MEGA DESK is Life

[DailyProcrastinator]

I decided to create a build log for my long term project of MEGA DESK, which is finally done (for now).

 

 

The 'plan' for this began last year with the purchase of my first home. The only initial requirement was that I wanted a sit stand desk for my main rig Blueberry Pi but I had more room for just a single desk so I went to drawing board.

 

Throughout the past few years I have had more than one desk but my at home setup was in my room (at my parents house) and was limited on space. I don't have any great photos but this is more or less the final iteration of it.

Circa early 2016

I had built the entire thing myself from the desk which I used a 105 year old barn door as the top (covered with a glass panel), to the above desk shelf with pocket lights. So I made the most of the space I had.

 

The biggest change for my office build was I wanted to come up with a better solution on how to not only cable manage, but keep a clean look while allowing for a ton of hardware and cable space, all while NOT drilling 100 holes in my wall. My previous setup from sitting height looked pretty clean but the downside is the massive holes I created (cables for the monitors were routed through the metal piping), and subsequently the difficulty of changing hardware because everything was routed behind the wall. 

 

Tease of the final product.

 

 

STEP 1 - Planning and Desk Top Choices:

 

This was my empty canvas.

Located in the basement, this picture makes the room seem small but it is a good size. The wall we are looking at is 290cm (9ft 6in) and right away I knew I wanted the entire wall as one giant desk, or MEGA desk. Primary reason was I wanted desk space that is not fully occupied by my computer, moving my keyboard+mouse all the time was cumbersome, and despite my love for organization I still can be quite messy. So I was finding that I would have to move a lot more than just my computer peripherals to work on my desk, a large desk surface eliminated this, as I would have a desk for a computer and more space aside for whatever else I was working on. Although, if I am honest, it mostly gets files and papers dumped on it that only get cleaned up again when I need the space. 

 

I spent A LOT of time trying to figure out if I wanted one big corner desk with a second desk as work space, I decided that was unnecessary, and settled on a full length desk top spanning the entire wall. Although I did not overspend here and bought two Ikea LINNMON 150x75cm desk tops, with one set of OLOV adjustable legs.

And on Black Friday 2019 I got a great deal on a PrimeCables Electric Adjustable Sit / Stand desk.

 

So the stage was set. I just needed to figure out how I would piece it all together. 

 

STEP 2 - Prepping:

 

My solution for hardware and cable storage was to create a full length storage cabinet (I don’t know what else to call it other than a cabinet, so I am sticking to it) that would be anchored to the wall. This would allow the storage of anything I could possibly want to mount in there, including my UPS. It would be 290cm in length, and 14cm in interior width, just wide enough to fit my UPS with some wiggle room. I also had to consider the size of the sit/stand desk power brick as when in the lowered position I wanted it to be behind the cabinet (this makes more sense later on). 

 

To space the cabinet from the wall and anchor the face of it I bought a 4x4 cedar post that I cut into eight equal length pieces of 14cm (5.5-in).

I went for several pieces as not all would be anchored to studs and I needed the load to be dispersed across a large surface area. 

 

Next was the cabinet front, I know a local custom woodwork shop and had them cut me a single piece of MDF that was exactly 2cm short of my room width (around 288cm, roughly 113-in) and 36cm (14-in) wide.

This would mount to the eight 4x4 legs shown previously.

 

And here shown in the painting process (paint matched to the wall) are the strapping pieces that would mount along the bottom of the cabinet.

 

STEP 3 - Building:

 

My solution for mounting the 4x4 blocks was these T brackets. I drilled pilot holes to avoid any cracking of the wood. 

Two of the mounting holes are left exposed, those two holes would then mount to the wall. For some of these that would not hit studs I used 1/2" drywall anchors rated at 100lbs each.

 

This provides a rough idea of how the cabinet looks when not mounted.

 

Next step was mounting the 4x4 blocks to the wall. This process was a little more involved then initially it would seem. First, I had to decide on the height to mount it at, as the desk would be pushed up directly to the back of the wall, so I could not situate the "cabinet" to high up. I am a taller guy though so this desk is a bit taller than any traditional standard desk height. I decided on 81cm (32-in) for my floor to desk top height. Second I also had to find studs, the four blocks along the bottom all hit studs with the top screw, the two tops ones did not.

Initially I planned on eight mounting blocks, but it made it feel too busy, and it took away from usable storage space, six would suffice. Once that was done I screwed in the wood strapping to the bottom.

 

And finally here I mounted the MDF to the six 4x4 blocks.

 

Next I drilled a 5cm (2-in) hole in the bottom so I could pass through my two plug-ins, one for the UPS, and the other for my power bar. 

 

And here are some more photos of the mounted "cabinet". 

 

STEP 4 - Desk Install:

 

Now with my makeshift cabinet mounted I was ready for my two desks. 

 

Sit stand desk first.

Here you can see how the power brick for the desk will fit perfectly behind the cabinet when lowered, I initially had to consider this and touched on it at the beginning of Step 2 (shown raised). 

 

Unfortunately I do not have pictures of the second desk process, but as my office is 290cm wide, and I had two 150cm desks. So, I had to trim down the second desk in order for it to fit. Here is a picture of both desks from below once installed.

I had to mount a few angle brackets in order to keep the desk perfectly positioned, the structural integrity was affected as the LINNMON desk top is not full wood core, and three of the four legs would not be mounted (either partially or fully) to the wood core along the edges of the desk. Something I did not initially consider but the end result was just fine, so no issues here other than the desk is not easily moved. 

