Choices and Components
As you can see below, I divided the desk into 3 areas:
- the left area dedicated to the motherboard and its components;
- the back area dedicated to power supply and cable outputs (motherboard, speakers, ventilation, etc…)
- the right area has no specific assignment for the moment, I'm thinking of putting some controls like power, ventilation control…
The left and right sides of the furniture will have 3 Corsair AF140 QE fans each to ensure ventilation from right to left of the main block.
The outside of the sides will be covered with dust filters, ordered from modDIY.
I chose an illuminated push button as a power button, which I will certainly place on the front right.
For sound, I disassembled (cut) old Awai and JVC speakers to recover the speakers that I will place on boxes fixed above the furniture.
I had almost no tools to build the desk, so I invested in a few tools.
Mainly, the jigsaw allowed me to make all my cuts, I did nothing with the circular saw. I fixed the lines with an old sander.
And not forgetting the most important: wood! Finding the wood took me a bit of time. I went with MDF (medium density fiberboard or more commonly called medium (standard), made to be used indoors, easy to work with, hardly splinters unlike softwood and paints simply with a multi-support primer. It's the ideal wood to make furniture for a reasonable price!
MDF is generally found either in DIY stores like Leroy Merlin or at wood dealers. Not having a Leroy Merlin nearby, I got the MDF from a wood dealer.
For information, I bought 4 sheets of 2m44x1m22x19mm.
Let's get started!
Construction
I started by cutting and assembling the back of the desk, you can see the division into 3 sections.
I then assembled the exterior and put the two elements together.
To finish assembling the main pieces, I added the two desk surfaces.
Shelf and Sound
Once the desk was assembled, I added a shelf along the entire length to raise my two screens, so I took the opportunity to integrate a 3-way sound system (left, center & right).
I power the speakers with two small dual-channel amplifiers found on Conrad, which I will place in the center of the furniture.
Ventilation
As explained previously, I wanted to have an airflow from right to left across the entire main surface thanks to 6 Corsair AF140 fans.
Motherboard and Cable Routing
So I tackled where and how to place/fix my motherboard in the desk.
I started by disassembling my case to remove the motherboard support, which I then adjusted and painted black.
I then cut the furniture to bring out the connections to the back compartment, where all the cables will pass.
My current power supply is not modular. So I can't put it where I want.
I decided (for the moment) to place it at knee level against the left compartment. So I made a box to fix the power supply under the furniture.
I then added the holes for the power supply cable routing.
Painting
All that's left is a good coat of paint to finalize the main work. I tried air gun painting for the first time. It has the advantage of being fast and without smudges but on the other hand you paint the surroundings of the furniture, my tools are now spotted with gray and white… I started by applying a multi-support primer on the entire furniture, sanded everything once dry and then applied two coats of gray-tinted acrylic paint (because not enough black tint on hand :) ). The result not being smooth enough for my taste and I originally wanted a full black desk, so I found black acrylic. I finished with a final coat of black paint on the visible elements of the furniture.
Assembly and Wiring
Just need to put everything in place! Assembly and wiring took me quite a bit of time. Especially since I wanted to do sleeving on the motherboard cables for a nice result.
Final Result
And here's the result, there will be some optimizations and improvements to come (lights, ventilation grille, amplifier control with 433MHz outlets, etc…) but everything is there :)
As you can see the desk + the legs make the desk very high (work surface at 1m from the ground).
So I hesitated to stop there and find a bar chair with backrest or make new smaller legs at desk chair height.
Obviously, I built new legs :p
Leg Construction
So I added to the base of my SolidWorks file two legs with doors on each side (but without drawers).
Nothing too complicated, except that I took the opportunity to integrate NAS, Debian server and UPS in the left leg!
I added a ventilated air intake under the NAS, because yes all that heats up inside:
A white multi-support primer, then black alkyd paint (yes unlike the desk):
Ventilation
I also finished wiring my entire ventilation system, so I have ventilation from right to left under the desk work surface via 6 fans.
The 6 fans are connected to my rheostat, so I can control the speed of each fan. I will soon add temperature probes to make the ventilation speed dependent on temperature.
And to finish, I installed the external fan protection covers.
Screens
I finally invested in a triple display stand to make it all a bit more classy!
The stand base being much too wide for my desk shelf, I extended the stand tube and fixed it to the back of the furniture.
And here's the result with three Iiyama Prolite E2483HS-B1:
Chair
I also had the pleasure of having a new desk chair for my birthday ;)
Ambilight
I just added this week a 4m WS2812B LED adhesive strip behind the screens to reproduce an ambilight system in the same way as on my TV (Cf. Ambi-like with WS2801 strip, Raspberry Pi and Hyperion).
A dedicated article coming soon… but here's the first result:
To finish the construction of my desk furniture, a small summary is in order.
My Initial Goals
I wanted a custom desk to make the best use of the room space and also have my PC integrated into it.
Subsequently, I wanted to add a shelf to accommodate my screens and also some speakers.
My Knowledge Level
I had simple woodworking knowledge (and tool handling) from my childhood. It came back fairly quickly after a few mistakes…
I studied electrotechnics, so I have some knowledge in electricity and wiring, which served me well for this :)
My Installation
Starting from a few ideas, and inspired by projects found on the net, I managed to build my desk.