Computer Desk

[Marvin Keys]

I decided to finally get around to posting the progress reports on a computer desk I started some time ago. It wasn't until I started to do this that I realized how long it has been since I started this project. Now, I will start with my excuses as to why it is taking me so long. I know that some of you are thinking of replying that I don't need any excuse, I should take my time, I am just doing this because it makes me feel better to see it in writing and hopefully be able to better explain my delays to my wife who is beginning to wonder if her desk will ever be done.

1. I did finish my 1,200 square foot basement (doing everything from framing to electrical to drywalling myself) during the intervening period.
2. I have a 2 year old and a 3 year old that take up a good portion of my time.
3. I work on this project on the weekends while my kids are napping, when it is neither too cold nor too hot to work in my garage.
4. I am strictly amateur at this stuff, my profession being the law, so I measure 20 times and cut once if I am lucky.

The original post is in the design forum and can be found at http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=29449. You can see in that thread that this started January of 2006. These first two pics are of my original design for the desk. I will post this in several pieces and will post my continuing progress in hopes that it will keep me on the path toward completion some time this century.

I have learned quite a bit during the process, including many things I wish I had learned in some other manner. I will point out the mistakes that led to my learning experience in each step, not because of some masochistic tendency or anything, although I think anyone who does this as a hobby must have some of those, but in hopes that it will allow someone else the opportunity to not do what I did.

As usual, I strive for perfection in my woodworking projects and achieve something less, but I do end up a better woodworker for it. Criticism, preferrably constructive, is always appreciated. I have thick skin, so don't worry about offending me, so comment away, or not.

[Marvin Keys]

This first piece is the lower left cabinet. In order to make this manageable to move around, each piece is stand alone, capable of being moved independently. My first real mistake came in the drawer design. Now, this was my first attempt at doing dovetail joints and it took me far too long to get the perfect fit. It took many tweaks of the depth on the router, the placement of the jig, etc... I just kept tweaking one or the other until it all came together. I am sure many of you right now are remembering back to that first time the joint just went together with not too much play, but not too tight. C'mon, I know you just smiled thinking about that feeling. Anyway, that wasn't my mistake. The glue had just finished drying on the dovetail joints for the frame of the drawer and I was attaching it to the drawer face when I realized I had not taken into account the width and action of the drawer slides. Sure enough, I had made the drawers about 1" too wide. For those of you who are looking at the pictures of the dovetails and are thinking, why those don't look that great, don't rain on my parade, I have a stack of dovetails edges from my practice pieces that all say these are the perfect dovetails. :-)

Now I am sure you are thinking, that is an easy fix, just redo the drawer the right size and voila. Are you kidding me, after I just hit the holy grail of dovetails, you want me to redo them running the risk that I won't ever get them right again. Oh no, I was not about to take that chance. So, what I ended up doing is cutting a 1/2" deep rabbet along the upper edge of the drawer on both sides, essentially insetting the drawer slides. I like how it turned out and think it actually makes the drawer slides a little more stable butting up against the rabbet edge on the bottom.

The lower portion of the cabinet will house my computer. I still need to get some ventilation and cord access holes put into the cabinet. Just haven't done that yet. The computer sits on a base that is attached to drawer slides, so that the entire computer slides out to access the cables. I thought I came up with a great solution to that, but I am afraid the implementation will require me to rework this after it starts getting used. The drawer slides may not be sturdy enough to withstand the weight of the computer once they are fully extended. They are installed on the base of the cabinet, not in their proper position on the side. The stresses of the weight won't be where they were designed. This is something I will just have to see if it works when I actually start using the cabinet for its purpose.

Incidentally, since I got the dovetails right, I have refused to use my router for anything else for fear that I will not get them right again. I used my table saw to cut the rabbet when the router would have been much easier. I may just have to buy another router for other operations and make this my dovetail router.

Sorry there aren't many pictures of the actual build on this piece, I will have more for some of the other pieces as I go along.

[Michael Panis]

Those dovetails ARE perfect!

[Marvin Keys]

In the continuing saga. The desk is made of a mixture of solid red oak and red oak plywood. I have made the tops out of yellow pine mostly because I was afraid to spend that much money on oak tops not being sure how I would do in the building process. I used the miniwax red oak stain and miniwax poly. There are two coats of stain and 2 coats of poly on the desk fronts and 4 coats of poly on the desk tops. The dovetailed drawer you see in the post above are yellow pine and I actually still need to stain it, but I just keep forgetting.

[Marvin Keys]

I have completed the bottom three peices and they are now kind of installed. I say kind of because I haven't actually attached the desk tops to the bases and I haven't completed the hardware installation or the little details like cable routing and placement, but I have gotten it nice and cluttered with junk already. Actually it was my wife who did that before I could get pictures. I put all the pieces in place one night, went to work the next day and get home and it is covered.

I ordered hardware last week and when it was delivered some of the pieces fell through the quality control cracks because they were missing parts of their black coating so I had to send the two top drawer pulls back to the company I ordered from. I am still waiting for the grommets for the desktop to allow the cords to be passed through in the appropriate locations, as well as the longer USB cords and things so that I can get the computer pieces all approriately placed.

I am now working on finishing up the two top pieces that I started quite some time ago.

[Marvin Keys]

As mentioned, I started on this project a couple years ago and you can see what happens to your work when you let it sit around for that period of time.

[Marvin Keys]

Well, as I said, I have started finishing up the two upper cabinets that I started on originally and here is their current state of unreadiness. The first two pics are of the upper right cabinet and the shelf currently being glued up that will slide into the dadoes. The other more finished looking pics are of the upper left cabinet which is just now ready for poly.

[Jerry Olexa]

Marvin, here's an old post that will show a corner computer desk I built a few years back...


http://www.sawmillcreek.org/search.php?searchid=2359093&pp=25&page=4

[Jerry Olexa]

OOps, here's the correct post:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=10337

[Marvin Keys]

Finally have finished the desk I started in January of 2006.

[Jerry Olexa]

Very nice results!! I understand: Life gets in the way some time. You did good!!

[Bruce Page]

Finally have finished the desk I started in January of 2006.

Marvin, you're almost as slow as I am...;)
The desk looks great!

[gary Zimmel]

Good things take a long time. Sometimes a real long time...;)
Nice job Marvin.