 

STEP 5 - Lighting and Cables:

 

With the desks installed it was time to throw all my cables in the cabinet, and add some RGB strips.

The RGB strips, while essential to any battle station, also serve a second purpose, lighting when I am adding or removing cables inside the cabinet. I ended up getting two 3-meter lengths of it, one along the top edge, and one along the inside edge. 

The two cable sleeves shown here in stand mode are the only two runs going up to the desk, mostly within this is power cables for my monitors, USB cables for mouse+keyboard+mic+webcam, power cable for the PC, power to the external HDD solution, audio-in, ethernet, and a few others. The other single wire dangling there is just for my headphones.

 

The best part of this cabinet is that I really do not need to cable manage at all, other than trying to have some order this cabinet keeps everything 100% hidden, and as shown there is a lot going on in there. 

 

Bravo to anyone who reads the whole thing haha!

[DailyProcrastinator]

STEP 6 - MEGA Desk Complete:

 

Since it was first finished there has been a few iterations, I initially bought myself a single 34-in UW, but just added a second just a week ago, I also changed up the setup for my second desk but for the time being I feel like I have nothing to add or change so I am happy with the end result, to say the least.

 

The process for me to build the desk setup initially only really took three nights. But I had been already planning and buying a few things for 4-months prior to that, so it was "completed" around late September 2019 (wow feels like 2-years ago with these crazy times), and the most recent changes with the addition of the second 34" UW and changing the second desk layout happened this past week, with my Mini Work PC sitting in the corner. I also had a leak right above my desk, so I taught myself basic plumping and thankfully sorted it out in about a week.

 

Enjoy this photo dump! And if you have any questions feel free to ask away, I hope some of you enjoyed this!   

 

Any suggestion or something different you would have done? I love hearing other peoples ideas. 

 

For those interested my other builds are linked in my signature. 

 

[Jumballi]

But can it run crysis?

[DailyProcrastinator]

Just now, Jumballi said:

But can it run crysis?

Very yes.

[BrightLuigi]

Can it run minesweeper?

[DailyProcrastinator]

1 minute ago, BrightLuigi said:

Can it run minesweeper?

That... it cannot  

[BrightLuigi]

Jokes aside, amazing work! I hope to have a setup like your one day as well!

[DailyProcrastinator]

Just now, BrightLuigi said:

Jokes aside, amazing work! I hope to have a setup like your one day as well!

Thank you!  A lot of time and work went into this

[kkpatel87]

1 hour ago, TheDailyProcrastinator said:

Thank you!  A lot of time and work went into this

Honestly, its shows. Bravo!

 

I do have two small, small, tiny criticisms:

• I think the wiring leaves much to be desired. Luckily its hidden so if you ignored it it would still look amazing. I would assume that all the cables are off the shelf? I would recommend that you build your own cables to reduce the rats nest in the channel.
• Do you need to have your laptop out? I am issued a Dell Precision 7740 from work and i have it on a sliding shelf that plugs in to a dock. It might be something to look into.

 

[DailyProcrastinator]

3 hours ago, kkpatel87 said:

Honestly, its shows. Bravo!

Thank you very much!

3 hours ago, kkpatel87 said:

I do have two small, small, tiny criticisms:

• I think the wiring leaves much to be desired. Luckily its hidden so if you ignored it it would still look amazing. I would assume that all the cables are off the shelf? I would recommend that you build your own cables to reduce the rats nest in the channel.

1. Are you referring to the wiring on the desk? Or in my wall mounted cabinet?

One of my main goals was to kinda have this open top cabinet that allowed me to just throw anything in with ease, even in stand mode the two cable runs coming from my sit/stand desk are not that noticeable, I just took the photos from near floor level. And the inside of the cabinet is not visible at all, I had to raise my desk fully and go underneath the desk to take pictures of how it looked from the inside. 

I do agree I could do a bit more but I like the relative ease of being able to swap hardware if necessary without to much difficulty in changing the wiring.

One thing I don't totally love is seeing the back IO of my PC because I have so many cables coming from it, but that was my trade off as prior to I had it mounted fully against the wall on the right hand side of the desk. But then I couldn't easily look at my PC and that was my main point with the new layout. I wanted to be able to see the whole build when working at my desk.

Previous setup:

 

3 hours ago, kkpatel87 said:

• Do you need to have your laptop out? I am issued a Dell Precision 7740 from work and i have it on a sliding shelf that plugs in to a dock. It might be something to look into.

2. I dual screen with the monitor beside or use it simultaneously with the PC connected to that same monitor (sharing my mouse+keyboard with Symless Synergy). And for the most part I have the stand tilted more upright but just changed that for taking some pictures.

I also actively use it to quickly charge my XPS13 as it primarily was used on the go (now I am always home), and I have everything connected to the Dell D6000 dock (black box on the desk, with HDMI, ethernet, and charging) and the second charging cable next to the USB-C cable attached to my XPS is for my work laptop (15" HP Elitebook).

 

I liked the idea of a sliding shelf, I actually considered it but I have two reasons for avoiding it. First is I am 6'7" so anything hanging below the desk is inviting my knees to get bruised, and second is I need dual screens, I've gone 5+ years having mostly used dual or triple displays and if I can have a setup that allows me to do so I will utilize that.

 

I do appreciate the feedback though, it's cool to hear how others would change the setup!