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Redocbew
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Quick and dirty desk upgrade

Sat Aug 05, 2017 11:16 pm

I spend a lot of time at my desk which I'm sure it not a unique experience. Recently I've been feeling like I needed more desk space. I kept looking for places to put things that I wanted to keep close by, but didn't have any good spot for on my desk. Building my own desk has been one of those projects which has been perpetually unfinished. Some day I'll get around to finishing it. Until then, in the same fashion as the 2x4 monitor arm by our own Dr. Fish my desk is now a door.

Image

The cost of said upgrade: zero, zilch, nada. I found the door in the back corner of the woodshop covered in dust and a few long since dead spiders. I'm not even sure where it came from. The new desk surface is six feet long and two feet wide. I chopped a few inches off the former height of it order to more easily fit it in my car, so now you can see the hollow-core innards of the door from one end. Maybe I'll patch that at some point. The monitors are also a bit off center which will probably start to bug me after a while, and I currently don't even have it attached to the frame of the desk. It's just sitting here, but I'm calling this a good days work regardless.
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Shobai
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Re: Quick and dirty desk upgrade

Sun Aug 06, 2017 2:02 am

I had a similar setup for almost 15 years. The hollow core gave out after a few years, making me wish I'd used a solid door (but, much like yours, it was what I had on hand) forcing me to baby it until I moved. I replaced it with a desk proper in the new house.

I suspect most of the damage to mine was caused by using a pair of 19" CRTs for the first little while, but more importantly because the user facing side had an unsupported overhang, of maybe a third of the width of the door, that others would lean on/against. Avoid such an overhang, if you can.
 
Redocbew
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Re: Quick and dirty desk upgrade

Sun Aug 06, 2017 10:59 am

Yeah, I can see how that could be a problem. I do intend for this to be temporary, but it'll do the job for now. I'm digging the extra space already. :P
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drfish
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Re: Quick and dirty desk upgrade

Sun Aug 06, 2017 11:23 am

I approve! :o

Funny, I never thought about how my upgrade made it so that I basically don't have a desk at all. 8)
 
DPete27
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Re: Quick and dirty desk upgrade

Mon Aug 07, 2017 10:27 am

What speakers do you have?
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cheesyking
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Re: Quick and dirty desk upgrade

Mon Aug 07, 2017 10:35 am

but your desk is empty!
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CuttinHobo
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Re: Quick and dirty desk upgrade

Mon Aug 07, 2017 11:14 am

Nice! A door is a cheap, tried-and-true method to create a large desk, and you get bonus points from The A-Team for improvising with materials at-hand. As an added benefit, access to the hollow core means easy installation of RGB LEDs. Just perforate the door in the desired pattern (top for eye candy, bottom for accent lighting) and you're golden (or... any color you want to be!) :D

I'd just secure it to the old desk with corner braces along the lines of https://m.lowes.com/pd/Stanley-National-Hardware-2-5-in-Metallic-Corner-Brace/3037544 with about the largest diameter screws those bracket holes will allow. The specs for the linked brace don't say, but I'd guess a #12 or #14 wood screw.

so a clumsy buddy doesn't topple the while thing and send those nice monitors to the floor. :)
 
Redocbew
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Re: Quick and dirty desk upgrade

Mon Aug 07, 2017 11:25 am

DPete27 wrote:
What speakers do you have?


Those are the Audioengine A2s. They're pretty nifty especially if there's space constraints which I guess for me there isn't anymore.

cheesyking wrote:
but your desk is empty!


There's more stuff on it now. :P I took the awful phone picture(bad lighting, fixed with a few LED bulbs) right after removing the old desktop and putting the door in its place. I found out yesterday the door previously belonged to a church. :-? My response was, "well, now it's my desk".

CuttinHobo wrote:
I'd just secure it to the old desk with corner braces along the lines of https://m.lowes.com/pd/Stanley-National ... ce/3037544 with about the largest diameter screws those bracket holes will allow. The specs for the linked brace don't say, but I'd guess a #12 or #14 wood screw.


As luck would have it, I also found some braces stuffed away in a toolbox that are very similar to those which I must have bought a while ago for some other project. I might also raid the scrap bin for a few spacers to put under the monitor mounts to help distribute the weight. I do plan on the door being temporary, but with the immediate problem solved it might be a while before I spend some more time on it. There's a bunch of other projects I want to build as well, plus the day job. :P
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CuttinHobo
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Re: Quick and dirty desk upgrade

Mon Aug 07, 2017 12:10 pm

Redocbew wrote:
I might also raid the scrap bin for a few spacers to put under the monitor mounts to help distribute the weight.


It's hard to tell from the photo, but I suppose if the dark 3"-ish blobs directly under the monitors are bearing most/all of the weight, then that's probably a good idea. :)

Extra points have been awarded for populating the cork board with what appear to be clips of The Far Side. :D
 
Redocbew
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Re: Quick and dirty desk upgrade

Mon Aug 07, 2017 3:56 pm

Indeed they are, on both accounts. :D

I'll have to rip some scrap down for the spacers. None of the stuff I have on hand will fit. In the meantime, I just scooted the mounting points back a bit so the mounts are clamped to the side support of the door instead of resting on the panel.
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whm1974
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Re: Quick and dirty desk upgrade

Mon Aug 07, 2017 7:09 pm

Hey if it works. How well is it working out for you?
 
Redocbew
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Re: Quick and dirty desk upgrade

Mon Aug 07, 2017 8:35 pm

It's good so far. Just need to attach the surface to the frame when I get a chance, then I'll most likely move on to something else.
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Kougar
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Re: Quick and dirty desk upgrade

Tue Aug 08, 2017 12:28 am

Love the idea. You might rotate the door around, removed the doorknob, and used the hole as a spillproof cupholder... :lol:
 
Flying Fox
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Re: Quick and dirty desk upgrade

Tue Aug 08, 2017 9:58 am

Are the monitors the Dell U3415 or 17?
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Redocbew
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Re: Quick and dirty desk upgrade

Tue Aug 08, 2017 12:13 pm

Kougar wrote:
Love the idea. You might rotate the door around, removed the doorknob, and used the hole as a spillproof cupholder... :lol:


I could probably make that work. :P The notch for the doorknob happens to be in about the right spot for it. I got the idea from a book on "Guerrilla Furniture Design". Also on my project list is to take the old desktop plus a few poles from old speaker stands and make a home gym rack.

Flying Fox wrote:
Are the monitors the Dell U3415 or 17?


Those are the U3415's. I camped on both of them and waited so I could get a deal below retail. The one on the right purportedly had some tiny scratch which I couldn't even find, and the one of the left has developed a stuck pixel, but it's in a spot where I usually don't notice it.
Do not meddle in the affairs of archers, for they are subtle and you won't hear them coming.

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