I've finally decided to embark on the journey to create:

THE ULTIMATE COMPUTER DESK!

That's right, the ULTIMATE. Well.. for me at least.

It's going to have 2 computers built in, one for gaming, and one that will run 24/7 as a media server of sorts and occasionally play video.

It's got to have noise control, dust control, manual fan control, and it's got to look classy - sorry all you bling lovers! It needs to fit in in a professional environment.

I do believe I will be building it out of 3/4" plywood, veneered with something, obviously.

Let's get started! I've got a few drafts I'll post first and then onto the construction!

I'd like to thank Crucial, Kingston and Danger Den for sponsoring this project and helping to make this a reality!

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/4871/cruciallogo.gif (http://www.crucial.com)

http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/7906/kingstonlogogif.png (http://www.kingston.com)

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/5674/dangerdenlogo.png (http://www.dangerden.com)

[ultimatedesk]

Ok, here goes!

This is the initial idea, like I said before, 3/4" plywood, and two built-in computers. I use Google Sketchup for all this kind of work - if you haven't used it before, try it out, it's free, and it's totally awesome for this sort of thing.

First I took measurements of my motherboard, power supply and hard-drives to determine the width I would require for the first design portion - the left-hand module.

http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/1236/01start.jpg

I then built up from there:

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/5312/02start.jpg

The components of the gaming rig will be on that top shelf there. The hole is the air intake, which will be completely hidden from the front of the desk (There will be a board there) and it will also be covered with a piece of high quality air filter from a furnace system.

Next up was to grab some to-scale models and populate the left-hand module.

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/8042/03start.jpg

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/9362/04start.jpg

A big thanks to B@gy, who created the model for the Noctua NH-U12P CPU Heatsink, as well as the Noctua fans, Alexander who created the model for the Asus Ares video card, Nightsoul who created the model of the Western Digital Hard-Drives, and Fubar East for the very nice power supply model. Your talent saved me a lot of time when it came to placing the items to scale.

I then repeated a similar design for the right-hand module, which is the low-powered system. I also added 3 drawers instead of the open concept.

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/7182/05start.jpg

And, here it is, all put together!

http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/8528/06start.jpg

http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/8185/07start.jpg

The boxes in the back are not to scale - they will be built as needed and will be used for cable management. I'll stuff some foam in the top to prevent them from filling up with dust as well.

Stay tuned! More to come! I need to simmer on the 1st draft for a while ;)

[ultimatedesk]

There were numerous things wrong with the first draft:

1. Butt joints. Butt joints everywhere. It means I'll have screw holes to fill everywhere, which is no good. It's got to look PRO!

2. Trim. The edges on plywood look terrible. I forgot to account for 1/4" hardwood trim being used on all visible edges of the plywood. This would throw my measurements way out of whack.

3. Drawers. My 1st draft didn't even have drawers sketched, it only had drawer faces, which would have been a disappointment if I had actually built it that way!

So, with that in mind, here is the 2nd and final draft before construction!

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/698/201start.jpg

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/6624/202start.jpg

The dark brown is trim, which is 1/4" thick, and the light brown are 1x1 pieces of wood which will allow me to fasten the boards together by screwing through the 1x1 from the inside, thus, hiding the screws.

Oh yeah. I also decided that for the future 3 monitors will probably be pretty cool.

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/8373/203start.jpg

The top right and left cubby holes will contain the DVD drives, power / rest / fan controls and LED's.

Lots of electrical work to learn, I fear! TBCS community to the rescue!? :whistler:

[ultimatedesk]

Now with the draft finalized, time for the cut sheets. Google Sketchup, I love you.

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/6172/201cuts.jpg

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/7016/202cuts.jpg

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/8720/203cuts.jpg

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/6452/204cuts.jpg

Only 4 sheets! That's good stuff!

Hold on, going to go get some wood!

[ultimatedesk]

Wow, that was blazingly fast, I posted and then only a minute later I had the wood and all chopped up! Here are some pics ;)

I picked up some sheets of 2-sided maple veneered plywood - really nice stuff here, 3/4" of course.

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/1843/img4398n.jpg

And this is the shop I get to work in:

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/5052/img4405n.jpg

And this is my best friend: (5-night stand lol)

http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/4027/img4404s.jpg

A pic of the first victim:

http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/1636/img4410p.jpg

All the lengthwise cuts done with the help of a lovely lady who I covered in sawdust - you can see the boards on the left back of the shop

http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/6830/img4412s.jpg

The smaller cuts, starting to fall into place:

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/3862/img4423rb.jpg

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/6080/img4425fq.jpg

And just a few more big cuts to do. That's good enough for today for me!

http://img541.imageshack.us/img541/8964/img4426c.jpg

Some of the aftermath ;)

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/3858/img4427yu.jpg

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/3826/img4431h.jpg

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/8214/img4435k.jpg

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/8030/img4441cm.jpg

The hero of the day:

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/5893/img4416s.jpg

Thanks for staying tuned! I'll have another update in a couple days! Or maybe tomorrow! I seem to moving very fast right now!!!

[SXRguyinMA]

I love the idea, can't wait to see more!

[Airbozo]

MMMMM freshly cut wood! Nothing like the smell of fresh cut wood in the shop!

Love this project and can't wait for the construction!

Welcome to the forums BTW!

[Indybird]

Cool idea! It looks like you are more than off to a good start. Subscribed.

-Nick

[ultimatedesk]

I love the idea, can't wait to see more!

Thanks SXRguyinMA!


MMMMM freshly cut wood! Nothing like the smell of fresh cut wood in the shop!

Love this project and can't wait for the construction!

Welcome to the forums BTW!

Thanks for the welcome Airbozo! I loooove going to the wood shop, the smell is indeed intoxicating!


Cool idea! It looks like you are more than off to a good start. Subscribed.

-Nick

Thanks Nick! Here's hoping it gets done for Christmas!

Stay tuned for an update! Spent a quick bit in the shop!

[ultimatedesk]

Got a chance to spend a little time in the shop, so I finished the 3 cuts of 28" on the 8' sheet by rigging up a small jig to the table saw.

Also routered a hole through the bottom surface of the desk, made a few mistakes, but hopefully I'll be able to cover them up.

The surface will be composed of two 8' sheets, each 3/4" plywood, so the whole surface will be 1.5" thick. The hole in the upper surface of the desk will be .5" wider all around so that the glass has something to rest on.

I started off measuring with a carpenters square, drilled pilot holes, cut rough cuts with the jigsaw, and then finished the smooth edges with a router using a clamped straight edge.

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/507/img4490h.jpg

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/4591/img4493d.jpg

Here's the mistake I made, I went a bit too far with the router:

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/3007/img44940.jpg

http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/5294/img4495v.jpg

http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/185/img4497b.jpg

Thankfully there was a heater in the shop! It was pretty chilly!

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/1623/img4500u.jpg

Here's a bit of the mess I made ;)

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/4203/img4509h.jpg

http://img529.imageshack.us/img529/60/img4511jh.jpg

And the hero of the night, a Mastercraft Plunge Router

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/2852/img4498l.jpg

Stay tuned! Going to the shop again tomorrow!

[TheMainMan]

Looking forward to following this to it's completion! Love the sketchup drawings to model it out, always helps to get it right. Keep up the good work!

[Waynio]

Excellent idea & want to see this unfold for sure :):up:, subscribed.

[ultimatedesk]

Looking forward to following this to it's completion! Love the sketchup drawings to model it out, always helps to get it right. Keep up the good work!

Thanks TheMainMan, I agree with the Sketchup comment - I've built a half dozen aquarium stands, always pre-sketching with Sketchup and saves me a lot of headaches! You can even "build" it virtually to find any problems before you even purchase any materials!


Excellent idea & want to see this unfold for sure :):up:, subscribed.

Thanks Waynio!

[ultimatedesk]

I was able to spend some time in the shop this weekend, and didn't get as much done as I would have liked to.

One of the main things holding me back right now is the fact that I have not selected the motherboard tray, and template for the motherboard input and outputs, as well as PCI slots. This prevents me from cutting the holes accurately in the back of both of the modules, which prevents me from assembling the actual modules.

I have some "spare" desktop chassis lying around, and will be working to find a solution to that soon.

In the meantime, I started working on the drawers for the right-hand module.

I first took them through the table saw again, trimming off the last 16th or two from some of the boards.

http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/5084/img4517b.jpg

Then went to work sanding all of the pieces down with 150 grit. I will likely go up to a 180 grit before the final stain goes on. I clamped a straight-edge on to the table saw so that it was easier to sand with the grain (Thanks Mike)

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/7791/img4524t.jpg

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/7320/img45250.jpg

http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/9288/img45270.jpg

Slowly, but surely, I went through all the pieces for the drawers, except for the faces. Yes, bad things happen when I don't have my sketchup drawings. I start drawing with markers.

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/4720/img4531x.jpg

http://img262.imageshack.us/img262/1273/img45350.jpg

Mike was doing some work in the shop at the same time as me that day, so there was quite the mess.

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/3691/img45380.jpg

http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/1089/img45490.jpg

I put together my tools of the trade

http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/1228/img4551.jpg

And here are the gluing steps I went through

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/5007/img4553.jpg

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/8535/img4554k.jpg

http://img813.imageshack.us/img813/6683/img4556a.jpg

A few somewhat artistic clamp shots ;)

http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/718/img4557j.jpg

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/1830/img4560g.jpg

http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/7783/img4561s.jpg

Everything looks pretty straight

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/3100/img4563b.jpg

http://img257.imageshack.us/img257/8765/img4564y.jpg

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/4685/img45650.jpg

Glued and clamped together the largest of the drawers, I will likely put some hanging folders here.

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/889/img4570g.jpg

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/9253/img4574zj.jpg

http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/3876/img4576f.jpg

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/7734/img4579k.jpg

Then I screwed everything together with #8 1.5" screws, all holes pre-drilled and countersunk. Most of the holes will be covered by the actual drawer sliding mechanisms, but the exposed ones will get some wood putty.

It's funny being in someone else's wood shop - I couldn't find the countersink bit anywhere - I tried looking through all the drill bit boxes (There were several) and nothing, so I had been using a small bit, then switching to the big bit to countersink, and then switching to the screw bit to screw in the holes.

Mike walks in half-way through the holes and you could tell he was rather amused - he goes to the back of the shop, pulls out a box, pulls out a box from the box, and then a small medicine container out from the box in a box - "Geez, didn't I tell ya to just look around? Oh. Wait. I guess this one was sorta hard to find eh?".

At that point, he also points out that there are several drills in the shop - silly me. So one drill with the countersink bit, one drill with the screw bit. It's been very interesting working in a shop dedicated to this type of work - very, very different from working in the basement with just basic hand tools.

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/2900/img45830.jpg

I haven't attached the faces of the drawers yet as I haven't determined how I would like to attach them. I would also like to attach the trim to the outer edges of the faces before attaching them to the drawers, since it'll be much easier to clamp all the faces together at once.

http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/7269/img4588u.jpg

And that's it for todays update - a bit short, yes, a lot of pictures of clamps, sorry, I got carried away ;)

I'm spending some time in the shop tonight, so hopefully I'll have another update for all of you tomorrow or the day after!

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/9947/img4589i.jpg

[RogueOpportunist]

This is gonna be sweet, I've wanted to do something similar for the longest time but I just don't have the room to work with wood on that scale... Would be sooo sweet to have a custom fab workspace though... Ahh well, maybe someday... Definitely gonna keep an eye on this one. +Rep :up:

[x88x]

Nice work, I always love seeing good woodwork. :D There's just something about a big pile of wood...wait...that didn't come out right... :P

A worklog you might want to check out (if you haven't already) is Spotswood's latest case.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22632
There's a lot of really nice craftsmanship in there.

It might be a little late for this, but have you considered using biscuit joints? It would let you have nice, secure corners with even less screws.

[TheMainMan]

At that point, he also points out that there are several drills in the shop - silly me. So one drill with the countersink bit, one drill with the screw bit. It's been very interesting working in a shop dedicated to this type of work - very, very different from working in the basement with just basic hand tools.


I got a chance to work in a similarily equipped shop this summer. Multiple DeWalt drills and Quick Grip clamps. What a joy that was! I spent the entire time wishing I could mod there, glad to see that you can!

Keep up the good work!

[dr.walrus]

I got a chance to work in a similarily equipped shop this summer.

Yeah last summer I had to do a few bits and bobs but had a luthier's workshop available. Side panel fan cutouts with a drill press and a set of hole cutters makes life much easier...

I like the look of your desk. I like that the construction is so industrial in scale!

[DonT-FeaR]

this is going it be awesome!

[ultimatedesk]

This is gonna be sweet, I've wanted to do something similar for the longest time but I just don't have the room to work with wood on that scale... Would be sooo sweet to have a custom fab workspace though... Ahh well, maybe someday... Definitely gonna keep an eye on this one. +Rep :up:

Thanks RogueOpportunist, I hear you on the "not having the space" thing - in my last apartment I had such a bug to build something, I put up a sheet of plastic dividing half of my living room into a wood shop, taped floor to ceiling! I had to go out one balcony door, and enter the shop by the other balcony door, to avoid getting sawdust all over the rest of the apartment ;)


Nice work, I always love seeing good woodwork. :D There's just something about a big pile of wood...wait...that didn't come out right... :P

A worklog you might want to check out (if you haven't already) is Spotswood's latest case.
http://www.thebestcasescenario.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22632
There's a lot of really nice craftsmanship in there.

It might be a little late for this, but have you considered using biscuit joints? It would let you have nice, secure corners with even less screws.

Haha, yes, you wouldn't believe the number of "I like wood" jokes that go on in the shop. The owner has several friends and family members that pop in to use the shop occasionally, and there are plenty of laughs :)

I have been following Spotswoods case, there are a few ideas that I've been gleaning from it ;)

I have considered using biscuit joints, since the wood shop is so equipped, however, since I've already cut the main pieces with the dado cuts in mind, I think that there would be too many adjustments for not too many advantages.


I got a chance to work in a similarily equipped shop this summer. Multiple DeWalt drills and Quick Grip clamps. What a joy that was! I spent the entire time wishing I could mod there, glad to see that you can!

Keep up the good work!


Yeah last summer I had to do a few bits and bobs but had a luthier's workshop available. Side panel fan cutouts with a drill press and a set of hole cutters makes life much easier...

