Contemplating making a desk

Hey all

So I've been wanting to learn how to weld for awhile... What better way than to make a desk out of some steel tubing? My thoughts are to make it out of either 3/4" or 1" steel tubing. I've always wanted an L-desk as well, so that's what this will be. The sides 24" deep, 7' on one side and 6' long on the other. I won't be getting a keyboard tray or any of that nonsense, but I may build something to set my monitor up higher. I don't know what I'll make the top out of (MDF is cheap and plentiful, but hardwood looks nicer... thoughts?)

Anyways, here are some pretty pictures. Am I crazy? Should I just buy something from Ikea instead? Solidworks says the frame will be about 40lbs (not bad, considering). The top will probably be considerably heavier.
EDIT: PNG transparency looks retarded on dark background >.>

*snip* (delete me)

Looks great, Go with a hardwood And get some ergotron arms for the monitors.

Stain the hardwood and it will look great.

There's a couple of things to consider when building your desk.

The biggest consideration is the size and shape of the desktop. Because it is 7' long on each side you'll need to construct it from multiple pieces of whatever product you use.You need to understand that it is very difficult to edge join two materials. So you'll need to either use two layers to provide better structural support or heavily support the two pieces underneath using the steel tubing as structural support. The way I'm leaning towards doing this for my project is using a 4'x8' sheet of plywood turned 45 degrees for the corner piece and two 24"x~20" smaller pieces for the sides. Also, if you're using a wood product you may want to consider the grain pattern for aesthetic reasons.

Weight of the desktop is another consideration. 3/4" standard ply as a single piece desktop I'm guessing would be around 80lbs. MDF would be even heavier. Hardwood heavy as well. If you do multiple layers and go to 1" or 1.5" you're talking significant weight. If the desk is going to be there forever that's one thing. If you plan on moving any time soon. Keep in mind the weight.

MDF is cheap. But it's also very heavy. The cheaper grade stuff that you see at home stores is also somewhat fragile. The edges can easily chip and if water gets into the surface you're going to have some trouble. If you paint it you will need to seal the edges using something like drywall spackle as the edges are porous and will suck up the paint.

Hardwood will be REALLY expensive and it will take a lot of work with tools you probably don't have to prep the wood for joining. Gluing up the multiple pieces of hardwood properly will be extremely difficult. Even if you could get all the above right, with hardwood or softwood you have to worry about dimensional stability. Wood moves with the seasons. If you don't allow for that in construction the desktop may warp or crack.

Plywood is probably the best solution for you. It's dimensionally stable and relatively easy to work with. You can go cheap and get your standard stuff at the home store or you can go more expensive and get grade A plywood at a specialty wood supplier and make it look really nice. The problem you're going to have with plywood is that the edges are unfinished. Unless you like that look you'll need to edgeband the plywood to make it look nice. You can use the cheap iron on edgebanding if you you want. But to do it nice you'll have to use some hardwood and join it to the desktop substrate.

There's a lot of things to consider in building this. The frame is fairly easy all things considered. If you move forward do some research on some of the stuff I've discussed and you'll get a better understanding as to what you're in for. You may realize it would be cheaper to talk to a local woodshop and have them build the top for you.

Having built a desk or two all I can say is it's harder than it looks. Your mock up looks very similar to an ikea style desk I see on craiglist all the time in the $100 range. Might want to save yourself the trouble.

A couple pieces of this seems like it would work: http://www.homedepot.com/Lumber-Com...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

I've built sheds, playsets, awnings, etc. out of wood. How card could it be? (famous last words) I would make a cut at one of the angles of the corner. Glue it together, sand over top, finish?

Vika Curry legs, last time i checked they were $3 a leg, they would be a lot more sturdy than what you have planned.