Custom Computer Desk Case Build - Sit Stand

[cstrachn]

Finished second drawer. Made this one a little looser so the bottom panel has some breathing room.

 

Gluing them up now

 

[cstrachn]

Thinking I should either not paint the inside. or go white. Going to be hard to find small items in there if I paint the inside black? Maybe I do a white primer on inside see how it looks. can always paint over that.

 

...On second thought. maybe i just stain the drawer BOX. And only paint the front plate. Worried a little with paint on the front. My design idea is to be a flush drawer with inset handle to open it. but paint can chip while hitting the inside all the time.....ugh. choices.

[cstrachn]

Desk drawer video. i tried to keep it short but i had a ton of video to edit.

 

 

[cstrachn]

Ahhhhh, okay so the drawers I wanted wider. However, even the size they came out are too wide!

They will show under the glass. which i didn't even think about. Now im going to have two small gaps where air can be sucked into the case! I wanted this part sealed.

 

So i thought about it for a day. And i thought of this as an option. i still have no idea if this will work or look good. I made a quick video to show it.

 

What my idea is, is to mount the drawer slides under the drawer? i dont know how strong this will be. they are solid drawer slides with smooth auto close. So i want to use them.

This means i have to extend the drawer side down so i can mount the slides to them on the under/inside of them.

 

I'ts going to be tight and the side panels, even at 1/4" is not going to be flush with the inside the opening to the desk case. But maybe i can add a 90 degree piece to it and push under the desk. not sure how i will seal this. need to attach the top first then glue this in place?

 

anyways, here is the animation of it working.

 

[cstrachn]

And with no better options that come to mind. I'm moving forward with this idea.

 

Cut out the inside track mounts to fit the slides better.

 

 

Was hard to do. but no going back now. Cutout the front of the desk to make room for the first one.

 

 

And while i had the top off and was cutting the front of the desk. I made a spot for the power and Lift controlls

 

 

 

And a little drawer action

 

[cstrachn]

Making some progress this weekend.

 

Cut and mounted the front fan locations. It was a tight fit. but in the end i didn't want just 3 pulling in air. I expect these to be running harder then the rear fans. Should of planned the airflow a little better. Worst case i flip directions on front and rear and have hot air blowing into my legs

 

Kind of went a little fast on these. not perfectly straight  but they will be at my legs and out of view so wont be seen normally.

 

 

[cstrachn]

Then back to the drawers.

 

Attached front panel to the right drawer.

 

Is mostly flush. could use a shim on the right side to push out just slightly.

 

And i stained them with the only stain i had on hand. I think these will look nice this way. Rest of desk will be flat black.

 

[cstrachn]

And back to my issue with air pressure in the case. These drawers are going to suck in air if not sealed somehow.

 

So i'm adding some side panels to seal the drawer area. Not sure how well this will work. May have to use silicon seal on the edges.

 

My plan is add 2 blocks on either end to attach the panel

 

 

Add 1/4" panel trim at the top. I have about .34" clearance from the drawer. so .25" should be okay

 

Then i dont really have a good idea for putting these 2 1/4" piece together. So wood glue and for added saftey i waited and then added a thick coat of epoxy on the inside. I have plenty of clearance in the corner.

 

 

Just waiting for it to dry to see how well it fits. Then i need to ruin back to the store. used up all the 1/4" panel i had.

[cstrachn]

Adding face plate and handles to the drawer. Quick video

 

[cstrachn]

Added monitor mount plate on back of desk. I have a adjustable monitor mount im going to use. So i needed a place to attach it in the rear.

 

Grabbed all my scrap pieces to find the right one

Cut out some angles

Glued and screwed them together and onto the back of the desk. 

 

 

 

I didn't even measure the fan locations. i Got lucky it fit perfectly.

[cstrachn]

My original design did not account for the glass to sit on. I had thought about it since i started assembly.

 

And since I was working on the rear of the desk,  I glued 2 scrap pieces down that where just the right height for the glass to rest on.

 

 

I left room on either side so i can get my hands under the glass if i need to open up the case. I will put some foam in there or something to block airflow.

 

[cstrachn]

Making plexi glass  bracket for video card mount. I had a ton of scrap plexi glass laying around. so i'm working with what i have.