I like the look of your desk. I like that the construction is so industrial in scale!

Thanks TheMainMan and dr.walrus, I too absolutely love coming to the shop. it's really amazing when you think to yourself "Hmm, how can I make this particular cut or jig" and you search around the shop, and then BAM - 10 different solutions that are all... fun!!

The next big wowee moment I think is when I find someone with a machine shop and full cnc.. :eek::eek:


this is going it be awesome!

Thanks a lot DonT-FeaR!


Here's a quick, small update for those of you ~waiting in anticipation~ oooooohhh! ;) ;)

I finally got around to putting the second hole in the desk surface area (Since the desk is composed of two sheets of plywood, there are two holes needed, with the "top surface" needing a hole that is .5" larger all the way around, so the "bottom surface" supports the piece of glass which covers the gaming computer).

I took a few more detailed pictures compared to last time.

As with before, I started by cutting out a rough shape with the jigsaw. I was able to get within .5" comfortably of my marked lines. Sometimes if you rush the jigsaw, your cuts can get a little squirrely, so I was playing it safe. This is the top surface, so no screwing up here!!

http://img259.imageshack.us/img259/3015/img4590c.jpg

I then took an extra dose of patience, and went in straight to the corners with the jigsaw. This is a step I did not take last time, and I made a mistake with the router because of this.

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/8619/img4594ql.jpg

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/9444/img4593u.jpg

http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/1333/img4595x.jpg

http://img602.imageshack.us/img602/4206/img4599.jpg

I then took the router and pressed the bit right into the corner, and clamped a straight-edge on behind it. This is how I set the distance from the bit to the straight-edge. I repeated the same for the other side.

All it took was a good solid pass from right-to-left and I had a very clean straight edge without having to go all the way into the corners, where mistakes can be made, since it is quite difficult to see where the actual router bit is when the tool is running.

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/7083/img4602d.jpg

http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/9899/img4605.jpg

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/9738/img46080.jpg

Unclamp, reset router, reset clamps and straight edge, lather, rinse, and repeat:

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/4071/img4616u.jpg

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/989/img46170.jpg

This hole had a very small margin of error overall, and I am very pleased with the result. The jigsaw is an incredible versatile tool and can be very accurate, as long as you have patience. This one corner is the only one that will need a touch-up with a file and/or sandpaper, and you can see, it's only going to need less than a 16th of material removal!

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/9139/img4622l.jpg

And that's all I had time for in the shop that day ;) Enjoy some of my mess!

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/1451/img4614h.jpg

http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/9601/img4623g.jpg

Until next time - I have some images in the queue, but I haven't quite gotten around to resizing them just yet ;)

[x88x]

Nice work on that hole, the edges came out really nice.

[ultimatedesk]

Nice work on that hole, the edges came out really nice.

Thanks x88x, I'm pretty pleased with the results myself!


It's been a little while since my last update, so here are a few snapshots. As some of you might know, I've been a little held back in the project due to not having selected my motherboard I/O plates and motherboard trays. Without having the actual items, I couldn't make the appropriate measurements to make cut-outs in the back of the cabinets, and therefore, was unable to make the dado cuts due to worry about everything not fitting properly.

So I scrounged through some old desktop systems I had lying around, emptied their components into my bins, and decided to take apart their chassis in search of some good motherboard tray and I/O parts.

So - off to the spooky basement with a pair of chassis, my trusty drill and dremel.

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/619/img4630k.jpg

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/2639/img4631f.jpg

Having never drilled rivets out of a case before, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect. At first, I started with a bit that was a little bit small, so the rivets came up onto the drill bit itself and got stuck on there pretty good. Eventually, I moved to a bigger bit, and all it took was one good squeeze of the trigger and the rivet would come right out nice and cleanly.

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/8980/img4632.jpg

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/4232/img4635zb.jpg

Starting to rack up some parts here

http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/2571/img4638w.jpg

You can see in the image above that the I/O and PCI Plate is built right into the back of the desktop chassis - this is unfortunate, as you'll see in some future photos, my other case actually had a modular I/O plate. I'll have to take the dremel to that part to get what I need.

Time to grab the pliers...

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/3348/img4640z.jpg

Here is the shot of the back plate of the other desktop chassis - see how the I/O plate was actually riveted in, and not pressed as a whole back sheet like the other one? Soo much easier to deal with.

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/156/img4643zk.jpg

That was a pretty fun experience taking apart the cases. I've got a bunch of scrap sheet metal now too - wonder what interesting projects I can come up with to use them...

I need to dremel out the section that I need, as well as the power supply brackets.

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/5936/img4649l.jpg

Huh.. that actually didn't work out too well, at least, not the way I would like. I'm going to take these parts to the shop to see if there are any better tools for getting nice clean lines.

Until next time!

[Waynio]

It is very possible to get straight cuts with a dremel, try clamping the piece down & rest your forearms on something & use both hands on the dremel for max control, & don't forget about safety glasses, it aint good when discs shatter & shoot off in any direction :eek:.

[farlo]

the flexishaft also helps for keeping the cuts straight with a dremel. awesome idea thus far.

[x88x]

++ on both of these /\. As long as the work surface and yourself are properly supported, straight cuts are fairly easy. If either is not properly supported, it gets really hard. The flexi-shaft helps immensely with detailed work.

[ultimatedesk]

It is very possible to get straight cuts with a dremel, try clamping the piece down & rest your forearms on something & use both hands on the dremel for max control, & don't forget about safety glasses, it aint good when discs shatter & shoot off in any direction :eek:.


the flexishaft also helps for keeping the cuts straight with a dremel. awesome idea thus far.


++ on both of these /\. As long as the work surface and yourself are properly supported, straight cuts are fairly easy. If either is not properly supported, it gets really hard. The flexi-shaft helps immensely with detailed work.

Thanks a lot for the tips. I don't know why I didn't take more time with the Dremel, honestly. I've used it for this type of work before, so maybe it had to do with the fact that I was sitting on the floor in a cold basement and just wanting it to be done ;)

I'll consider trying out the flexishaft sometime. It's funny that I've had it for years and have never tried it out! And yes, I know all about those shattered cutting discs!!

[ultimatedesk]

Sorry for the lack of updates lately, things have been overly busy lately with the Christmas season getting into top gear.

I had some time to take those motherboard tray and I/O Plates to the shop to try out a few tools / techniques for shaping them into something I actually like.

First off, yes, Mike and I tried using the nice Dewalt Jigsaw, but the Mastercraft metal blades we were trying to use just wouldn't stay in the darn clamp. It would cut like butter for maybe 10 seconds and then bam, the blade would fall out of the bottom of the jigsaw onto the ground. Not sure what was going on there.

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/4995/img4655o.jpg

Next up, we tried this neat little Mastercraft oscillating tool with a metal blade as well, but no such luck. Couldn't figure out a good way to clamp down the metal tray, so it just vibrated it like crazy instead of actually cutting.

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/5602/img4656j.jpg

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/8665/img4658r.jpg

Our next contestant was an air compressor powered cutting wheel, which, was ultimately less accurate than the dremel, and just as slow.

http://img686.imageshack.us/img686/6139/img4660j.jpg

So we took out the big gun, the sawzall.

http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/5674/img4653i.jpg

Ha, no, just kidding. It wouldn't work even a tiny bit for a piece like this.

In the end, you know what ultimately worked the best?

http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/3956/img4663mr.jpg

Yeah, a hacksaw. Go figure.

Anyways, here you can see my mangled I/O plate for the motherboard. It's not a pretty sight at all in my opinion.

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/4136/img4666s.jpg

This is the nice I/O plate that I didn't even have to do anything except drill out a few rivets.

http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/5499/img4668w.jpg

I think I'm going to have to come up with a better solution for this. We'll see shortly ;)

Hope everyone who is getting snow is enjoying it, I know here in Ottawa, it's been a pretty crazy few days!

Stay tuned for more updates, will be spending some time in the shop this week and working with WOOD!

[dr.walrus]

My favourite bit for removing rivets is a countersink bit - a sharp one. Cuts the middle of the lid of the rivet out, no fuss, no damage.

[ultimatedesk]

My favourite bit for removing rivets is a countersink bit - a sharp one. Cuts the middle of the lid of the rivet out, no fuss, no damage.
Hey doc, that sounds like a great idea, I'll have to try that out sometime ;)

I had a bit of time in the shop this week to work on getting my drawers up to speed. I decided to take the advice of a fellow forum member and add "false fronts" to my drawers so that I can attach the "real fronts" using screws by screwing from the inside of the drawer, so I wouldn't have any screw heads to cover up on the outside.

Here they are, with my roughed out false fronts - I happened to have 3 pieces of wood almost exactly the size I needed.

http://img152.imageshack.us/img152/4219/img4671y.jpg

Time to take out 'ol trusty

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/2255/img4674jx.jpg

A quick test fit, and all 3 fit perfectly

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/3345/img4675l.jpg

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/7838/img4677p.jpg

Add a bit of glue, and some trusty clamps, and we've got ourselves the beginnings of some false fronts!

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/9756/img4678b.jpg

http://img3.imageshack.us/img3/9849/img4681s.jpg

http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/3007/img4683jb.jpg

All 3 of them fit rather nicely. I think they helped square out the drawers overall as well (Even though they were only out of square by around 1/16th of an inch).

So, I've got some time for the glue to dry. I'm not sure if anyone can remember this, but in my original cut sheets, I had planned on cutting out a specific piece of wood using the wood that I jigsawed out of the desk surface.

Here's that piece:

http://img80.imageshack.us/img80/3659/img4686cl.jpg

Not, exactly.... square..

So I take this nice little protractor attached to a table saw slide - it's set at 90, so here we go!

http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/2494/img4691lw.jpg

I do 2 sides, and then use the actual table saw fence to square out the other 2, but something just doesn't seem right..

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/5969/img4695z.jpg

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/2874/img4700y.jpg

It's not really square. What's going on here?

http://img208.imageshack.us/img208/5723/img4706ye.jpg

Aha! Looks like the protractor was a little bit off, resulting in a shape one step closer to a diamond as opposed to a square. After a bit of readjustment, I redid that bit and cut it to size - it's the drawer face for the large drawer.

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/9026/img4707l.jpg

Now that the glue is settled, I decided to throw a few screws into the false fronts.

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/9344/img4711lq.jpg

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/4889/img4713.jpg

Awesome. And solid too!

http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/4337/img4717uy.jpg

Now, this is kind of embarrassing, but I had to go back and fix a mistake I made in my initial cuts. This piece of wood was supposed to be 20" x 28", but it ended up being more like 19.8" x 28". It may not seem like much, but this is the back piece to the left-hand cabinet. I would have to adjust the width of all 3 shelves if I were to continue using this, and I've got the space already pretty tightly packed with computer components on the top shelf.

So... don't do this at home, just cut a new piece of wood (I didn't want to cut into a new sheet of 4x8 just for this one piece...)

This piece looks like a good fit...

http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/6089/img4723g.jpg

:banghead:

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/2548/img4727t.jpg

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/4532/img4731q.jpg

No one will see it, because it'll be in the back, but you will all know. So... let's just forget that ever happened, ok? ;)

[x88x]

Looks good...even with the mistake. ;)

[Waynio]

Coming together nicely :):up:.

[ultimatedesk]

Looks good...even with the mistake. ;)
Mistake? What mistake? ;) ;) (Thanks!)


Coming together nicely :):up:.
Thanks Waynio :)

I decided it was time to glue the two surfaces together that would comprise of the actual desk surface and take a break from working on the drawers for a while.

Here it is, the first piece. At first I wanted to lay it face down, so I could evenly distribute screws through the bottom, but in the end, I went face up so I would protect the surface, and it would be a LOT easier to line up the holes.

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/6007/img4733k.jpg

I threw on the top layer, lined them up, and thought to myself: Hmm, I wonder what it'll look like with the top shelf stacked on:

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/8218/img4734j.jpg

Pretty cool. This was the first time I had actually pulled a chair up to it to get a real grasp of how big this desk is going to be. I was pretty psyched.

Just a note, the two pieces of wood on each end holding up the shelf will actually be the inner supports (ie, pushed inwards towards the middle of the desk a foot or two), and the cubby holes on the outer ends will support the long shelf. The long shelf also has to be trimmed a couple inches, it won't reach right to the end of the desk.

http://img149.imageshack.us/img149/1343/img4738e.jpg

This next part was really quite a challenge on my own.

I lined it up as best as I could (According to the holes that I cut out, since the edges are easy to trim later), lifted one end with a mighty, strong arm, squirted as much glue as I could with my other arm (And only as far as I could reach!), put it down gently, ran to the other side and repeated.

Let me tell you - with the amount of glue I put down, and the fact that each side weighs 20-30 pounds - it did NOT want to slide around easily to get into perfect position.

In the end, I had to muscle it around a bit to get the holes lined up satisfactorily.

(I spoke with a couple friends about this afterward, and one of them suggested making some pilot holes and screwing in a few screws BEFORE the gluing, and then retracting the screws so that just the tips go through the bottom board. That way after the glue is put down, you shuffle around the top board until the tips of the screws find the pilot holes, thus, eliminating the issue of getting proper alignment before the glue becomes too tacky.)

I then threw some weight on top of the table, attached as many clamps as I could find, and started putting some 1.25" screws through the bottom.

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/7586/img4739n.jpg

A few clamp shots of the hole - everything lined up pretty much perfect. 1/2" on the left and right, 1/2" at the bottom, and I think just a little under 3/4" at the top. (The size of the lip between the upper and lower holes)

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/5274/img4741k.jpg

http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/7161/img4743a.jpg

http://img815.imageshack.us/img815/5458/img4745.jpg

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/9937/img4751x.jpg

I wasn't satisfied with the way the clamping was going on lengthwise on the surface. I didn't have enough clamps to place them every half foot, so luckily, Mike had some of these nice, big, cedar logs lying around that I re-purposed temporarily.

http://img411.imageshack.us/img411/2972/img4753w.jpg

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/2741/img4755z.jpg

http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/5793/img4761x.jpg

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/603/img4762j.jpg

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/8404/img4766.jpg

The end result turned out quite nicely. The hole was lined up properly. There is only a small overhang / underhang of maybe 2/16's of an inch on two of the edges of the surfaces that should be easy to correct with a flush-bit on the router later.

