Another desk mod

[board2death986]

Yes i know.. another 10,000 dollar desk mod!! Well its still in the development stages anyway. I just can't get the idea out of my head, so i've spent plenty of wasted hours measuring and developing this desk.

It's a simple L-shape desk, 3 sections, 2 of which are 3.5x 2 foot desks and a 3x3 center piece. Each is designed for one of the three systems that will be in them, the left unit is for my current computer, and my upcoming 30inch LCD. The center is just for my laptop, and the extra storage/foot rest, and the right is what sparked the project, the desk/hutch unit with a built in server.

The idea was to create an extended hard drive rack and a separated computer for the server itself. It has evolved somewhat to a simpler design and more space to move around, but there should be room for two racks, and maybe 20 or more hard drives. It's still very early in the design process, as im still measuring in the devices for the server itself, as well as figuring out how to house the hard drives, as well as cooling.

The server itself is on a slideout tray, along with it's power supply. I have cut out pieces of the desk (in sketchup) for I/O and power connectors, so to work on the server i would just disconnect the cables (as well as the sata cables) and would have easy access to the motherboard. I also still have to figure out where to mount the cd-rom as well as the OS backup drive, as ill be using an I-RAM drive as the primary drive, and back it up nightly on the Backup in case of power failure.

As for the hard drive rack I might use pre-existing racks and just rig them into the space somehow. I would be using 3 foot long SATA cables, and i still have to find someone who can daisy chain a power supply for me, as the rack will have it's own power unit. For cooling i'll be using 120mm fans, slow speed but enough of them to move sufficient air quietly enough.

well looking for suggestions, advice, and criticisms! it may be a year or more until i have my own place to build this behemoth project, and i would have a woodshop cut the initial pieces so i still have to draw up blueprints for all the separate pieces when im satisfied with the design.

ok enough talk . .pictures!!!

The initial design:

the old rack idea

the new setup:

the left unit:

the center piece:

the right unit:

cable access: (below right unit keyboard tray)

 

[Peterson]

Getting off the subject a little, but what software did you use for that? How long did it take to draw out? Can you diagram rooms with it (wall angles and such)?

 

[board2death986]

google sketchup. Takes a while to draw out, but it's fast once you know the dimensions you are looking for. You can draw some advanced angles with a little practice. But as long as you know the measurements you should be able to reconstruct it

 

[Ryle]

just my observation, the left unit does not have much leg room IMO. i like it spacious under my desk so im not banging my legs against anything.

 

[Techx]

eh looks ok to me, but i personally dont like "hutches" they look cluttered and have always gotten in the way of my multi-monitors pursuits.. this setup also looks really uncomfortable to move between systems, and has been said not enough legroom.. but if thats what you want.. then good luck!

 

[board2death986]

ive tried the multimonitor setup and i really don't have the use for it, if anything i benefit more from a multi computing setup, mostly just the server being separate from my main gaming machine, as eventually i will also have a media center pc running video from the server onto my television. The server won't really see too much daily use, so the hutch is useful for storage where i won't have much anywhere else. . . as for the legroom, i've considered expanding the setup to 7 square feet as opposed to its current size of 6.5 square feet, and i've taken the cabinet out of the left unit, i don't really think i need it, i dont use the one i have now except for cd storage, and this one has plenty of rack space + the cabinets up top.

 

[Dozoy]

It might be hard to fit your chair/legs close to the middle unit. Maybe expand it a foot on both sides?

 

[board2death986]

i'll try expanding it by half a foot, i don't want to make this desk too large. Then again once i move out ill probably have to redo the whole thing based on the space i will have.

 

[AlexStenka]

looks good.

 

[board2death986]

looks good.

how long ago did your raptor break? I got a new 74gb raptor less than a year ago and it was under factory warranty until 2008, have you tried checking online on WD's webpage?

 

[board2death986]

anyone have any idea ideas about hard drive racks? im thinking of those units that hold 3 or 4 sata drives, any links?

 

[board2death986]

added a mini-hutch to get more usage from the center unit, as well as edited the storage in the right hutch to get better use of cabinet space and cd-racks.

and just for kicks I touched up the monitor

still wondering if anyone knows any hard drive racks that could fit into a 11.5 W // 1' 10" T // 1' 11" D space, or any racks i could jerry rig in there that fit 4 or 5 hard drives or more?

 

[board2death986]

well my main computer is down, my raptor took a shit as well , but thanks to WD they are shipping the replacement first, so i should be back up and running by next week, until then my design is stuck on my computer as a encrypted backup of my OS drive, thank god i remembered to set that thing to backup every night , but anyway reviving the thread, i still need to find a way to get a PSU daisy chained to accomodate all the drives in the rack, as well as any fans or enclosures (depending on the way i decide to mount them). Other than that only changes im still thinking of myself are adding a wire routing hole in the center unit, expanding the side units to make the entire desk 7x7 feet, and adding some wire management and air ventilation to the back of the left computer, as it has some heavy exhaust and im looking to make a cleaner wire setup with this desk, as my current one is a jungle

 

[Ozone77]

Back to the leg-room issue ..the whole thing looks very cramped:

Think about this, if you are sitting on your main rig and want to check on the Laptop or server, you have to back away, roll over to the other station a scoot in.

Also, keep in mind that it is very inconvenient for 2 people to use an "L" shaped desk at the same time (don't plan on doing it everyday).

My personal preference would be to switch the laptop and gaming stations, that way you "sit in the middle" and you turn left or right to check on the other comps, also, if you have guests/gfriend/buddy using the laptop, they can move over to the side (Assuming they can't just take it somewhere else).

Regardless, I would move the location of the main rig and built-in server to the "outsides," and change the "inside" walls/legs on the desk to a leg that comes straight down from the middle of the table (the 1' mark) and then comes out, like an upside-down "T", this will give you knee room to be able to TURN from one station to the other, with minimal rolling across the desk, .... this is so difficult to explain without drawing...

 

[board2death986]

take my latest photo and use ms paint?

please? i appreciate the comment and im interested in what you are proposing, although with the switching bays. . the way this is most likely going to end up is that the right unit will be against the wall, and the left unit facing the rest of the room (and the TV). . . so now that i say that in my head it might make more sense to move the main computer to the center so i would only have to swivel left to see the TV instead of sliding out of the way of the monitor to see anything . . .in that case i would have to expand the center unit by another half foot on each side to get room for keyboard/mouse (already tested this once before), and in that case i might shrink the side units a little since i would be removing the blocking leg factors from the center area.

WD just shipped my replacement hard drive today, so i should be designed again come next week, until then im stuck with a crappy outdated version on my laptop,