Desk/workstation Construction

[Stan Thigpen]

I have been asked to make a desk/workstation for an office. It is to be U shaped with flowing curves. The only straight edge is about 30" at the inside of the U where the employee will sit. The owner wants a modesty shield in front with a couple of panels on either side at the front side and suggested a column for support of each of the ends of the U. No drawers are needed as there should be clearance for a roll-around drawer unit to the right and left of the employee under each wing of the U. My question is what type of material would you folks suggest to use for the substrate. I will be using laminate for the surface and edges. What thickness should be used, as a good bit of the table top will be cantelevered beyond the support? I am inclined to think that 3/4" is not going to be rigid enough for this application. The size of the desk will be approximately 7' at it's widest and around 6' from front to rear of the U. Another question - what is the largest size of laminate material generally available? Any suggestions will be appreciated.

[Ken Frantz]

Stan

The largest size laminate that I use to order was 5 ft by 12 ft in what I call STD (standard, ie 1/16 inch thickness) where as VT (vertical surfacing, ie 1/32 inch thickness) comes only in 4 by 8 ft unless specially ordered. Note: mica usually come 1 inch oversize. Also you need to check the availability of the material in the color/pattern you want. The mica I used mostly was WILSON ART I believe out of Tampa, Florida.

I did a GOGGLES search on "wilsonart mica laminates" and found a lots of information on surfacing materials on this site for a lots of different brands of mica: countertops.htm
Then I went to the WILSON ART tech page:
http://www.wilsonart.com/productlib/...a/Basiclam.pdf

I have bought 1 1/4 inch by 5 by 12 foot sheets of particle board, but as I said in another post, it takes 2 good men and a boy to handle this stuff.

For the modesty panels (sides and ends) I would use 3/4 inch material which I use to buy in 30" by 145"

So if you want to build a desk and have the top covered without any joints in the mica, 5 by 12 is the biggest you can go.

Also I would laminate the insides of the modesty panel with the same color/pattern as the out side and use what I call a backer laminate just to seal the surface under the top.

CLEAR AS MUD???????
I MAY BE SLOW, BUT I AM AHEAD OF YOU!!!!