We'll take a look at them next update! Thanks for staying tuned!

[x88x]

Nice work on the tabletop. I like the idea of having that thick a surface. :D Is the top piece countertop plywood (not sure if that's the right term..more expensive, but they make sure there are no voids)?

[ultimatedesk]

Nice work on the tabletop. I like the idea of having that thick a surface. :D Is the top piece countertop plywood (not sure if that's the right term..more expensive, but they make sure there are no voids)?
Nope, I did not use countertop plywood. I wasn't aware that there was such a thing! Hopefully voids won't be an issue ;)

Hey all, hope everyone had a good Holiday!

I got a chance to do some work on the drawer face trim - this was my first time doing solid wood trim.

I cut a nice piece of maple into 1/4" strips, glued, and sanded. I only did one piece this time, as I am not totally sure that this is the way I would like to go.

Something about the trim not meshing quite well with the plywood.

First, I set the table saw to the right width:

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/5842/img4768q.jpg

Measure 3 times, and you get a nice solid cut:

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/606/img4774hy.jpg

Made a few strips:

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/7062/img4780e.jpg

http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/4989/img4777h.jpg

Cut, glued, and clamped on the initial pieces of trim. The trim pieces were about 2/16's of an inch wider than the plywood, which is great, since there will be no voids, though, I'll have to do quite a bit of sanding:

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/7807/img4788p.jpg

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/1418/img4789yz.jpg

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/4835/img4793v.jpg

Took the sander to the top and bottom:

http://img339.imageshack.us/img339/4912/img4794d.jpg

http://img139.imageshack.us/img139/3311/img4795f.jpg

http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/4702/img4796t.jpg

Overall, it looks pretty good. I'm still not 100% certain about it, however. I'm thinking there is a strong possibility I will go with solid maple for the drawer faces.

http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/9692/img4800u.jpg

[DonT-FeaR]

this is going to be insane mate

[ultimatedesk]

this is going to be insane mateThankd DonT FeaR ;)

Hey everyone, sorry for the lack of updates recently, I've been quite busy.

I'll put up some new shots of my progress sometime this weekend, but here's some food for thought in the meantime.

This is the upstairs of the place I moved into a few months ago, and where the desk will eventually go. It'll fit nicely in the space, about 6 or 7 inches wider than the current desk you see there, and it will occupy most of the length of the hallway.

My current desk is a real pain in the butt. I purchased it used last year, and needed the smallest desk possible since I was living in a little bachelor on my own, in fact, my computer desk was beside the kitchen table and it was the only way I could get any work done! My knees always get jammed underneath the keyboard tray, so this new desk will resolve that issue as well! ;)

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/125/img4481k.jpg

http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/4808/img4456.jpg

There she is. Yes, it's a Guild Wars mousepad that I got for free with the game so many years ago. Yes, that's a BMW M5, the sweetest kind there is / ever was. Yes, it's a crappy desk.

http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/904/img4466sk.jpg

And here's my current system, an old Pentium 4 3.2Ghz. The Coolermaster CM690 was upgraded to only a year ago or so (Thanks sis).

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/2015/img4477b.jpg

You can see I had to cut away a portion of the desk in the back to make the tower fit. Hilarious, I know.

Take care, I'll get you guys a nice big update posted on the weekend ;)

[artoodeeto]

You can see I had to cut away a portion of the desk in the back to make the tower fit. Hilarious, I know.

You're definitely not the only who's had to do that :) - at one point I had holes cut in a bookcase backing for DVD player cords because I had nowhere else for the DVD player to go...

[ultimatedesk]

Hehehe, nice artoodeeto!

Had another really busy weekend and unfortunately, wasn't able to post the update on the weekend like I originally wanted to...

BUT! Made a new friend - meet Mr.Air Nailer.

http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/2418/img4804h.jpg

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/5255/img4807m.jpg

Nice and fast, no need to clamp everything down, and I can get a lot more trim done a lot quicker.

I really did a better job of being picky with the trim, and selected cuts that matched the colour a lot better:

http://img697.imageshack.us/img697/9039/img4810k.jpg

Compared to the first drawer face that I tried:

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/4724/img4802p.jpg

That had to change, so I took my most subtle and elegant tools:

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/2503/img4811g.jpg

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/6935/img4815x.jpg

And, replaced the two mis-coloured pieces with nicer ones.

Anyways - this is what my trim production line looked like for the day:

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/5733/img4820w.jpg

First, I would mark off the lengths on an appropriately coloured piece of trim just using a pencil and holding the trim against the piece:

http://img406.imageshack.us/img406/7060/img4827j.jpg

Take it over to the miter saw and trim it to within a sixteenth of an inch or so on both ends:

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/3539/img4822e.jpg

http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/3898/img4830g.jpg

See that cedar log in the bottom right? Remember it being longer? Mike was in the shop today turning them into table legs, which partially explains the big mess!

http://img814.imageshack.us/img814/2001/img4825.jpg

I then took the piece that is being trimmed, as well as the trim, to the little sander. I would sand to a good 90 degree angle, and get the length just right.

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/7756/img4824z.jpg

http://img254.imageshack.us/img254/3016/img4836g.jpg

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/3000/img4837c.jpg

Glue down, and nail down!

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/1337/img4840y.jpg

http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/1109/img4847v.jpg

Occasionally, I'll crack the trim with the nailer... which means it has to be removed, and re-done with a new piece of trim:

http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/3530/img4842c.jpg

After some sanding:

http://img413.imageshack.us/img413/2938/img4876j.jpg

I finished all 3 drawer faces and then got started on the actual drawers. They look pretty decent. Not perfect, but they look nice.

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/3632/img4880.jpg

[DonT-FeaR]

grade A work here. ill be waiting for more

[ultimatedesk]

grade A work here. ill be waiting for moreThanks DonT-FeaR, as usual, appreciated :)

I used a fairly similar process as the drawer faces, I started out by cutting myself some fresh trim strips from this piece of maple:

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/1959/img4851.jpg

Hit the miter saw and sander, and lay down some glue:

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/3933/img4864n.jpg

Then with the nailer. Whoops, one more split.

http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/3527/img4870hp.jpg

Here's a before and after shot from the sanding. You'll notice the maple strips got burnt pretty badly when I put them through the table saw (The blade is getting a bit old). After a bit of sanding, they look as fresh as ever:

http://img842.imageshack.us/img842/9405/img4885bw.jpg

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/5476/img4891u.jpg

[ultimatedesk]

After trimming all of the drawers and faces, I had to get some wood filler to fill in all of the screw and nail holes, as well as the small voids between the plywood and solid wood. All in all, this process went OK - not as nice as I would have liked.

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/4130/img4924e.jpg

http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/782/img4930e.jpg

For the mostpart, I used Elmers Natural Colour Wood Filler. While it did the job, the colour matching wasn't exactly... inconspicious, to say the least. I also tried mixing some sawdust from the random-orbit sander with some wood glue, with not so great results.

http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/9582/img4935b.jpg

http://img806.imageshack.us/img806/83/img4941.jpg

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/4488/img4942i.jpg

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/5906/img4945ef.jpg

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/9691/img4952x.jpg

You can clearly see, in the end result, that the sawdust/glue filler looks more like glue. It has an almost transparent look to it. I guess I should have used more sawdust?

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/959/img4953.jpg

http://img502.imageshack.us/img502/3779/img4957y.jpg

Anyways, I finished up the rest of the voids and holes with the regular Elmers stuff:

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/9074/img4968m.jpg

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/8156/img4976v.jpg

And then sanded it it all up:

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/4749/img5079b.jpg

http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/5299/img5083b.jpg

Anyone have any tips on how I can further hide the holes? I will have to go over them again with some more wood filler just to smooth them out completely, but even so, I have a feeling that the stain will accentuate all of my filling, which is not the desired effect, to say the least!!

I have ALMOST determined the stain / technique I will be using. I'm getting some very nice, richly coloured red mahogany / cherry right now on my test boards. With that in mind, has anyone used darker wood filler than the natural wood, when staining dark with good effect?

[Snowman]

i know hindsight is 20/20 but if you were looking for minimal holes brads and biscuits or dovetail with tongue and groove for the bottoms would have been the way to go. Awesome desk at any rate.

[ultimatedesk]

i know hindsight is 20/20 but if you were looking for minimal holes brads and biscuits or dovetail with tongue and groove for the bottoms would have been the way to go. Awesome desk at any rate.Yeah... it's been a great learning experience so far. I can guarantee that my next project will use some more advanced joinery techniques. Thanks for the comments :)

Will have another update up here in a day or two, stay tuned!

[x88x]

TBH, biscuits would have been easier and probably faster, too. ...higher initial cost buying the biscuit joiner though...

Still though, it looks good. Unfortunately there's not much you can do about the holes and filler. Just get them as close as possible to the surrounding wood color once you stain it, and keep them out of sight as much as possible.

[Blkfxx]

I can vouch for biscuits, And the cutter does the work really quick.

[ultimatedesk]

TBH, biscuits would have been easier and probably faster, too. ...higher initial cost buying the biscuit joiner though...

Still though, it looks good. Unfortunately there's not much you can do about the holes and filler. Just get them as close as possible to the surrounding wood color once you stain it, and keep them out of sight as much as possible.


I can vouch for biscuits, And the cutter does the work really quick.Ahh yesh, the biscuit joiner. You know - there is actually one in the shop too - just didn't have access to the shop when I was designing the project so I completely disregarded that "fantasy" lol - I was going to build the whole thing in my basement with... nothing but a skillsaw, really! Next project!!

Received a nice package in the mail a couple weeks ago that I've been meaning to show off...

http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/8451/img5325lx.jpg

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/354/img5329l.jpg

What could it be?

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/9654/img5331j.jpg

Woohoo!!!

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/6927/img5337y.jpg

http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/8536/img5344c.jpg

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/112/img5346b.jpg

That's:
4 x 2 GB of 1600Mhz CL7 Ballistix RAM from Crucial and
2 x 2 GB of 1333Mhz ECC, Registered RDIMM RAM from Crucial!

So it looks like for the main system I will have some options. Currently I'm thinking either a socket 1156 Core i5/i7 or a newer Sandy Bridge socket 1155. The only issue that may occur with the Sandy Bridge is that those Crucial Ballistix are rated for 1.65 Volts, which I understand is a bit over the recommended voltage for RAM for the 1155 boards. There is a possibility of looking at an AMD AM3 system as well with a Phenom x4 or x6 - I have not made up my mind entirely yet.

For the server system, I am almost definetely going with a Xeon processor - which motherboard is still in the air.

Aren't they so nice? ;)

http://img87.imageshack.us/img87/7379/img5350f.jpg

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/3406/img5362x.jpg

Can't wait to open them up and test them out! It'll have to wait for now, however.

So here's a distraction - my cat! She's going to have some kittens soon!

http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/9820/img5367e.jpg

Big thanks go out to Crucial, who are officially the first sponsor for The Ultimate Computer Desk

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/4871/cruciallogo.gif (http://www.crucial.com)

Stay tuned, lots of updates in the pipeline!

[x88x]

Congrats on the sponsor! And the kittens! :D

[Waynio]

Looking good mate, very nice work & congrats on the sponsor 8):up:.

[SXRguyinMA]

congrats!

[msmrx57]

Congrats!! And looking good. :up:

[ultimatedesk]

Congrats on the sponsor! And the kittens! :D
Looking good mate, very nice work & congrats on the sponsor 8):up:.
congrats!
Congrats!! And looking good. :up:
Thanks for all the congrats guys, I was super excited when Crucial said they'd be up to the task! Here's looking up :)

Can't wait for my cat to have kittens too - should be lots of fun around the house for a few weeks :)

Last time I left off, with regards to the table surface, I had just finished gluing and screwing it together. I put it on the backburner for about a week to dry while I worked on the drawers, and now I'm going to take it down in preparation for putting the outer trim on it.

Here it is:

http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/9556/img4981n.jpg

All 4 sides were a bit off, with regards to the flushness. This was expected, as the initial sizing cuts were pretty rough, and it's better to have extra material than not enough.

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/6851/img4987x.jpg

Took out a straight-cut flush bit for the router, and some 60-grit sandpaper for the random orbital sander, and got to work. I did two passes with the router, because since the bit is not 1 1/2" tall, I couldn't trim the whole side of the table with just one pass.

http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/918/img4997w.jpg

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/3538/img5004mx.jpg

http://img217.imageshack.us/img217/852/img4998u.jpg

http://img525.imageshack.us/img525/5364/img5013n.jpg

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/9412/img5017k.jpg

And, after a bit of work, the final result:

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/7271/img5018j.jpg

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/8423/img5019xc.jpg

http://img812.imageshack.us/img812/332/img5022w.jpg

The next step is to take a long strip of maple and turn it into trim for the table surface.

[x88x]

Nicely done, looks great. :up:

[TheMainMan]

Wow, that really cleaned up the edges! Congrats again on the sponsor!

[ultimatedesk]

Nicely done, looks great. :up:Thanks, x88x!


Wow, that really cleaned up the edges! Congrats again on the sponsor!Thanks, TheMainMan, love the username ;) I added trim to the edges, hopefully I'll have time to post that update soon :) I've got another surprise sponsor lined up, so you'll see some new kit soon as well!!

[Munty]

Looking good, I'm always jealous of you guys with all the space and tools for this sort of stuff. I have to just muddle along with whatever I have to hand :D

[TheMainMan]

Thanks, x88x!

Thanks, TheMainMan, love the username ;) I added trim to the edges, hopefully I'll have time to post that update soon :) I've got another surprise sponsor lined up, so you'll see some new kit soon as well!!

Thanks! The name isn't quite as self centered as it seems, my last name is Main so it's actually quite literal.
Glad to hear about another sponsor, looking forward to seeing who it is!

[Twigsoffury]

aah the ram voltages are different between those two.

sweet ram though!

[ultimatedesk]

Looking good, I'm always jealous of you guys with all the space and tools for this sort of stuff. I have to just muddle along with whatever I have to hand :DI hear you Munty - before I had access to this shop, I made all of my other projects with a circular saw, a drill, and a router. It's possible, but it just takes a LOT more measuring and a LOT of clamping of straight edges!!!


