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My Homemade (ultimate iMac) Desk
- Thread starter fivepoint
- Start date
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This is so awesome! Thanks for sharing your ideas and progress. Can't wait to see the final product. Fine workmanship too.
Wow, this looks amazing, I can't wait to see the finished product. One thing that you may want to consider, and I know that this idea of mine might be a little bit much...but if you were able to get two small quiet fans (think of some traditional PC tower fans, and place them on either side of the hidden drawer (one for intake, the other for output), then this would definitely solve your overheating problem, but I am sure that there are other ways to handle this without using fans, but once again, I can't wait to see the finished product.
EDIT: And I would definitely put the iPhone dock and the iPhone on top of the desk, I can understand wanting to hide the iPods and Hard Drives, but not the iPhone, that thing is a piece of art in itself.
EDIT: And I would definitely put the iPhone dock and the iPhone on top of the desk, I can understand wanting to hide the iPods and Hard Drives, but not the iPhone, that thing is a piece of art in itself.
HOLY CRAP, have you been watching Norm Abrams on the New Yankee Workshop??
Amazing progress.
And the "we" of which you speak. Is that your better half??
Amazing progress.
And the "we" of which you speak. Is that your better half??
Looks great! And if you looking for neat ideas, especially in the small details, take a look at what the pro's use...
http://www.watsondispatch.com/
These professional emergency dispatch consoles have a ton of great features. Hydraulic height adjustment with memory, built-in lighting, integrated fans (for you, the operator), integrated USB ports, and a unified control pad. And they have hidden equipment drawers too!
http://www.watsondispatch.com/
These professional emergency dispatch consoles have a ton of great features. Hydraulic height adjustment with memory, built-in lighting, integrated fans (for you, the operator), integrated USB ports, and a unified control pad. And they have hidden equipment drawers too!
As for you're problem with the surge protector, couldn't you just attatch it to the top of the draw, so that it wouldn't slide with the door as you opened it? It may get in the way when trying to open the draw, but if you put it right on the edge you wouldn't have to worry about it.
- Jaiden
- Jaiden
That is a very interesting thought. I think this is what I am going to do: I am going to wait until the project is completely done, drawers and everything, and then I am going to fill the hidden drawer and power everything up. I'll do some HD intensive tasks, and take "internal drawer" temp tests with my digital thermometer. It is very accurate.
At what temp. should I be worried, assuming the house is at about 70?
plenty of man points for building the desk yourselflooks great!
Hahaha. You guys know how to make a guy feel good! Thanks for the support. My wife smirked a little when she read the 'man point' thing.
Um... I think I said "we" both for my wife and for the gentleman who has been helping me learn the basics of woodworking. I will try and be more clear in the future.
I checked out the site. They have some cool things. I especially liked the idea for the lit cupboards. I don't know if any of their ideas will work in this situation... but who knows, if I have major heat problems in the drawer (at this point I am not expecting to) I may have to rig something like that up for manual fan speed adjustment. Hopefully not.
Well, right now, I am planning on cutting two 2.5" spacers out of the drawer stock which will secure the surge protector towards the rear of the drawer and elevated about an inch above the bottom of the drawer so that I can run cords underneath and plug in for power on the back side, leaving the front side plugs open for future use.
I am also planning on putting either some sort of black felt or black leather down on the 'hidden drawer' so that the electronics such as the iPod don't slide so much when the drawer is opened.
Well, this afternoon I started building the "face frames" for the front and rear drawer banks. If there were no drawers, essentially this would be the same step as the last, creating 'aprins' for the long stretch on the two remaining sides... and the desk would be pretty much done. However, since there ARE drawers, we are building face-frames instead, and there is considerable more work to be done.
This step (face frames) has ended up taking quite a while since I am using glue and clamps instead of pocket holes for the most part, and I plan on finishing tomorrow. Here is what it looks like as of now... As you can see in this photo, I've got two long pieces cut which will be the top and bottom of the face-frame.
Tomorrow, I should be able to finish the two face frames and start building drawers if all goes well! I will be sure to post pictures as soon as I can. Have a great weekend, everyone.
This step (face frames) has ended up taking quite a while since I am using glue and clamps instead of pocket holes for the most part, and I plan on finishing tomorrow. Here is what it looks like as of now... As you can see in this photo, I've got two long pieces cut which will be the top and bottom of the face-frame.
Tomorrow, I should be able to finish the two face frames and start building drawers if all goes well! I will be sure to post pictures as soon as I can. Have a great weekend, everyone.
Such a great little project, love the design btw, looks very "hip" and "cool" and other such words that the kids these days use
But seriously, great project, looks really nice.
But seriously, great project, looks really nice.
Looking Good!
I been reading this thread with all the updates, your doing a great job so far. Can't wait to see more updates and the final thing!
Keep up the hard work!
I been reading this thread with all the updates, your doing a great job so far. Can't wait to see more updates and the final thing!
Keep up the hard work!
Face Frames
Hahaha, its great reading your comments guys! Thanks!
