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Made My own Desk !!! - for ~$125!!

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thanks guys, the Samsung 940b's will be here next week and I will be adding a whole nother peice to the desk. stay close, ill impress ya even more!!!
 
Excellent project, great craftsmanship.

I too built a 7 foot long custom desk out of a old maple drafting station.

But I've moved onto this desk, bought for $80.00 (used) on Craigslist. Mods are on the way though, going to build a cabinet om the left and extension on the right- the size should be close to your design.

Again, very good job!

 
That's a very nice desk for that kind of money! I like the reinforcing brackets, I think that should survive for a while even with heavy use. :cool:
 
hope so!!!! I will be adding a cable hiding panel, and an upper shelf to hold games and DVDs on the left side of the desk this weekend hopefully, as well as a 1.7ft^3 avanti peltier mini fridge off to the right side underneath. I recieved my core stand system for my LCD Dual display setup a couple of days ago (will be modding and building a base for it out of wood to match the desk) and I'm just waiting for the 2 x 19" Samsung 940b LCDs to get here!!!! Ill keep you guys posted.

ps. if you guys want, I will post the terrible MSpaint concept drawing of what I intend the desk to look like when its done on here tonight too?!
 
Enablingwolf said:
I say great job!!!

The Birch laminate is a really nice looking wood when it is finished. I would not use a colored stain or coating. I know preferance, but Birch/Alder has some wonderful grain effects. Nice to see someone not use Oak or other high dollar material. Some of the softwoods seem to be neglected for projects. By the way, FYI Alder is used for the facing and Birch is the laminate, since the grain is visually the same.

Thanks for the kind words and Info, I definitely love the grain and color of the desk now, but you are correct, I need some kind of transparent protective coating, so when its done I will probably do some kind of polyurethane coating on the whole desk (unless you have a better Idea, you seem to be an expert in this area).

BTW thanks again for the compliments and ideas, sorry I took so long to tip my hat to ya!!! :beer: :thup:
 
A good clear sealer should work out really nice. If you want a hard finish. Get a brushable polyurethane. Then thin it to 50/50(laquer thinner) for a gloss if you like shiney. Home depot carries bushable products. For paint products I like Ace hardware. If you don't have a sprayer or acces to a skilled painter just get brushable products.

Follow the instructions on the can. Since in my experiance, they all go on about the same, but each product has its own little quirks to get the best results out of the can.

If you use a sealing eurathane. I would use a brush finish and lay the coats on it. 4 should be durable enough. More the merrier though, it will give depth to the finish. Marine urethane would be the most durable. Very pricey stuff, but would take alot of abuse. Cup marks would be much less on a chemical based varient. Water based is the easiest to work with. Oil has the best visual appeal. It just makes the wood warm looking.

Now if you want the best looks possible, a good linseed oil would make that thing look awsome. It offers no surface protection though. It is for looks only. It does offer some water protection(very little), and needs to be reapplied every so often. It will however give the warmest look of any finish I can think of.
 
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Nice Job !!! Below is one I made a few years back where I utilized kitchen base cabinets with drawers all pre-made just had to stain. The top is 2'x4' 3/4" oak veneer plywood with some nice looking moulding glued to the edges.

Has a nice bookcase Made from oak boards behind the dual monitors which are hinged to open up.
desk.jpg
 
1. ^^^ nice, (with kickass dual displays too!!!) ^^^

2. what kinda lcds are those

3. what the hell is in that diamond plate case there!!!?????
 
The monitors are two dell 18" that I got for free just had to repair the inverters work like new now.

The pc is custom made case watercooled the work log is HERE
 
a few more updates

Heres the original MSpaint (i know, lol) Concept for the desk

desksmall.jpg


And heres my quick Autocadded (inventor 10) screenshot of what the rest is going to look like (forgive the lack of color, im on a school machine with no textures default loaded)

CLICK FOR BIGGER PIX!!!

inventor.jpg


Will post real pics as the desk actually gets built onto!!

again thanks for all the compliments and ideas guys, you are my inspiration to keep this work log alive!!
 
My dad did a top half shelf almost identical to that one a few years ago, but he put CD storage slides on the left side. I'll get a picture of the routing he did to keep the top shelf board in place.
 
I would dado it then use pins to keep it in place. Even a screw from the bottom with the combination of that dado will make it more then stable. If you don't have the means to make a dado, a couple screws from the bottom will hold it in place. Just pre-drill so the material does not split.
 
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