Thanks! The name isn't quite as self centered as it seems, my last name is Main so it's actually quite literal.
Glad to hear about another sponsor, looking forward to seeing who it is!Hehehe, well yeah, guess that makes sense then ;) I've got the pics taken of the next hardware, but I won't post them until next week probably, you know, to keep up the suspense for this epic build log and all that lol


aah the ram voltages are different between those two.

sweet ram though!Yeah, the Ballistics stuff is 1.6 volt if I'm not mistaken, so I'm not sure how compatible it will be with the Sandy Bridge stuff. The server RAM is only 1.35 volt, which I'm hoping will translate into ultra minute power savings (lol, do the math, save 0.15 volts on 2 sticks of RAM, I'll probably save a whole dollar next year!)

The last time I left off, I had just finished flushing the sides of the table in preparation to add some trim. I found a nice piece of long maple that was just a little over 8 feet long, a little wider than 1.5 inches, and thick enough to cut some 1/4 inch strips from.

I layed it out, setup the table saw and cut myself a test piece.

http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/4236/img5030j.jpg

Looks good!

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/9822/img5033a.jpg

Here's a pic of the cutting process. I'm afraid I had some difficulty with this. Actually, let me rephrase - the saw had some difficulty with this. I was still using the same blade I've been using the whole project - which needs replacement pretty badly. Asking it to cut through 1.5 inches of maple, for a length of 8 feet was asking a lot of it.

http://img141.imageshack.us/img141/8039/img5041x.jpg

I made it through eventually, but the whole process left quite a few burn marks on the wood.

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/4203/img5054v.jpg

I glued and nailed the trim around the perimeter of the desk, which was a pretty straightforward process.

http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/1161/img5061x.jpg

And then took out a hand plane to get rid of most of the excess material and bring the trim down flush with the desk surface. Some neat pictures here.

http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/3479/img5065l.jpg

http://img404.imageshack.us/img404/8459/img5077p.jpg

After some sanding with some 60-grit on the random orbit sander to get everything smooth, I went nuts with the wood filler.

http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/9743/img5120z.jpg

http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/3825/img5130w.jpg

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/4897/img5135n.jpg

At that point I stood the surface up in the back of the shop and called it a night.

Next update in the loop, I setup some dado blades in the table saw, mmm mmmm, that was fun!

Have a good weekend everyone!

[x88x]

Looking good.

[Waynio]

Nice work mate it's going to turn out beautiful :):up:.

[ultimatedesk]

Looking good.

Nice work mate it's going to turn out beautiful :):up:.Thank you both!

It's been a while since the last update, but basically, I got around to installing the dado blade on the table saw to make some important cuts for the two cabinets, and was able to do a bit of test fitting.

For those of you not really in the know, a dado blade has two regular saw blades (One for the left, one for the right) and some irregular shaped blades of varying thickness that you put in between, until you get the right width. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/3456/img5096r.jpg

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/6366/img5098b.jpg

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/4350/img5104t.jpg

The beauty of using dado blades in the table saw (At least I think) is that you can set it up at the right height and width, and then set the fence to the proper width and do all 3 of your supporting boards one after another so they will be lined up perfectly when it comes time for assembly.

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/5234/img5107b.jpg

I put 3 cuts in each of the 3 supporting walls of the left-hand cabinet. There was a bit of chipping, I should have probably put down some masking tape, but it's nothing major and will be on the inside anyways.

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/9876/img5109m.jpg

I threw on a bit of wood filler to patch up the chipped parts, and then let these 3 dry while I worked on the right-hand cabinet cuts.

http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/1948/img5147.jpg

I then had some time to put together a quick test fitting! Not bad! Some of the wood was just a bit crooked, so I'll have to spend some time with the sander to loosen up some of the dado joints.

http://img816.imageshack.us/img816/2979/img5155s.jpg

http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/1196/img5156d.jpg

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/3946/img5162a.jpg

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/5441/img5164f.jpg

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/307/img5173fd.jpg

http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/8921/img5178q.jpg

This pretty much completes the first phase of the project - I won't have any use for any of the big, messy tools anymore.

All that's really left are a few small detail cuts, some holes need to be cut out, the whole thing needs to be sanded to pre-stain state, and then assembly and staining!

I'll be bringing all of the materials back to my place where I'll be doing just that.

[ultimatedesk]

And, through the miracle of internet technology, I'm bringing you the next update right away!

There wasn't much work done in this update - just thought I'd show everyone where the progress is going to be taking place from now on. The spooky basement in my building!

It's a really old house, at least over a hundred years old, in fact, there's a 12" x 12" solid beam of wood running as the main support member along the entire length of the house, it must be at least 30 feet long. Can't get those any more!!!

My main complaint with the basement is that I am constantly bashing my head on the low ceiling beams, and it's quite cold! Getting motivated to go work down there is not nearly as easy as working in the nice, heated wood shop.

Time to let the pictures do the talking:

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/4817/img5373z.jpg

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/6990/img5377v.jpg

I purchased a new shop vac at Canadian Tire along with a bunch of other stuff during the Boxing Week sales after Christmas. Sweet.

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/6552/img5379p.jpg

I also setup a plastic wall to help prevent sawdust from going all over the basement, as well as to help keep any breezes contained when it comes time to stain.

http://img251.imageshack.us/img251/5518/img5381g.jpg

Some of my personal tools:

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/3367/img5383m.jpg

http://img145.imageshack.us/img145/786/img5386o.jpg

http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/8476/img5387u.jpg

http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/5081/img5388l.jpg

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/5255/img5390b.jpg

And there we have it! Until next time, have a good weekend!

[msmrx57]

Those dado cut look great. With the plastic ur a small space heater shold take the chill out of the space easily.

[x88x]

Looking good :up: I'm liking the new work space...though I don't see the height issue... :whistler: *5'6"* :whistler:

[TheMainMan]

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/3367/img5383m.jpg


I drooled a little when I saw this:)

Didn't realise you were a fellow Canuck, always good to see another Canadian on the forum.

Depending on how you're fastening the back on you could get away with the cuts you have if you use a rubber mallet (or scrap 2x4 held over the edge for a normal hammer) to tap the pieces in place. Then fasten the back on and the tension should even out the warped pieces of wood and leave you with a very good fit.

Keep up the great work!

[TheGreatSatan]

Looking awesome thus far

[ultimatedesk]

Those dado cut look great. With the plastic ur a small space heater shold take the chill out of the space easily.Thanks, I did think about setting up a heater down there, but there are a few things I'm concerned about.

1. Heater on the floor with all that sawdust is probably not a great idea. Don't really have anywhere to mount it up high.
2. Power Draw - I think I would have to run an extension cord from a different breaker, since starting up the power tools on the same cord will likely throw a circuit into a fit.

I will consider putting a heater down there for the staining phase, when all the sawdust will be cleaned up and I won't be using power tools anymore though.


Looking good :up: I'm liking the new work space...though I don't see the height issue... :whistler: *5'6"* :whistler:Hehehe, that's what Mike said - "What? I don't see the problem, this is great!". Someone suggested I cut head shaped patterns out of the joists where I usually walk lmao


I drooled a little when I saw this:)

Didn't realise you were a fellow Canuck, always good to see another Canadian on the forum.

Depending on how you're fastening the back on you could get away with the cuts you have if you use a rubber mallet (or scrap 2x4 held over the edge for a normal hammer) to tap the pieces in place. Then fasten the back on and the tension should even out the warped pieces of wood and leave you with a very good fit.

Keep up the great work!I really like that shot too lol - over the past few years I've picked up a couple at a time whenever they go on sale (And man, do they ever go on sale. Like 75% off or something crazy), and when boxing week hit, I actually hit up 3 Canadian Tires in a row and bought ALL of the 24" and 36"ers lmao, I knew they would come in handy - you can never have enough clamps!

Roger that, with regards to the rubber mallet - you'll see in todays update I had to do just that after even generous sanding.


Looking awesome thus farThanks, oh dark one ;)

So, I did a bit of work in the basement the other night, and since the next part of the project is going to be assembly, I decided to give it another shot at test fitting, since the last time I tried it was just loosely put together.

Time to get out the sander with some 80 grit. The hose on my shop vac is a little over 2", and I didn't have an adapter to attach it to the DeWalt ROB Sander unfortunately, so a little tape had to do the job.

http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/7360/img5413w.jpg

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/2197/img5415ox.jpg

I took each piece one by one and sanded down the edges where they slide into the dado cuts. I had to do a surprising amount of sanding, as the fit was incredibly tight.

I also took the time to label each piece (Top, Middle, Bottom, and which side faces the front) so that it could be easily repeatable when it comes time for final assembly.

Almost there. So tight! I needed a rubber mallet to set some of them, and then remove them afterwards.

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/982/img5417.jpg

This shelf was just ~slightly~ warped, and needed a lot of sanding so that one end was nice and snug, and this end actually a bit of free space (Hello wood filler!)

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/7584/img5419s.jpg

A couple more progress shots:

http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/796/img5421v.jpg

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/4202/img5423xc.jpg

And, all tightly assembled. I could probably jump on this box...

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/782/img5424h.jpg

http://img153.imageshack.us/img153/687/img5425j.jpg

I spent about an hour and a half doing that, and honestly, it was freezing cold down there and that's about all I could stand for that evening. Until next time!

[ultimatedesk]

So - it's been some time since my last update (What has it been.. 2 weeks? Geez!) but I haven't been idle at home, it's just that I was really busy (There are kittens running around now!) and I've been working with some staining techniques, which has been a long, learning process.

I did a bit of research and came across a good video over here: Link (http://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=3&sqi=2&ved=0CCwQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthewoodwhisperer.com%2Fstaining-maple%2F&rct=j&q=the%20wood%20whispere%20staining&ei=cUJLTd2VJoidOo3LnUI&usg=AFQjCNGo_NcP_Jil7EwTpPVmTP7DMhxJew&sig2=kA_qSml-d2YW4s6XJcHQ-A&cad=rja) and I opted to give it a shot, because there apparently, is a tendency for maple to come out a little blotchy due to the tight grain, or something or other like that.

So I picked up some supplies:

http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/4631/img5437.jpg

Made up a test board - some wood filler, some real maple trim, and one side sanded to 120 and the other sanded to 220:

http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/6497/img5433q.jpg

And, apparently, I was supposed to cut the shellac with some denatured alcohol. Something I was not able to find, and subsequently, I found out that it is actually quite difficult to obtain here in Ottawa. I did not realize at the time, that I could have cut it with methyl hydrate, which is something quite commonly available at the local Canadian Tire.

And, this is where things start to go wrong. Here is the shellac applied:

http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/9672/img5440p.jpg

Ok, not bad. Full strength. Ended up closing the grain structure completely, most likely. Here is the gel stain I chose:

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/9006/img5442n.jpg

And, onto the wood:

http://img815.imageshack.us/img815/3368/img5441i.jpg

Wait 5 minutes, wipe off...

http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/8628/img5443j.jpg

Gross. Seriously? This is why you test on samples first. Look at that colour - it's practically pink!

How about a second coat.

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/2835/img5445p.jpg

And why the heck not, we'll stain the back as well, where it hasn't been shellac'd.

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/9831/img5446j.jpg

Huh...

http://img576.imageshack.us/img576/8530/img5447.jpg

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/4843/img5448wm.jpg

Now really. That was not quite what I was expecting. Time to get a new sample piece - no shellac, but sanded properly to 120.

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/9439/img5449yn.jpg

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/5696/img5451n.jpg

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/9176/img5453w.jpg

What's going on here? This is not really the expected "richness" of a dark gel stain like this, is it? Hmm..

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/2639/img5452e.jpg

Doh! Looks like keeping the gel stain in the basement, where it is freezing, separated the contents. There is a visible layer of clear liquid on top of the stain - that shouldn't be there.

Staining attempt number 1? Failure.

1. If you're using shellac to seal, to avoid streaking and blotching - you MUST cut it
2. If you're going to use a gel stain, don't keep it in a cold environment before you're about to use it.

Well, time to put the stain upstairs for a little while, and maybe another trip to the hardware store... And just an fyi, this took me about a week just to do the 2 samples, since it's so cold, I can only do 1 coat per day, as it takes a long time to dry.

And here's a little something else:

http://img340.imageshack.us/img340/9352/feb1201.jpg

Cute, no? A litter of 5 - the first one was stillborn, so we've got 4 kittens, pretty exciting stuff. ;)

[AmEv]

~~!!!!*********Cute overload!!*******!!!!!`~~

[x88x]

Yay kittens. :D Sorry to hear about the one though.. :(

[StormRider]

poor one. as for the others,
It's so cute I'm gonna die!!!!! XD

[ultimatedesk]

~~!!!!*********Cute overload!!*******!!!!!`~~

Yay kittens. :D Sorry to hear about the one though.. :(

poor one. as for the others,
It's so cute I'm gonna die!!!!! XDlmao, you're all too much - they are super cute aren't they? That picture was taken a couple weeks ago. I've got a pic in this update at the bottom, and they are about 20 days old (They had just opened their eyes). Currently, in the present time, they are almost 40 days old if I'm not mistaken. You'll see some of those pics soon ;)


Some of you may have wondered - "You stained 2 small pieces of wood in the past 2 weeks?! That's all you have to show for progress on THE ULTIMATE DESK?!"

Well, not quite... Really - I did more, I swear.

As you all know, the first staining attempt went really poorly, so I immediately went out and started on a second staining attempt. This time, I purchased some pre-stain wood conditioner, as well as a traditional oil-based stain. I also set out to do this the right way. If I'm going to spend a week staining small samples, I might as well have something to show for it. I cut 8 small blocks of wood, and sanded them all to 120 grit, just like before, and tacked them all off.

http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/9321/img5460s.jpg

I had a plan this time - I was going to see what kind of colour combinations I could get with just 2 stains, and 1 wood conditioner (The gel stain, for what it's worth, had been mixed several times, and had been kept upstairs for a few days). Here is the wood conditioner I used. You can see in the background that it tints the wood just slightly.

http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/9548/img5462g.jpg

Here is the oil-based stain I picked up. It's a Minwax product, Red Mahogany.

http://img860.imageshack.us/img860/2148/img5467.jpg

And of course, the Varathane Gel Stain that you've already seen, also, Red Mahogany.

http://img864.imageshack.us/img864/9452/img5468di.jpg

In this picture you can see a bit how the oil stain reacts to the wood conditioner. The wood conditioner seemed to have hardly any effect on the gel stain, most likely because gel stains don't really penetrate the wood the same as an oil stain.

http://img849.imageshack.us/img849/4703/img5464z.jpg

And in this picture you can see the whopping difference between the oil stain and gel stain, which are, strangely enough, supposed to be the same colour. The one on the left is the Minwax, and the one in the middle is the Varathane. Neither the first or second piece have wood conditioner on them. The piece on the right is wood conditioner + the Minwax oil stain.