 

 

 

PCIe extension holder

 

Once my M2 standoffs come in i can mount the video card and see how long this bracket needs to be.

 

Then i can do final cut and glue.

[cstrachn]

Well I'm getting closer. Laying out locations of parts inside the case.

 

Not sure if i will keep PSU in this location or not. cables are not long enough to move it over. i may need to cut and rewire cables to move it over more.

 

 

 

Mounted motherboard tray and video card bracket in place.

 

 

Still thinking about power supply location..... i may move it far right... i dont know.

[cstrachn]

couple small updates this week.

 

Finished the  video card mount

 

designed and 3d printed some PSU mounts.

 

 

Only the back has screw holes. So the front may just rest in the feet. or i may drill holes into the power supply. but i need to make sure nothing is behind the case at those locations.

[cstrachn]

And due to some comments from friends on the location of the power supply. I'm extending the video card power cord lengths by 16" so i can move the PSU to the far right of the case.

 

1 down 2 to go.

Left original - Right modified. Looks a little gold but that is just bad lighting on the image.

[cstrachn]

Didn't really have a plan for io connections. But i think i have an idea of what to do now

 

Had to wait a couple days for all my io cable extensions to come in to lay this out.

 

Going to make a 3d printed panel backplate for the case. Testing fit with small thin backplate prints first.

 

 

moved to smaller size to only test one of each cable. Display port not fitting

 

 

Think i have it all fitting now.

 

Final backplate at full size with all connections.

 

 

p.s. the empty location is only 0.1" thick. thinking i may drill some audio connection holes later. not sure yet. but wanted it to be useable area later maybe. Currently using monitor speaker for day to day and gaming headphones for games. so i dont really use the motherboard audio. That could change once i have this finished.

 

now how to mount this thing...

[cstrachn]

After a night of sleeping on this. I woke up with this idea.

 

Mount the backplate io in the monitor mount area and run the cables through a small hole in the case. Should make it look cleaner in the case. Otherwise if i mounted to the back of case i would have all this excess extension cables laying around and i would have to hide it somehow.

 

I may still have to do some cable management hiding this way. but much easier i think.

 

CAD model of idea.

[cstrachn]

3D printed the rear IO panel mount.

 

Added some stand offs for mounting

test fit

had to cut out a hole for one of the connectors to fit

Drilled a hole for wire passthrough. going to add a rubber grommet here.

Glued and screwed the standoffs to the case.

[cstrachn]

Finally placed the PSU to the far right of the case

 

make sure its straight

mount the brackets

test the fit

[cstrachn]

Finished part placement

All mounts are in place.

put screws in all mounting locations so i can paint over without filling the mounts with paint.

[cstrachn]

I had this computer power connector laying around. So I'm going to use it for the main power input.

 

Was a little long so i had to add a block of wood to protect it and make it flush with the desk

 

 

And glued and held in with screws to dry.

 

 

Should be 99% ready to paint? Maybe a little pre sanding. Will see how the day goes. Trying to put a little more effort into finishing this right now while i have some free time during the week.

[cstrachn]

First coat of black primer on the inside of the desk. Starting here incase i mess up not as visible as the outside. even with the glass.

 

The drawer areas on the sides wont be visible from outside but might as well put a little paint to protect it.

[cstrachn]

First coat around the outside. Starting to look like a real computer desk.

 

 

[cstrachn]

Bottom painted. I did two coats. I may just leave the bottom like this. No need to sand and paint, a bunch of times, what is not ever going to be seen.

 

 

Okay i lied. i did a quick sanding on the bottom to knock down the high edges. will do one more paint coat i guess.

[cstrachn]

Top is now back in place and painted. Along with the drawer side covers.

 

 

Couple coats of paint

 

 

 

Time to sand paint repeat.

 

Only issue so far is the left drawer sticks on the inside cover. Not sure if i should make a new cover. Or figure out how to make it work as is. Drawer is rubbing on it and wont slide without some force. The panel i used was a little warped and I may have made it about 1/8" to short as well. only have about 1/8" clearance on the lip of the cover to the drawer top. so maybe a new one is what i need to do. Or move it up and add a small trim inside to cover the bottom of it.