Danger: Door Desk

StatutoryApe

StatutoryApe

Limp Gawd
Joined
Apr 25, 2011
Messages
309
Here is my current desk situation.

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It's a 4ft folding table from Mal*Wart and a side table/dresser. Together, they hold my 3 Viewsonic vg2230wm monitors and my Cintiq 24HD.
Quite frankly, I don't have enough space for all 4 monitors on the current setup and the folding table is wobbly, at best. It's time I upgrade.

I realized long ago that buying a desk is expensive as hell. There were none that were strong, well made and sizable for the money I could afford. I didn't want cabinets, drawers, shelves, or anything like that. Basically, I wanted a glorified table. Those were expensive too. Dammit, right? Screw it, what can I build? After looking around and thinking out loud to myself in public, I decided that I wanted to build a door desk. I finally got the money to do so.

Parts list:
32"x80" Solid Core Unfinished Door Blank
4"x4" Douglas Fir for legs
2"x4" Douglas Fir for crossbraces
Plate Steel to mount the legs
16" Black drawer rollers rated for 100lbs
Minwax Ebony Stain
Minwax Polycrylic protective coating

The edges of the door have been routed and sanded, along with the faces. I applied one coat of Ebony stain and I think I like the color. I wanted dark, but this lighter-than-i-planned color looks nice. We'll see how I feel about it tomorrow.

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Pictures as I get progress. Let me know what you think.
 
Its got a good color to it, Ill be watching because im getting sick of this glass desk.
 
it needs a Goliathus-shaped dip to house a Goliathus. :p

also i'd go for a semi-circle hole in the middle a-la evil genius.
 
Thanks for the comments, guys!
Color is Minwax Ebony of which, I just added a second coat of stain. I guess I could take pics of the slightly darker shade.

NickTheNut, my plans are to fit my Cintiq 24HD and three Viewsonic vg2230wm monitors on one desk, MAYBE fitting my tower on top, also. We'll see how that works out, though. If nothing else, there is plenty of space below the desk to fit either my NZXT Phantom OR my Lian Li v2000b.
The Cintiq sits on a slider panel on top of the desk so I can move its big, sweet ass the hell out the way.
Right now, I think I'm planning on placing the monitors in a 22, cintiq, 22, 22 arrangement so I can focus on the cintiq and not the other panels. I dont use it enough as it is, being off to the side. We'll see when I get to the placement stage.

DeathPrincess, that is not Captain Janeway, although it is the same actress. That is her character in Warehouse 13, aptly named Jane.

Mr. Cheap, I have a Mionix Propus 380 at the moment. Also, why would I do a cutout for a product that may or may not exist once it wears out? I'd need to buy like...seven of them to be safe. lol

Pciture update to come soon.
 
StatutoryApe said:
Thanks for the comments, guys!
Color is Minwax Ebony of which, I just added a second coat of stain. I guess I could take pics of the slightly darker shade.

NickTheNut, my plans are to fit my Cintiq 24HD and three Viewsonic vg2230wm monitors on one desk, MAYBE fitting my tower on top, also. We'll see how that works out, though. If nothing else, there is plenty of space below the desk to fit either my NZXT Phantom OR my Lian Li v2000b.
The Cintiq sits on a slider panel on top of the desk so I can move its big, sweet ass the hell out the way.
Right now, I think I'm planning on placing the monitors in a 22, cintiq, 22, 22 arrangement so I can focus on the cintiq and not the other panels. I dont use it enough as it is, being off to the side. We'll see when I get to the placement stage.

DeathPrincess, that is not Captain Janeway, although it is the same actress. That is her character in Warehouse 13, aptly named Jane.

Mr. Cheap, I have a Mionix Propus 380 at the moment. Also, why would I do a cutout for a product that may or may not exist once it wears out? I'd need to buy like...seven of them to be safe. lol

Pciture update to come soon.
Click to expand...

Sounds awesome. Though it seems pretty crazy to be that close to all those screens! Especially the Cintiq! :eek:

I think Mr. Cheap was referring to something like this;
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edit: I actually did a search for "Evil Genius Desk" to find this. lol.
 
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Well, the desk is 32" deep, making the monitors fairly far away from my face: up to 8" further away.

The whole Evil Genius Semi-Circle of Power thing is so overplayed...
 
Very nice! I like that you're using 4x4s for the legs. It makes it look a lot more substantial.
 
Very nice, my friend did this with a Solid Core door I got him from my work. Damn thing is so heavy and isn't going anywhere. He did about the same thing your doing for the legs, 4x4 along with some bracing around the back. That will be a mighty fine desk. And a sturdy one at that too.
 