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/1271/img5469r.jpg

Here's the production line, the stain is still wet, I haven't wiped off the excess yet.

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/2919/img5471ea.jpg

And here is the result of 2 days of staining. (First day sanding, tacking, wood conditioner, first coat of stain, second day some of them got a second coat).

From left to right, here is what I did to get the different results (Some of them obvious, some of them pretty darn subtle).

1. Minwax Red Mahogany Oil Stain
2. Varathane Red Mahogany Gel Stain
3. Wood Conditioner + Minwax Red Mahogany Oil Stain
4. Wood Conditioner + Varathane Red Mahogany Gel Stain
5. Wood Conditioner + Minwax Red Mahogany Oil Stain + Varathane Red Mahogany Gel Stain
6. Wood Conditioner + Varathane Red Mahogany Gel Stain + Minwax Red Mahogany Oil Stain
7. Wood Conditioner + Minwax Red Mahogany Oil Stain x 2 Coats
8. Wood Conditioner + Varathane Red Mahogany Gel Stain x 2 Coats

Wow! It's pretty amazing the different shades you can get when using just 3 pretty simple substances.

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/6351/img5499n.jpg

http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/7892/img5496x.jpg

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/4056/img5495p.jpg

I then set about the next 4 or 5 days applying one coat of high gloss polyurethane each day (That was a long and boring process). Basically, get home from work, go downstairs for a whole 5 minutes, do a quick sanding, tacking, and another light coat of poly, done for the day, wait for the next day.

Here's the final result of Staining Attempt Number Two. Please keep in mind, they are not in the same order that I mentioned above.

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/5097/img5501g.jpg

http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/3954/img5511j.jpg

There's no doubt that I will use this method again in the future. I also now have a great set of staining samples for maple plywood that I will surely fine handy in the future (They are all marked on the back what the process / stain used was).

Guess what though. None of them really came out the way I wanted. I'm still in search for that rich, deep, red mahogany / cherry look, and these just won't cut it (Though I admit, I do like #5 and #6, but maybe only because of their really spectacular grain pattern).

See you next time for Staining Attempt Number Three! *sigh*



Oh - and here's another snap of the kittens - they are 20 days old when this picture was taken, and they had just opened their eyes only a couple days beforehand.

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/7426/feb2701.jpg

I won't be posting another update until next week, as I've decided to take a trip to the East Coast to celebrate St.Patricks day! I'll be in Halifax if anyone wants to go for a few pints! Have a great weekend everyone!

[Waynio]

:) Very nice results from the staining, they also look varnished :up:.
Have a gooden on your Patricks day booze up :D:up:.

[littlecompadre]

One rarely sees this level of craftsmanship and care for furniture these days. I appreciate your attention to detail and admire your work. Personally I really like stain option 4. The depth of the color is superior to all other options and I think it will turn out great.

[ultimatedesk]

:) Very nice results from the staining, they also look varnished :up:.
Have a gooden on your Patricks day booze up :D:up:.Thank you :) Halifax was pretty awesome for partying!


One rarely sees this level of craftsmanship and care for furniture these days. I appreciate your attention to detail and admire your work. Personally I really like stain option 4. The depth of the color is superior to all other options and I think it will turn out great.Thank you littlecompadre, that means a lot to me. You'll see below that I opted for something quite different - not quite the grain structure I was looking for, but I cannot deny that the colour is spot on for what I was looking for.

For those of you interested in seeing how the kittens are doing, I've been keeping a bit of a video log on them - ie. I have been taking quick video clips of them every few days, since day 0. You can check them out here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrAderome#p/u

Also, here is a bit of a sneak peak, as far as actual computer hardware is concerned - I've been slowly acquiring bits and pieces, since I'm still not entirely sure what will end up in this Ultimate Computer Desk.

Kingston has decided to sponsor me, and has sent me this really fantastic SSD drive. I am PSYCHED!

http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/7906/kingstonlogogif.png (http://www.kingston.com)

http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/2201/img5536c.jpg

As you are all aware, my first 2 staining attempts were successful in the sense that I learned a lot, however, I was still not achieving the result I originally wanted.

I decided to try something other than the tried-and-true local Home Depot, and I hit up a custom furniture store - Randalls. Let me tell you - it was a truly great experience, and I will be returning there many more times in the future due to the incredible service I received there.

I walked in with my backpack full of my 2nd attempt samples, and immediately a salesperson started talking with me about what I was there for. I explained to her the stains I tried, along with the techniques, and she asked to see my samples.

I pointed out the ones I liked, and why, and why I didn't like them, and she came back in a few minutes with a couple stains that might interest me. She then asked if she could do some sample stains on the back of the pieces I brought in. She took the pieces behind the counter, sanded them down, stained them, and came back in a few minutes with actual, real - this is what they're going to look like - samples.

How cool is that? I could have just gone there in the first place and spent the whole extra 2 dollars, but would have walked out with 1 product - the right one - the first time. Amazing - I'm really happy I discovered that place.

I can't imagine Home Depot opening up any of their products for a test piece.. I've never asked though, so who knows. Randall's is my goto place for stains now, however!

http://img861.imageshack.us/img861/9278/img5541d.jpg

Once again, I decided to see what variety of colours I could get with what I had on hand, so I setup 8 samples once more:

1. Old Masters
2. Wood Conditioner + Old Masters
3. Wood Conditioner + Minwax + Old Masters
4. Wood Conditioner + Old Masters + Minwax
5. Wood Conditioner + Old Masters x 2 Coats
6. Old Masters x 2 Coats
7. Wood Conditioner + Varathane + Old Masters
8. Wood Conditioner + Old Masters + Varathane

http://img140.imageshack.us/img140/9609/img5539u.jpg

I worked on the samples for about a week (1 coat per day, did 5 or 6 coats of poly on top, light sanding between poly coats)

http://img121.imageshack.us/img121/8716/img5543gf.jpg

Here are a couple close up shots while staining was in progress

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/53/img5550c.jpg

http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/1875/img5551s.jpg

And a comparison with the previous samples, once everything was nicely glossed up

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/262/img5583u.jpg

Look at the difference in colour! Now that's more what I was looking for. There's no question that the gel stain has "muted" the grain a little bit, however, the colour is unquestionably closer to what I was looking for originally.

Here is a shot of my previously favorite samples from the 2nd round, against the new samples

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/1254/img5588yp.jpg

And a closeup of the 2 samples I think I like the best. The differences between this batch are quite subtle, as the Old Masters gel stain has a very strong dye which mutes out the effects of conditioner, or any other stain applied before or after.

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/1193/img5592l.jpg

Now that's what I call progress! I think I can call it quits for testing stain now. Time to move on to the dreaded motherboard tray / I/O Slot stuff...

Until next time!

[x88x]

Looks great. And congrats on finding a good store. I've found that specialty are almost always worth the extra expense, mainly because the employees are much more likely to actually know about the subject matter and care about providing good service to the customer.

[Blkfxx]

Absolutely stunning colours! Can't wait 'till the next update.

[Waynio]

Yeah very nice looking finish & congrats on the kingston ssd :D:up:.

[ultimatedesk]

Looks great. And congrats on finding a good store. I've found that specialty are almost always worth the extra expense, mainly because the employees are much more likely to actually know about the subject matter and care about providing good service to the customer.Thanks x88x, I know what you mean - I'm really glad I found the place, ultimately it was only a few dollars more expensive as well, which is not really much in the grand cost of the whole project!!


Absolutely stunning colours! Can't wait 'till the next update.
Yeah very nice looking finish & congrats on the kingston ssd :D:up:.Thanks, both of you - I hope that I am able to replicate the stain results on the final project. Staining the 8 foot desk surface I think will bring some complications. I CAN'T WAIT to plug in that Kingston SSD!!!


Sorry about the lack of updates everyone, it's not that I haven't been working on the desk much, but it's more that I've been using the camera a lot (You know.. kittens) and I haven't had time to sit down and sort through all the photos, re-size, crop, etc for some real proper updates.

I've had this update sitting on the back burner for a little while now and I've been meaning to squeeze in it somewhere. I had been talking with some folks at Danger Den because I was looking at their motherboard trays and I/O panels, and they've decided to sponsor me!

Big thanks go out to Danger Den, as these are critical components required for a professional end result - you've all seen the mangled results of the cases I tore up earlier in the project.

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/5674/dangerdenlogo.png
http://www.dangerden.com

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/5549/img5555p.jpg

Everything came very nicely packed - not much loose play, and plenty of foam to absorb any shipping issues.

http://img857.imageshack.us/img857/1226/img5559.jpg

I had these PSU support brackets custom made:

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/4216/img5564kf.jpg

I sent them a higher resolution image of this, that I threw together in Sketchup:

http://img858.imageshack.us/img858/1605/psubracketsketchup.jpg

Also included in this little shipment were some momentary switches for power and reset. (These are really popular these days, aren't they?)

http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/9085/img5565m.jpg

And some real nifty motherboard trays:

http://img508.imageshack.us/img508/9117/img5571c.jpg

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/505/img5577q.jpg

All the acrylic is 1/2" clear - I will leave them wrapped up until the project is close to completion. With these parts -finally- settled, I can cut some holes in the cabinets and actually put them together -for real- !!

Stay tuned, I'll sit down this weekend and sort through the next round of updates ;)

[AmEv]

YAY! +r for that SWEET set of sponsors!

[x88x]

Awesome! Congrats on the new sponsor! :D

[ultimatedesk]

YAY! +r for that SWEET set of sponsors!

Awesome! Congrats on the new sponsor! :DThanks, both of you! It's a lot of work getting sponsors, but it has been totally worth it!


So - it's been sometime since I've posted an update - apologies, things have been very busy lately.

With the parts from Danger Den having arrived, I could now move on to some more specific details with both of the cabinets that will contain the computers.

Once again, I started with a test fitting, this time, it was a very accurate fitting, requiring quite a bit of sanding and fiddling around to get as close to the final product as possible.

http://img863.imageshack.us/img863/8083/img5599e.jpg

http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/6528/img5606z.jpg

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/3326/img5607s.jpg

I then placed some test parts for fitting, and traced some outlines on the wood. The motherboard tray was placed on some thin strips of packing foam that I cut up, to help isolate any vibration from the CPU Heatsink.

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/8474/img5611r.jpg

http://img25.imageshack.us/img25/2696/img5612yt.jpg

Installed some new blades on the jigsaw, put my biggest drill bit in the drill, and went to town!

http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/8239/img5615u.jpg

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/193/img5619ca.jpg

Part 2 coming right up!

[ultimatedesk]

After doing the rough cut with the jigsaw, I took out the router and free-handed with a straight bit to smooth out the edges.

http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/1871/img5623w.jpg

The semi-finished air intake for the left-hand cabinet:

http://img860.imageshack.us/img860/3656/img5627w.jpg

The power supply rough cut:

http://img59.imageshack.us/img59/3681/img5631tg.jpg

http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/6972/img5632.jpg

I decided that the PSU bolts will need a little more clearance around the screw holes.

http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/5792/img5634w.jpg

The I/O Shield cut out was a bit tricky to measure, but I think I did a pretty decent job:

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/8025/img5635u.jpg

http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/1241/img5636n.jpg

http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/2381/img5637br.jpg

And a final shot from above and below:

http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/6210/img5638z.jpg

http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/1996/img5640l.jpg

Next update, I'll have pics of actual assembly of the left hand cabinet, and then more cutting, and biscuit joining on the right-hand cabinet.

[AmEv]

I want to see this complete.
In person.



Too bad I live too far away.....

[Fuganater]

Looks like its gonna be a pretty slick desk.

[ultimatedesk]

I want to see this complete.
In person.
Too bad I live too far away.....I want to see this... complete... lol! Come take a visit to Ottawa!


Looks like its gonna be a pretty slick desk.Thanks Fuganater!


It's been a while, but I can assure you, progress is still moving forward with the Ultimate Computer Desk!

I finally got around to assembling the left-hand cabinet - here it is, all glued and clamped together. It's a really solid unit - the dado cuts lined up really well, and the structure is rock solid.

http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/7446/img5643um.jpg

http://img545.imageshack.us/img545/8811/img5645p.jpg

Here I am doing a mock-up of the right-hand cabinet. This one was a little trickier to put together. There is a pretty specific order of assembly, otherwise, you're left with a piece that just doesn't want to fit properly.

http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/8231/img5647y.jpg

Some outlines for the motherboard I/O and power supply

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/5172/img5652h.jpg

I remember mentioning that I free-handed the holes with the router for the left-hand cabinet. I decided to play a safer route for the right-hand cabinet.

I took a piece of wood, lined it up with my straight edge, and ran my router on top of the wood with a straight bit - this game me a perfect "stencil". What I can do then, is take the stencil, line up the edge with a line that I've drawn on the target piece, place a straight edge behind the stencil, clamp down the straight edge, remove the stencil, and run my router across the straight edge for a straight, accurate line.

Wow, that was a mouthful.

http://img718.imageshack.us/img718/3053/img5654b.jpg

http://img696.imageshack.us/img696/9985/img5656q.jpg

And the end product:

http://img857.imageshack.us/img857/2135/img5657.jpg

http://img708.imageshack.us/img708/3526/img5661y.jpg

And then I made a pretty huge mistake...

Here is the suspect:

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/7803/img5662f.jpg

Bam. Can you guess why this was a bad idea?

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/941/img5658m.jpg

[Fuganater]

Woo progress!

[Blkfxx]

Oh noes, A mistake. :(

How bad is it?

[ultimatedesk]

Holy moly, I'm really sorry for the lack of updates folks - I've been sick for quite a while and the weather has been miserable so I haven't had much time to work on the desk. Apparently I had cedar poisoning! Wonderful!

Anyways - back on track!