Well, today was a very long day in the woodshop! The neat thing was that we got to do some very different things and I got to learn some interesting new techniques, etc. I was there for about 8 hours, but boy did we get a lot done! The Face-Frames are now built, the drawer braces are in, the drawer slides are hung, and we're just about to finish making drawers so we can start sanding and getting ready for stain!
Anyway, here are the photos from today's work!
Here you can see the completed front face-frame. As you can see it has 3 drawer bank openings. One for the large center drawer, and two for the very deep side drawers. The back side has only one opening for the single hidden drawer.
Here is the first drawer brace to go in. It is made from white pine I believe, which is used to save on cost and because it is easier to screw into when installing the drawer slides. We attached four of them in total, one on each end supporting half of the outside drawers, and two in the center supporting the other half of the outside drawers and the complete center and hidden drawers.
Here is the first set of drawer slides which I installed. This was a bit more difficult than I thought as you had to have a precise distance from the front of the face frame, a precise distance from the top of the table, and the whole thing had to be perfectly level... to top it off, you had to hold it in place while driving the screws, which is no easy feat!
Here is a drawer which is screaming "hang me!" I took the photo with the drawer upside down so you could see what kind of material I put in the bottom. It is a think 1/4 plywood with a pre-finished gloss surface on it. It looks pretty nice. The rest of the drawer is made out of baltic birch plywood, which is a very popular wood to make drawers out of for some reason. It does look good though. Basically I constructed the drawer with the kreg jig after first cutting a dado (groove) in each piece which allowed me to slide the drawer bottom (1/4 plywood) in once three sides of the drawer were constructed. It worked kind of slick.
The only drawer left to make is the hidden one. I am making that one a bit more 'bulky' so it can stand up to the strain. I will make that with a full 1/2" plywood bottom connected with the Kreg Jig.
I love this photo. Here is the first 'underside' image with drawers installed. It looks pretty, but BOY is this thing heavy now! It's so solid with all of those braces and extra material included now.
Proof that I am a bit 'anal', even in the woodshop.
Hahaha, its great reading your comments guys! Thanks!
Well, today was a very long day in the woodshop! The neat thing was that we got to do some very different things and I got to learn some interesting new techniques, etc. I was there for about 8 hours, but boy did we get a lot done! The Face-Frames are now built, the drawer braces are in, the drawer slides are hung, and we're just about to finish making drawers so we can start sanding and getting ready for stain!
Anyway, here are the photos from today's work!
Here you can see the completed front face-frame. As you can see it has 3 drawer bank openings. One for the large center drawer, and two for the very deep side drawers. The back side has only one opening for the single hidden drawer.
Here is the first drawer brace to go in. It is made from white pine I believe, which is used to save on cost and because it is easier to screw into when installing the drawer slides. We attached four of them in total, one on each end supporting half of the outside drawers, and two in the center supporting the other half of the outside drawers and the complete center and hidden drawers.
Here is the first set of drawer slides which I installed. This was a bit more difficult than I thought as you had to have a precise distance from the front of the face frame, a precise distance from the top of the table, and the whole thing had to be perfectly level... to top it off, you had to hold it in place while driving the screws, which is no easy feat!
Here is a drawer which is screaming "hang me!" I took the photo with the drawer upside down so you could see what kind of material I put in the bottom. It is a think 1/4 plywood with a pre-finished gloss surface on it. It looks pretty nice. The rest of the drawer is made out of baltic birch plywood, which is a very popular wood to make drawers out of for some reason. It does look good though. Basically I constructed the drawer with the kreg jig after first cutting a dado (groove) in each piece which allowed me to slide the drawer bottom (1/4 plywood) in once three sides of the drawer were constructed. It worked kind of slick.
The only drawer left to make is the hidden one. I am making that one a bit more 'bulky' so it can stand up to the strain. I will make that with a full 1/2" plywood bottom connected with the Kreg Jig.
I love this photo. Here is the first 'underside' image with drawers installed. It looks pretty, but BOY is this thing heavy now! It's so solid with all of those braces and extra material included now.
Proof that I am a bit 'anal', even in the woodshop.
Looks like you are very handy with wood. Great looking desk!
Hahaha, actually... about one week ago, I probably didn't know much more about it than you! I am learning fast though, and the experience has been a blast so far.
Great job on the desk so far! I wish I had the kind of time on my hands to make an ultimate desk for my system.
looking good...just a few things, If the desk it up against a wall, which I'm sure it will be, won't the hidden drawer be unaccessible??? Maybe thats what you want, I'm just makin sure. Also, have you thought of maybe a top side flushmount for the iphone now that would look sexy with the dock inside the top of the desk...
now that would look sexy with the dock inside the top of the desk...I totally envy you, man. I wish I had access to power tools and my own workshop. If I did, I can guarantee you that every piece of furniture in my apartment would be made by me. Unfortunately, my building's committee won't let me do so much as play guitar without headphones, never-mind sand a table. AND I OWN MY APARTMENT!
Don't buy a condo folks. No matter how much you paid to purchase it; it was never really yours until the day you sold it.
/end-rant
Don't buy a condo folks. No matter how much you paid to purchase it; it was never really yours until the day you sold it.
/end-rant