StatutoryApe said:
The whole Evil Genius Semi-Circle of Power thing is so overplayed...
Click to expand...

Really? I never got the memo. A corner desk wouldn't fit into the "semi-circle of power" thingy would it? If so, don't tell "Frank".

On the creativity side though - nice desk, looking forward to seeing it done.
 
i'm a big fan of large simple & solid desks.
agree with op on the whole 'shelves, drawers & cabinet' thing that accompany most office desk sets. they're just big dust collectors imho. i recon if you need drawers, get a 2 drawer filing cabinet to hide stuff.

love the idea of using a door as a desk, wish i had the equipment to knock one up myself.
if i could offer a suggestion, pickup a set of monitor arms to clamp/bolt to the back of the desk. you'll reclaim a ton of desk space otherwise occupied by the monitor feet. if you need room on your desk, much easier to push the monitors attached to arms back. not to mention you'll have much better tilting/rotating/rake/height adjustment options with monitor arms.

great work by the way, look forward to the finished product.
 
While I DO want some monitor arms, these Monitor stands from viewsonic have everything but rotation. Also, they have this free thing. lol

I think I might get around to building myself some monitor arms instead of buying them.

Cav, we'll see what we can do for that semi-circle of power thing you've been wanting to do.
 
Looks sweet so far. That would be a good work space/desk combo with it being that large.

Question: From your first pic. Is that door desk going to fit there?
 
I've been waiting for this post for way too long. Subbed.

Can't wait to see how it turns out. I've been wanting to ditch my ikea galant and go this route for years.
 
Nice, yeah it annoys me how expensive furniture is (although quality pieces are worth the price when compared to the experience you get from cheap things).

Table is looking great though, it's good that you are including a pullout tray too.

DeathPrincess said:
Is that Captain janeway? (have no idea of her real name!) :D
Click to expand...

Haha that is EXACTLY what I thought when I saw that.
 
fenixv said:
I've been waiting for this post for way too long. Subbed.

Can't wait to see how it turns out. I've been wanting to ditch my ikea galant and go this route for years.
Click to expand...


ikea furniture is cheap for a reason, it's garbage for the most part.
that's not to say all cheap desks are rubbish. bought a couple of trestle tables (150cm x 90cms/ 5' by 3') from local office supply store almost a decade ago. they're still going strong. they aren't particularly pretty like 'StatutoryApe' desk will be like but they're very easy to move around.

toddfx said:
Nice, yeah it annoys me how expensive furniture is (although quality pieces are worth the price when compared to the experience you get from cheap things).

Table is looking great though, it's good that you are including a pullout tray too.

DeathPrincess said:
Is that Captain janeway? (have no idea of her real name!) :D
Click to expand...

Haha that is EXACTLY what I thought when I saw that.
Click to expand...

she was bad in star trek, and horrible in warehouse 13.

StatutoryApe said:
While I DO want some monitor arms, these Monitor stands from viewsonic have everything but rotation. Also, they have this free thing. lol

I think I might get around to building myself some monitor arms instead of buying them.

Cav, we'll see what we can do for that semi-circle of power thing you've been wanting to do.
Click to expand...

it looks like you have the expertise to knock-up a monitor arm(s), any chance you'll fold it in with this worklog?
 
After the second coat of Polycrylic.
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Fresh third coat.
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Third coat dried(mostly)
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Showing Shiny
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More shiny
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checking the layout
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Done! I decided not to stain the legs, but instead paint them. I did the same for the cintiq drawer.
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good wood work sure does put computer building to shame ^_^
Lovin' the desk. Keep it up.
 
Damn man, that's pretty awesome looking.

Good job!
 
very nice wanna do this but a whole office :D, what size are the steel plates for the legs and where did you get them?
 
Tisca said:
What is that sketching/drawing thingie?
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Looks to be a touchscreen wacom screen for photo editing. Same deal as a wacom tablet, but much more precise since it shows to image on it while you edit it.
 
Thanks, guys!

The plates were cut by my dad. I'm not sure what guage the steel plate actually is, but its ~3/16" thick.

The "sketching/drawing thingie" is a Wacom Cintiq 24HD, found here.
 
I imagine someone could duplicate this idea using 1" MDF instead of a door. I don't know what the cost difference would be, and I'm too lazy to check the internets right now. They do sell MDF sheets at HomeDespot/Lowes, and they will even saw it for you on site for a minimal charge.

I have built garage benches out of MDF, and when properly sealed that stuff is brick house tough.
 
mdf is expensive and doesn't last long I work at HD, once you drill wrong shit be expensive, also what size are the plates?
 
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