Those of you who guessed it right - yes, I shouldn't have made the hole in the first place. I don't know what I was thinking. This is the right-hand cabinet.

http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/5168/img5663h.jpg

Whoops!

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/5238/img5664u.jpg

Here's the biscuit joiner I was using. It worked pretty well for what it is. The tricky part was determining the order of which pieces/faces/sides to glue first and how to keep it all from falling apart before completion.

http://img861.imageshack.us/img861/3576/img5667.jpg

http://img690.imageshack.us/img690/9776/img5668z.jpg

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/158/img5671p.jpg

http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/7764/img5672tw.jpg

Here's the left-hand cabinet all dried and ready for some trim

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/6984/img5675c.jpg

And voila, my erm.. elegant clamping solution (I need to grab some cauls!)

http://img852.imageshack.us/img852/4132/img5676.jpg

http://img815.imageshack.us/img815/5046/img5677d.jpg

Hope you enjoy! Rest assured, this project WILL BE FINISHED! Just.. mm, I don't really know when. I'm moving in a month and a half, so all the staining/sanding will have to be done, at a minimum.

Take care!

[ultimatedesk]

This part of the project took a better part of a month. There was a lot of sanding, waiting, and sweating as I put on each thin layer of polyurethane on the desk surface.

Here it is at the start of the phase - what a mess!

http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/4030/img5696e.jpg

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/4941/img5697x.jpg

You can see there was still sanding to do from when I put in the wood filler back in... November!

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/900/img5699l.jpg

All cleaned up, ready to rock the stain. It was starting to get nice as well so it was time to lube up the 'ol bike chain as well!

http://img828.imageshack.us/img828/2443/img5871e.jpg

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/8398/img5700gc.jpg

Part way through the first coat

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/784/img5874pe.jpg

Note that this is the bottom of the desk surface. I did this intially without any kind of pre-stain or wood treatment to see if I could get away with it.

http://img24.imageshack.us/img24/8962/img5876g.jpg

http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/51/img5878t.jpg

I actually noticed a significant amount of dark spots and uneveness, so for the top of the desk, and for all future staining, I went with a pre-stain, and two coats of Old Masters Gel Stain. Here is the desk surface approximately a month later with around 8 coats of polyurethane on top. It will be getting a good ol fashion rubbing out in another month from now once it has fully cured.

http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/221/img5959.jpg

Have a good weekend everyone!

[SXRguyinMA]

:eek: That is SEXY! That color looks amazing! +rep

[licenseless]

love the deep read look in the stain you put on the wood man... that is going to be nice

[Blkfxx]

Mmmmm, Shiny!

[TheMainMan]

Looks like your work testing out all the various stain types really paid off! That's a beautiful colour!

[Munty]

Sweet Jeebus that's beautiful! All the crazy projects that go on here never cease to amaze me but there's something particularly special about wood when it's done right. And in this case, I don't think it could've been done better!

[ultimatedesk]

:eek: That is SEXY! That color looks amazing! +rep


love the deep read look in the stain you put on the wood man... that is going to be nice


Mmmmm, Shiny!


Looks like your work testing out all the various stain types really paid off! That's a beautiful colour!


Sweet Jeebus that's beautiful! All the crazy projects that go on here never cease to amaze me but there's something particularly special about wood when it's done right. And in this case, I don't think it could've been done better!Wow, thanks for all the great comments everyone - the colour really did pop quite nice, didn't it? Hopefully the rest of the project can shine just as much lol, that desk surface really took a long time!!!

So, with the main desk surface out of the way, it was time to start focusing on the top shelf portion, which, at this point, hadn't been sanded, cut perfectly, or assembled. Here were all the pieces required.

http://img857.imageshack.us/img857/1160/img5961.jpg

A quick mock up:

http://img806.imageshack.us/img806/6571/img5972.jpg

A few tests with the biscuit joiner to make sure I was aligned properly:

http://img684.imageshack.us/img684/1158/img5974j.jpg

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/1872/img5978x.jpg

http://img815.imageshack.us/img815/3474/img5983n.jpg

I couldn't get it exactly in the center - the bottom of the joiner is a bit concave and it made lining it up a little difficult. The tool is generally used to join boards end to end, so there wasn't really any facility for on-face joining like this.

Assembly and glue up time:

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/5091/img5987g.jpg

http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/8205/img5988.jpg

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/5572/img5989b.jpg

Enjoy! You can never have too many clamps you know? I couldn't continue on doing the side pods until this stuff dried up first.

[AmEv]

So, how are the ModKittehs?

[ultimatedesk]

So, how are the ModKittehs?lol, they are doing really great. The grey one is really... slow. He went to jump from the bathroom counter on to the toilet, but sort of just stepped, and was hanging there with two feet on the counter, and two feet on the toilet, stretched out completely, totally helpless.

Of course, I was watching the whole thing. He sort of turns his head in his mentally handicapped fashion, looks at me right in the eyes and gives me the most helpless meow I've ever heard - "Please help!". He's hilarious.

With the first phase of the top shelf all solid and dried, I could continue on to the two side pods. Here's the initial mockup.

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/8959/img5993p.jpg

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/2354/img5995tp.jpg

Notice the pencil lines for the biscuits I'll be installing.

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/1999/img5996i.jpg

Those biscuits are so dark and moody... lol!

http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/8507/img5999dv.jpg

Aaand, some gratuitous clamping shots. Like that extra-long setup? Yeah, that worked this time, but I don't recommend it. It wasn't too stable, but there wasn't really anything else I could clamp on to for that end-pressure required.

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/289/img6002u.jpg

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/5504/img6009g.jpg

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/9900/img6010s.jpg

Mmmm glue.

http://img23.imageshack.us/img23/1399/img6013b.jpg

So that's it for this update, I know it's a pretty simple one, but hey, it's one more phase done. Just needs to have some trim stuck on and then staining!

Have a good weekend!

[985323]

That is looking Beautiful! Love the choice in stain.

[msmrx57]

Looking good. :up: If your going to be doing more long projects in the future I'd recommend a pipe clamp. They're pretty cheap and the pipe is to.

[ultimatedesk]

That is looking Beautiful! Love the choice in stain.Thanks!


Looking good. :up: If your going to be doing more long projects in the future I'd recommend a pipe clamp. They're pretty cheap and the pipe is to.Yes, that's a good idea - there were some pipe clamps at the shop, but I didn't have any on hand at home. Next project!

Ok, so it's been a little while since an update eh?

I've been busy, sorry folks, life seems to speed up in the summertime!

As a peace offering, here are the kiddo's, at about 4 months old now!

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/3982/img6018k.jpg

http://img805.imageshack.us/img805/6026/img6036.jpg

And, back to the desk!

I had a bunch of solid maple cut into more 1/4" strips so I could finish doing the trim on the top shelf and the cabinets.

http://img862.imageshack.us/img862/889/img6059b.jpg

My trusty compound mitre saw - got it reconditioned at a bargain place for like 60 dollars, and it's been pretty reliable for a number of years now. It's loud as all heck though!

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/9342/img6064a.jpg

And, my favorite part - clamping up!

http://img864.imageshack.us/img864/9176/img6069hm.jpg

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/6272/img6071he.jpg

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/6817/img6074e.jpg

And, since there was nowhere to place clamps in between this area, I had to improvise with a small block of wood!

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/4002/img6076b.jpg

[ultimatedesk]

After the trim was glued on and then sanded flush, I proceeded with the staining and poly

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/1046/img6083a.jpg

Looks good, eh?

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/715/img6085t.jpg

I also finally decided to buckle down and build myself a quick rig to store all my clamps. Since I'm moving soon, it'll also make it easier to move them to the new place! Nice lap joints eh!!

http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/912/img6086l.jpg

I proceeded to the cabinet drawers, where I finally sanded off the wood filler that's been attached for weeks (months?)

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/5186/img6090o.jpg

Lined up the drawer faces, glued them on (Was going to screw them on after, from behind. Lol)

http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/9973/img6091s.jpg

And put a bit of weight on top..

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/2296/img6093y.jpg

Walked away for a bit, and realized... maybe it was a bad idea to glue them on first! Uh oh!

[ultimatedesk]

I decided that it might actually be a lot easier to line up the drawer faces if I attached them AFTER I had attached the drawers to the drawer slides, to I ripped em off.

So, next on the list - staining the actual drawers!

Pre-stain on!

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/4817/img6098pv.jpg

Mmm, they look so good

http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/9258/img6101.jpg

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/8686/img6103r.jpg

And, poly of course

http://img34.imageshack.us/img34/3993/img6110nl.jpg

http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/194/img6112dm.jpg

Done!

http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/6017/img6115u.jpg

And just so ya know, it really did basically take a month just to finish the top shelf and the drawers... more to come soon!

[ultimatedesk]

With the drawers themselves all stained up, it was time to stain the drawer fronts!

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/8049/img6116b.jpg

Since most of the back of the drawer fronts won't be visible, I decided that I could probably stain and poly both sides at once...

Pre stain!

http://img848.imageshack.us/img848/5347/img6117rz.jpg

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/146/img6118xf.jpg

They look so nice like this... ahh, next project...

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/7007/img6119wi.jpg

Some staining time

http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/6049/img6120f.jpg

http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/6555/img6121y.jpg

http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/3162/img6122p.jpg

And some sweet, sweet gloss poly.

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/3997/img6123jm.jpg

Woops! One of the drawer faces slipped off the painting cones and picked up a whole whack of saw dust and wood chips... at least this will never be seen on the final project!

http://img805.imageshack.us/img805/9256/img6124w.jpg

[TheMainMan]

Love the deep, rich colour and the glossy shine. Those drawers look really good.

[ultimatedesk]

Love the deep, rich colour and the glossy shine. Those drawers look really good.Thanks, TheMainMan!

With the drawers and drawer faces all finished and ready for installation, it was time to turn to finishing up the two cabinets.

First up, finishing the piece that goes on the front of the left-hand cabinet.

http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/4038/img6126u.jpg

And, well, not a lot of writing today, as the rest of it should look pretty straightforward. I had to cut up a bunch of trim pieces, and somehow arrange the clamps to hold them in the right place. A few of the arrangements required some creative thinking, but in the end, I got the whole cabinet trimmed up over the course of a few days.

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/2348/img6127a.jpg

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/6117/img6128g.jpg

Mmmm glue.

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/9219/img6129s.jpg

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/3092/img6130r.jpg

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/6791/img6131c.jpg

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/2311/img6132i.jpg

Enjoy! We're getting close to the final assembly, yay!

[diluzio91]

holy clamps batman!

[Fuganater]

I'm lovin all the updates!

[Ichbin]

Pretty sure this is needed.

turn up the volume, it's a little soft.

qf8_tn7lBIc :D

You're quite the craftsmen sir, and the stain you used looks damn identical to the stain my dad and I used building a dining table. Very clean.

[ultimatedesk]

holy clamps batman!Hehe, thanks!


I'm lovin all the updates!Glad you're enjoying! More to come!


Pretty sure this is needed.

turn up the volume, it's a little soft.

qf8_tn7lBIc :D

You're quite the craftsmen sir, and the stain you used looks damn identical to the stain my dad and I used building a dining table. Very clean.Ha, that's great stuff. I've never actually seen that episode! Thanks for the positive comments!

With the trim all glued up and dry, and the weather nice and warm, I decided to take the cabinets outside to have the trim sanded flush. I start with 80 grit to get all the bits nice and close, and then move to 120 grit with the random orbit sander in preparation for staining.

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/296/img6133pl.jpg

Everything looking pretty good on the right-hand cabinet

http://img847.imageshack.us/img847/2431/img6136r.jpg

http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/4672/img6135f.jpg

And now for the left-hand cabinet

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/4011/img6138q.jpg

http://img43.imageshack.us/img43/1192/img6139ew.jpg

I'm under the impression that I mistakenly sanded this edge too much prior to installation, because I thought that I was going to have to squeeze this end into the dado cut at the back of the drawer. Woops! Hopefully that won't show up too much after staining.

http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/9189/img6141w.jpg

And, a bit of glue squeeze-out that I missed previously is easily taken care of by the sander

http://img202.imageshack.us/img202/908/img6143eg.jpg

I'll be staining over the weekend, so some fresh and shiny cabinets await for next weeks early update!

Have a good weekend folks!

[ultimatedesk]

Well, got some time to start the staining of the cabinets this weekend, and overall, everything went pretty well. Started off with a bit of detailed sanding by hand, and then a good dusting with a tack cloth / cloth with paint thinner.

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/2489/img6145v.jpg

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/5044/img6147k.jpg

And then went to work applying the stain with a clean cotton rag

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/9443/img6148n.jpg

http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/3021/img6149.jpg

They both turned out pretty well - these pictures were taken after only the first coat (A second one will go on). I find that this stain really shines once a coat of poly is put over it.

Let me tell you - getting the inside of the cabinets was quite time consuming and I really did a number on staining my arms...

http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/7978/img6150m.jpg

Eww! It looks like a heart! ;)

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/8194/img6151p.jpg

[ultimatedesk]

I kind of forgot to take some pictures of the cabinets after I applied a pair of coats of polyurethane, but here's the status of the project so far

http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/346/img6156b.jpg

Both cabinets have been poly'd, and there are only 3 more pieces to stain + poly (The two caps for the end spaces on the top shelf, and the door for the right-hand cabinet). Otherwise, I am pretty much ready to assemble.

Before assembly, however, I wanted to try a technique I had been reading about - rubbing out a finish.

You start with some baby oil and a product called rottenstone (It's a very finely ground stone)

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/7247/img6159l.jpg

Apply some baby oil liberally (This slows down the cutting process. If you use water, it will speed up the cutting process)

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/2666/img6162laq.jpg

Sprinkle on your rottenstone (Once again, fairly liberally. I didn't find the cutting action very aggressive at all, especially with all the baby oil)

http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/6123/img6163t.jpg

Take a block of wood with a soft material wrapped around it, in this case, I used a piece of cut up fleece from an old blanket, but I think a felt block is the most recommended for this.

http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/5531/img6164e.jpg

Go with the grain in long strokes, and rub the slurry into the wood. Its very fine cutting action should almost eliminate all dust marks, brush marks, and any small scratches.

This took quite a long time, and it was very, very messy. Baby oil rottenstone slurry everywhere. I then went through a ton of rags soaked in paint thinner cleaning it all off the desk surface in preparation for some good 'ol waxing.

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/8022/img6165dn.jpg

Applied with a lint free rag, I swirled it onto the table a little bit too liberally

http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/4372/img6171z.jpg

I then let it dry for a few moments and "attempted" to buff it all off by hand with a clean rag. Much to my dismay, after spending 10 minutes trying to buff only but a small corner, I realized that I would never get the shine I was looking for...

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/6929/img6177w.jpg

So I made a trip to my storage unit (My mom's garage) where I remembered I had an old electric car buffer in a bin...

http://img715.imageshack.us/img715/2418/img6181i.jpg

Booya. It was late when I got back home, so I left it and went to sleep. Have a good weekend everyone - Canada Day tomorrow here in Canada, so I'm going to enjoy the long weekend. I'm moving this weekend too, so hopefully the desk survives the trip!!

[Waynio]

Wowzers all those clamps :D, can just never have enough eh :D.

But OMG this is looking beautiful mate, ultimate desk indeed :D:up: lovely work man :).

I really want to make a nice desk now after viewing this :D so it's on my to do list hehe :D.

+rep

[SXRguyinMA]

that color is looking better and better!

[x88x]

Beautiful finish. :up:

[ultimatedesk]

Wowzers all those clamps :D, can just never have enough eh :D.

But OMG this is looking beautiful mate, ultimate desk indeed :D:up: lovely work man :).

I really want to make a nice desk now after viewing this :D so it's on my to do list hehe :D.

+repAWesome! Thanks for the comments, you should totally start your planning!!


that color is looking better and better!Thanks!!


Beautiful finish. :up:Thank you!!

So, I finally moved this weekend, and I'm glad to say everything went pretty well. A few small parts of the desk got scuffed up, but nothing major. Here are some shots from just before being transported.

The car buffer partially worked. I ended up actually taking some more paint thinner and totally removing the wax. For some reason it didn't stick well - I think it's because I didn't remove the baby oil enough before adding the wax. Either way, it's shiny as glass and looks great.

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/7547/img6184x.jpg

Then I took some 3/4" weather stripping and put it on both cabinets to prevent the desk surface from slipping and sliding:

http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/4247/img6187d.jpg

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/3075/img6192o.jpg

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/2976/img6193n.jpg

And, here's a sneak peak. Right before the move was pretty much the moment of triumph - assembling the 4 stained and poly'd pieces, and actually sitting at it. The monitors come in at perfect eye height, and the desk height is perfect as well, providing lots of forearm and elbow support.

Ahhhhhhhhh.... 8 months.

Now for the details ;)

http://img641.imageshack.us/img641/893/img6203a.jpg

[Blkfxx]

Looks amazing.

[ultimatedesk]

Looks amazing.Thanks Blkfxx, just getting myself organized at the new place. Hopefully I'll have some time this weekend to work on the desk!

[ultimatedesk]

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.

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/7575/img6205x.jpg

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!

http://img16.imageshack.us/img16/4918/img6207v.jpg

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!

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/8962/img6210se.jpg

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/9411/img6211le.jpg

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:

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/443/img6212t.jpg

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!

http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/8955/img6214g.jpg

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.

http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/5065/img6216em.jpg

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

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/7461/img6218d.jpg

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

[ultimatedesk]

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.

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/7828/img6220u.jpg

http://img593.imageshack.us/img593/7302/img6222o.jpg

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/2964/img6225h.jpg

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!

http://img13.imageshack.us/img13/1574/img6227v.jpg

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!

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/9519/img6235tg.jpg

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/1051/img6232h.jpg

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/9153/img6236hy.jpg

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.

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/9210/img6238ac.jpg

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

[ultimatedesk]

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

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/559/img6241b.jpg

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/4633/img6245j.jpg

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

http://img810.imageshack.us/img810/94/img6250m.jpg

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

http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/1373/img6251s.jpg

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

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/8340/img6254lc.jpg

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

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/2601/img6255i.jpg

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

http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/7954/img6256g.jpg

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.

[x88x]

Looks beautiful. :up: Keep up the good work.

[ultimatedesk]

Looks beautiful. :up: Keep up the good work.Thanks x88x!

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
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/2050/img6261dr.jpg

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!)
http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/4343/img6262z.jpg

Hmm, what's this?
http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/2804/img6263eo.jpg

Holy moly cool prize pack Modders Inc! I still can't believe I won this - perfect stuff for The Ultimate Computer Desk!
http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/6843/img6267w.jpg

Finally removed the protective cover from these babies - they look soo nice!
http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/1157/img6319j.jpg

Hmm? Another surprise?...
http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/9685/img6320j.jpg

Oh good lord! What kind of super monster is that!!?
http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/5996/img6340m.jpg

Bwahahaha
http://img695.imageshack.us/img695/641/img6359o.jpg

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!

[ultimatedesk]

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

http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/627/img6270e.jpg

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

http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/5294/img6274q.jpg

So I took out the trusty hand saw!

http://img31.imageshack.us/img31/7771/img6275e.jpg

http://img818.imageshack.us/img818/6232/img6279g.jpg

Here's the plan for the fan layout

http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/8618/img6280a.jpg

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/1374/img6281z.jpg

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.

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/518/img6284m.jpg

Test fit

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/1269/img6286p.jpg

Cut some more holes

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/5135/img6288y.jpg

Awesome!

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/958/img6290t.jpg

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

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/4518/img6291r.jpg

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.

http://img685.imageshack.us/img685/6372/img6293o.jpg

Lookin good

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/2183/img6295g.jpg

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/219/img6299qc.jpg

http://img694.imageshack.us/img694/6254/img6301f.jpg

Stay tuned! More stuff tomorrow!

[x88x]

Heheheh, nice! :twisted: I love the Ultra Kaze...crazy fan, that. :twisted:

[skyboxer]

WOW im really imprssed with this thread. theres so much effort put into a lot of the plans and desks. maybe its time i whip one up myself..:banana::banana::banana:

[ultimatedesk]

Heheheh, nice! :twisted: I love the Ultra Kaze...crazy fan, that. :twisted:They are crazy eh! Hopefully the fan controller will be able to keep them on a leash lol


WOW im really imprssed with this thread. theres so much effort put into a lot of the plans and desks. maybe its time i whip one up myself..:banana::banana::banana:Thanks skyboxer! Go for it!

I was in an extremely fortunate position recently. A friend of mine's work was moving from a large location to a much smaller location, and he had asked me if I wanted to come scope out the old office for any old bits of computer stuff that might be useful to me. To my shock and amazement, I was indeed able to pick up some pretty fancy hardware that I would have never dreamed of owning. They must have done some pretty big upgrades to leave stuff like this behind!

I was able to get a hold of a handful of Socket 775 motherboards with Core 2 Duo processors, a bunch of DDR RAM, a box full of Hard Drives, and some relatively decent (lower powered) power supplies. The real treasure though, was a pair of servers. You can see that I had already disassembled one of them:

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/1968/img6301l.jpg

2 Full 4U Antec Rackmount cases, each of them containing a Dual-Xeon motherboard + Processors. Both with FB-DIMM RAM sticks as well.

This particular one contained a pair of Xeon E5410's, with 16GB of DDR2 FB-DIMM's, 4 1TB Western Digital Blacks (SATA), and the motherboard is an Asus DSBF-DE.

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/3615/img6302t.jpg

http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/1755/img6303p.jpg

The other one contained a pair of Xeon E5335's, with 4GB of DDR2 FB-DIMM's, 5 1TB Hitachi Deskstas (SATA), and the motherboard is an Asus DSGC-DW.

Now - before we go on - someone had queried earlier about the PCI Express slot on the board pictured, and I had said something along the lines of "Ya ya, it's there, don't worry about it". I of course, actually looked at the pictures, and no, it's not. It is indeed a PCI Express 16x slot, but on this particular motherboard, it only runs at PCI8. Now, the other motherboard, the Asus DSGC-DW DOES have a PCIX16 slot. When it was released, it did not support the 54xx series of Xeon processors, but I checked the website and there is a BIOS update to add this functionality. I will have to do a test setup with that board to update the BIOS, and then it will be swapped into the desk with a full video card, both the E5410's, as well as the 16GB of RAM, so keep that in mind when looking at the rest of this update. No, unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the other motherboard.

Cool stuff either way. Never, ever thought I'd have a dual processor motherboard. What an amazing find!

These dual Xeon heatsinks mount directly into the motherboard tray, so unfortunately, I couldn't use those spiffy motherboard trays from Danger Den. Also, since they are of size "SSI", there's no way it would mount on a regular ATX motherboard tray anyways. Time to drill out a tray!

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/5620/img6305qz.jpg

It actually came out pretty nice and clean

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/4747/img6306u.jpg

This is a bit of a shame, since I took the time to clean the processors, put new thermal compound and remount everything. I'm just going to have to disassemble it again anyways when I put in the different motherboard. Ah well.

http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/2756/img6343d.jpg

http://img845.imageshack.us/img845/6996/img6348.jpg

http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/2641/img6350w.jpg

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/9862/img6358m.jpg

This is a bit of a hack job getting the tray mounted... Since the processors are mounted to the tray, I had mounted it outside of the desk, so when I went to fasten the tray to the desk, I was *gasp* actually lazy and didn't want to dismount the motherboard again... so umm.. I'm going to replace those odd-angled screws when I switch motherboards..

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/6540/img6362t.jpg

The power supply looks pretty good there. It's an Antec 650W - an Earthwatts maybe? I forget. I may consider replacing it with a unit that has a 120-140mm fan just to exhaust the air a bit better. The board has a requirement for a 24pin, an 8pin, as well as a 4pin, so I can't just use any power supply unfortunately.

http://img194.imageshack.us/img194/5779/img6364c.jpg

The cables, of course, are not nearly long enough to reach the connectors on the board. I've already ordered the extensions and hopefully I'll get them at the beginning of next week. Oh, you'll see that I've straightened out the fans as well.

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/9697/img6367br.jpg

The cooling solution looks good. There will be two fans directly in front of the CPU's. I may consider putting an additional hole in the door to allow the CPU's and RAM to exhaust directly.

http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/3756/img6370a.jpg

There is one major issue with the right-hand cabinet setup. The original specifications called for an ATX board, which is significantly smaller, so umm.. I have no idea where the hard-drives are going to fit. lol! Fun times.

Hope you're enjoying this flurry of updates. I may or may not be able to post an update tomorrow, as I'm going camping for the weekend! At the latest, I'll be posting again early next week!

[xr4man]

good score.

couldn't you just mount the harddrives to bottom of the cabinet right next to the mobo?

[x88x]

Awesome score! Any plans for all that hardware?

I do feel I should point out something though, that you might not like hearing....you do realize you just cut up a $250+ case for a MBB tray, right? :whistler:

For the PSU, have you tried flipping it over? That would give you an extra ~5" of cable; might make it so you don't need the extensions.

[ultimatedesk]

good score.

couldn't you just mount the harddrives to bottom of the cabinet right next to the mobo?Mm that's not a bad idea, but it would only leave room for maybe 2 or 3 at most if I'm not mistaken..


Awesome score! Any plans for all that hardware?

I do feel I should point out something though, that you might not like hearing....you do realize you just cut up a $250+ case for a MBB tray, right? :whistler:

For the PSU, have you tried flipping it over? That would give you an extra ~5" of cable; might make it so you don't need the extensions.lol yes, I looked up the price of those cases brand new and I was fairly impressed lol. I did decide however, that I was going to hack it up and use the 5.25" brackets to hold my optical drive and fan controls so...

A huge thanks goes out to Gigabyte for supplying me with this amazing motherboard - a GA-Z68XUD4-B3.

Without a doubt, the coolest motherboard I have ever owned!

http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/1904/gigabytelogo.gif

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/6269/img6309t.jpg

I could barely wait to open this up when I got it in the mail!

http://img51.imageshack.us/img51/7271/img6310d.jpg

http://img830.imageshack.us/img830/812/img6317j.jpg

And this poor motherboard tray that had been sitting for months and months covered in brown paper - finally had it removed. It looks even better than I could have hoped!

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/2786/img6322lm.jpg

Here is the test fit in the actual desk

http://img803.imageshack.us/img803/2747/img6328.jpg

And with the fans in place

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/8503/img6329kl.jpg

I'm going to trim off the plastic tabs from the motherboard tray to make it a bit easier to build the tunnels for cable management. Also, I'm considering putting a pair of holes beneath the motherboard to pass cables through underneath. Lots of stuff happening in the next few weeks!

I attempted to boot up the Asus DSGC-DW board (The one with the PCIx16 slot) but it would not boot. I'm afraid that that particular motherboard has gone bad, so I will continue to use the board with the PCIx8 slot. Anyone have any suggestions with regards to determining the best video card I can put in a PCIx16 slot with only x8 bandwidth? I was thinking I could look at the theoretical bandwith of an 8x slot and match it with that of the video card to maximize performance (ie. no point in installing a 5970x2 in an x8 slot).

Anyways, hopefully will have a handful of updates this week!

[x88x]

Actually, a 5970x2 probably won't even max out an x8 slot. Check out this article:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/08/25/gtx_480_sli_pcie_bandwidth_perf_x16x16_vs_x4x4

There is a huge misconception with a lot of people these days that our cards push the limits of their buses, but that simply is not true. They keep increasing the speed of the PCIe bus, but honestly, most of us would probably be just fine with a PCIe 1.0 x4 slot.

[SXRguyinMA]

holy crap! and now everyone is touting the new PCI 3.0 that "is going to be the future" :whistler:

[x88x]

Haha, yup. The unstoppable juggernaut of technological progress. :P On the bright side, imagine ExpressCard 3.0. :twisted: Even though ExpressCard is only equal to PCIe x1, that would still be equal bandwidth to PCIe 1.0 x4. Plenty of bandwidth to game on a decent resolution monitor at high levels. That'd make a nice external GPU connection. :twisted:

[ultimatedesk]

Actually, a 5970x2 probably won't even max out an x8 slot. Check out this article:
http://www.hardocp.com/article/2010/08/25/gtx_480_sli_pcie_bandwidth_perf_x16x16_vs_x4x4

There is a huge misconception with a lot of people these days that our cards push the limits of their buses, but that simply is not true. They keep increasing the speed of the PCIe bus, but honestly, most of us would probably be just fine with a PCIe 1.0 x4 slot.Thanks - that's pretty much the same conclusion I came to after doing a bit of searching around


holy crap! and now everyone is touting the new PCI 3.0 that "is going to be the future" :whistler:No kidding eh ;) Same with Sata 3.0.. it'll be some time before we see actual read/write speeds of 6GB/s. It'd be funny to see a video card hookup to eSATA lol


Haha, yup. The unstoppable juggernaut of technological progress. :P On the bright side, imagine ExpressCard 3.0. :twisted: Even though ExpressCard is only equal to PCIe x1, that would still be equal bandwidth to PCIe 1.0 x4. Plenty of bandwidth to game on a decent resolution monitor at high levels. That'd make a nice external GPU connection. :twisted:Mmm, external GPU...


So - it's been another few busy weeks, so apologies for the no updates. Have been enjoying those last rays of sunshine before the summer ends!

I think I mentioned last update that I tried to boot up the Asus DSFC-DW board but had issues - here was the attempt:

http://img580.imageshack.us/img580/8052/img6371l.jpg

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/2000/img6373a.jpg

I got a green LED to light up (Standby power on the motherboard) but jumping the Power ON pins had no reaction whatsoever. Tried it with a different videocard, re-seated the RAM and CPU's, but still no luck.

Moving onwards - since I un-mounted almost everything, I decided to keep the copper heatinks instead of the aluminum ones for the other motherboard. I also picked up a pair of these units from Rosewill via Newegg:

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/3151/img6374u.jpg

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/2492/img6375z.jpg

They should do nicely for my hard-drive racks. I would like to mount them like so, except higher up:

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/1484/img6376bv.jpg

Unfortunately, they are deeper than the cabinet I built. At the time, I was thinking maybe they would stick out of my air intake window, and I would just build-out the section of the door with the air filter... Not exactly what I had in mind initially though.

With most of the major components in place, I decided to start tackling the cable management with some cardboard templates, and then some 1/8" plywood:

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/6867/img6380k.jpg

http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/3536/img6382rl.jpg

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/2778/img6384t.jpg

At this point I was a little frustrated with how slowly this portion of the project was going. Things weren't quite fitting the way I had planned, and they were not looking as nice as I would have liked them to...

Maybe it's time for some thinking instead of doing.

I decided (In hindsight, unfortunately) to go ahead and mount the hard-drive racks so I could get some better measurements and ideas of how to manage the cables nicely.

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/4677/img6399t.jpg

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/8872/img6402g.jpg

Installed the fans and started to route some of the cables

http://img33.imageshack.us/img33/1263/img6404sa.jpg

Took out a handful of old SATA cables... (Yes, let's not forget, that I'm a computer tech first, and a carpenter second, or maybe even fifth or tenth...)

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/4258/img6405s.jpg

And had fun connecting all the bits and trying to get them in a reasonable state of organization

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/3234/img6409a.jpg

http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/7817/img6411f.jpg

http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/1893/img6412s.jpg

Ugh... this will not do, this will not do at all. Might as well boot it up and see if everything works though (I had mounted and un-mounted the board several times, banged around a few things, etc, so might as well see if it's all still working!)

This would be the first time I see if all the fans work as well. Keep in mind that this is with the door removed.

http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/1185/img6414gt.jpg

Until next time.. still not quite sure what I'll be doing next.

[Fuganater]

It looks tough trying to take the cables through that foam and the fans. Maybe get uber long SATA cables and run them from the bottom up? Zip tie them to keep them all together and neat?

[ultimatedesk]

It looks tough trying to take the cables through that foam and the fans. Maybe get uber long SATA cables and run them from the bottom up? Zip tie them to keep them all together and neat?That's a great idea actually, and I may end up doing that. Thanks

First off I want to give out a huge thank you to Seasonic, who has decided to sponsor The Ultimate Computer Desk by sending a ~really~ sweet Power Supply my way. An 850 Watt Seasonic Gold.

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/9721/img6422m.jpg
http://img600.imageshack.us/img600/5777/seasoniclogo.gif

Thanks Seasonic! We'll take a closer look at that PSU a bit later..

I had been a little frustrated with the layout of the Dual CPU Xeon board for quite some time, so I finally made the decision to ditch it and setup the right-hand cabinet with an ATX sized board. This is more in spec with my initial design - the extra couple inches makes a big difference, and it will make it easier to upgrade in the future as well.

On one hand, I'm a little disappointed that I won't be using that super geeked out board, but rest assured, I'll find something else neat to do with it.

So I went ahead and removed everything and started from scratch. Looks way better already:

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/9702/img6427.jpg

http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/5750/img6430i.jpg

I then decided that, unfortunately, through the miracle of cable limitations, it would make a lot more sense if I put the optical drive in the front of the case, as opposed to up above the desk, where I had originally wanted to put it. So, time to do some more cutting.

http://img14.imageshack.us/img14/4448/img6436b.jpg

http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/426/img6435k.jpg

The masking tape managed to pull off some of the polyurethane, but have no fear, I will be making a faceplate that will contain the power button, LED's, and USB ports that will cover that spot up quite nicely.

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/6940/img6443q.jpg

And, we've gone so far, yet, gained so little, eh? It'll get done, I swear!

[ultimatedesk]

Feeling a bit more motivated about the right-hand cabinet, I decided that the foam fan-holder had to go. It was too large, was akward, and was difficult to keep straight and in the proper position.

I decided to put together a nice and clean fan holder:

http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/5914/img6447kg.jpg

After doing some measuring, I took it to the drill press for the initial holes (I didn't have a hole saw for 120mm fans unfortunately... that would be pretty huge!)

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/2371/img6448n.jpg

http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/2104/img6451h.jpg

I then took out the spindle sander to sand right to the line. Just an fyi, I swapped out the spindle for a much larger one. This was my first time using this type of sander, and I was very impressed - the degree of accuracy and control is extremely high - perfect for sneaking up on the pre-drawn lines.

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/3752/img6454r.jpg

Time to drill some holes for the fan screws

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/2048/img6458n.jpg

And a test fit. The product came out quite nicely - accurate cuts, all 4 of the positions are secure with screws, and this piece should be much easier to align in the proper location in the case.

http://img64.imageshack.us/img64/6616/img6459h.jpg

http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/4675/img6461j.jpg

I had cut a few other new pieces for cable management, but they were rough cuts, as I will not know their exact dimensions until I install hardware. I can't install hardware until I finish cutting and drilling in the right-hand cabinet, and since there is still the issue of the power button, LED's, etc...

Time to get started on that, I suppose!

http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/3328/img6462e.jpg

Kinda looks like a bull head eh?

[Fuganater]

Ya using the wood will be much better than that foam. + dust would have stuck to the foam.

[ultimatedesk]

Ya using the wood will be much better than that foam. + dust would have stuck to the foam.Agreed, so far it has worked out much nicer. The foam was a nice idea, but just too floppy!

I guess it's been a while eh!

Well, you'll be glad to know, that I'm actually almost done. There've been a few changes to the original plan, etc, etc, but I've still been goign full steam ahead, just not a lot of time to post updates lately.

Here you go, some photo bombardment!

First off, my awful cutting job. Notice how the masking tape ripped off some of the polyurethane? Looks pretty great eh.. (NOT!)

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/9438/img6467al.jpg

Fitting my original faceplate design

http://img833.imageshack.us/img833/706/img6470rr.jpg

I thought it didn't look too bad, but the USB ports were difficult to secure, and there were no audio jacks, so I went about and redesigned a new face plate

http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/5621/img6473m.jpg

Did some work with the band saw, scroll saw, and some sanding, and voila!

http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/4365/img6474n.jpg

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/1825/img6486li.jpg

Looks not terrible eh? That's a nice unit from Silverstone that I picked up from my local computer store. Everything fits real nice and tight

http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/1313/img6492f.jpg

Holes for the power switch and LEDs look good

http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/2820/img6495w.jpg

And a quick test fit

http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/6158/img6507l.jpg

Wonderful! I cut the hole for the card reader / usb with a jigsaw, but neglected to take photos...

Anyways - after a couple coats of black spray paint, I think it looks pretty cool.

http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/7803/img6516d.jpg

With the faceplate out of the way, and hopefully, the last of the drilling / sawing / making sawdust portion over, for the right-hand cabinet, it meant I had the all clear to install more hardware.

Here are the two hard-drive trays with the actual HDD trays removed.

http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/1998/img6508h.jpg

Gave them a nice coat of black spray paint and they mounted them inside the cabinet. I think they look pretty groovy.

http://img40.imageshack.us/img40/1959/img6513n.jpg

Even groovier loaded up with hard drives.. (Two missing in this pic, 7TB total, however!)

http://img26.imageshack.us/img26/9176/img6515g.jpg


Now, before we get to the next pic... another boon happened recently - traded some of those Core 2 Duo systems + some cash and picked up a really cool previous generation Core i5!

Here's the power supply - a Corsair 650TX, a very quality unit. All that could be better is some modular action. Ah well!

http://img707.imageshack.us/img707/8451/img6517b.jpg

And another beautiful Gigabyte motherboard - a GA-P55-USB3 with 4 GB of G.Skill RAM

http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/7719/img6520f.jpg

http://img148.imageshack.us/img148/886/img6521p.jpg

Here's the sweet mother. A quad core 2.8Ghz. Wow, talk about moving on up the CPU chain!

http://img200.imageshack.us/img200/318/img6531gs.jpg

I picked up an older version of the Coolermaster Hyper 212 (Not the Plus version) and mounted a pair of Scythe fans to it

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/153/img6533a.jpg

Oooh, it's getting so close to boot time!

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/5383/img6538j.jpg

[Fuganater]

Is there going to be a window on the door? Or fans? Its all looking good and I'd hate for it to suffocate.

[AmEv]

Is there gonna be enough airflow around the processor?

Mainly concerned, not that far up from the bottom....

[ultimatedesk]

Is there going to be a window on the door? Or fans? Its all looking good and I'd hate for it to suffocate.Oh, don't you worry, there'll be proper ventilation...


Is there gonna be enough airflow around the processor?

Mainly concerned, not that far up from the bottom....Yup! LOTS! ;)

Wow, with all those SATA cables there, it sure messes things up, no?

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/9508/img6540x.jpg

http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/6630/img6541y.jpg

I went ahead and threw in my current video card (Radeon HD5770, which kicks some pretty decent butt still). I'm sure I'll see an improvement from my P4 3.2!!!

http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/7666/img6542m.jpg

And here's the magical moment. It looks like it's already been tweaked around a bit. Running at 3.2Ghz instead of 2.8Ghz, RAM speed up to 1600Mhz... Hey - nice temps! That's only a few degrees over ambient! (It's chilly in the basement)

http://img846.imageshack.us/img846/9486/img6547z.jpg

Only one major problem with this setup... Can you see what it might be? (Well, ok, there's more than one thing not "ideal")

http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/5010/img6549yt.jpg

That might cause an issue. I also don't like the way the heatsink exhausts all of its hot air directly onto the back of the video card, so off to the local computer shop!

This should do the trick:

http://img10.imageshack.us/img10/1361/img6550n.jpg

Much better. Fits almost like it was meant to be.

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/571/img6551y.jpg

Looks real good there actually. I think the wide fin spacing will be an advantage as well, since there is going to be a lot of general air flow throughout the cabinet.

http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/8002/img6552t.jpg

[AmEv]

Called that there would be a problem. lol.

[ultimatedesk]

Called that there would be a problem. lol.lol yeah.. it's been resolved though! ;)

So, now that the hardware has been installed, I can proceed to managing those cables a little. I first cut a quick piece out of 1/4" hardboard with a few strategic holes

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/4906/img6553k.jpg

Already much more to my liking. Time to place the new fans with their new mounting system

http://img15.imageshack.us/img15/8509/img6556r.jpg

Ok - with both "plates" in place, I can cut the appropriate holes in the door and go ahead and install!

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/3044/img6560ve.jpg

http://img155.imageshack.us/img155/5663/img6563ux.jpg

Woohoo, that blue furnace filter sure looks out of place eh? Everything fits, it's nice, snug, and square, so I went ahead and added a bunch of closed cell foam

http://img88.imageshack.us/img88/1236/img6564k.jpg

Another view of the almost finished right-hand cabinet old i5 system

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/7648/img6566x.jpg

http://img69.imageshack.us/img69/3630/img6567kh.jpg

*Testing*

I've been using this cabinet setup for a little while now, and I'm happy to report that the temperatures are really quite nice. Because I've "sealed" the air intake portion, all of the intake air is coming through the blue furnace filter. You can literally feel suction if you place your hand in front of the filter. There is a massive amount of air coming out of the CPU hole, as well as the open PCI slots, power supply exhaust, and the half inch of space between the door and the "non-intake-area". (You can see in the previous photos, I did not put foam around the entire door perimeter).

So far it has been idling at ambient (23-25) and at maximum, just under 50 degrees Celcius.

I can hear the fans running - they are louder than all of the hard drives spinning up. I am going to get a small fan controller and get them down to the minimum speed while maintaining these current temperatures (There is a very large amount of air running through the case).

*To Do*

I have clearly got to find something to either replace the blue furnace filter, or cover it up with something a little more visually appealing.

Also, I need something to cover the CPU exhaust area. It will need to match whatever I do for the furnace filter area.

'Til next time!

[ultimatedesk]

On the other end of the desk, things have been progressing along nicely as well - had this beauty cut for me

http://img402.imageshack.us/img402/4791/img6569ft.jpg

Placing it in the hole, it sits just a little bit too large. The original square I cut out was about a millimetre smaller on one end than the other

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/4798/img6570i.jpg

So I took out the trusty chisel and did a bit of shaving!

http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/5228/img6573d.jpg

http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/8175/img6575c.jpg

There we go!

http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/7606/img6579y.jpg

http://img192.imageshack.us/img192/756/img6580p.jpg

Mm, starting to look so awesome!

http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/9605/img6581o.jpg

http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/9021/img6582c.jpg

The foam fan-holder will have to say bye-bye on this side, just like the one in the right-hand cabinet. Doesn't quite look right.

[Fuganater]

Its gonna look sick to be able to see your system. Too bad your not watercooling this. Did you try for some WC sponsors?

[AmEv]

I'm slightly nervous about the proximity of the HDD to the PSU....


Or should I only be nervous when the HDD is TOUCHING the PSU???