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Desk build

MY63

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My son asked me to help him build a desk for his room space is a premium so he designed it himself.
We used some 17mm plywood I had in the garage.

2020-06-18_10-36-20 by my0771, on Flickr

Part of the plan is to fit a wireless charging pad into the top of the desk.

2020-06-18_10-36-02 by my0771, on Flickr

The pad is 10 mm thick and will have 2 mm of card and 0.5mm of leather on top of that (yes it still works)
I need to cut a pair of circles into the plywood one for the pad and a larger one for the card wrapped leather.
I do have the Makita router RT0700 if anyone could tell me how to do it or point me to a video I would appreciate it. I have straight cutters with bearings top or bottom, I don't have any guides.
 
Thanks Andy it is 10cm across and 1 cm deep, I was going to make a larger circle for the leather pad to hide the usb connector.
The 10 cm hole needs to be 12.5 mm deep the larger 12 cm one needs to be 2.5 mm hope that makes sense
 
My advice would be don't do it or if you do, put it in a removable insert. I use wireless chargers and I'm now on my third. They don't last forever and models change so you may not get the same again to replace.

I now use the upright kind that stand on the desk. not as neat as a built in but easily replaceable and aligned every time.

If you want to cut holes with a router you need to attach a bit of ply to the underside with a hole for the cutter and fit a pivot pin into the ply for the desired radius. How big a bit of ply depends on how big a circle needs cutting. Drill a hole for the pivot pin in your workpiece and off you go.
 
For the first round hole I ever cut with a router like Robert has suggested, I used the same drill bit that cut the pivot pin hole to act as the pivot pin, but upside down using the smooth shank.
 
I am so pleased I posted this Robert I had not considered reliability on these chargers. I think I will reconsider this plan and make one from thin MDF and wrap it in leather.
 
MY63":2a9vma7m said:
I am so pleased I posted this Robert I had not considered reliability on these chargers. I think I will reconsider this plan and make one from thin MDF and wrap it in leather.

I would try some experiments with charging time Vs thickness of the spacer between the charger and the device before the build.

Bob
 
Thanks Bob we have decided to shelve that idea for now and we will make something based around card and leather to sit on top of the desk.

This is where we are at the moment. I know one of the backing boxes is slightly out of line but my son is happy with it so it is good enough for me.

2020-06-19_05-16-04 by my0771, on Flickr

We are waiting for some more edge banding to arrive for the shelves, Matt black or even satin black paint is very difficult to find at the moment, We are using Bedec barn paint which I bought to paint the workshop.
 
TrimTheKing":x94nwsv9 said:
That looks like a gamers setup if ever I've seen one! :eusa-dance:

Yes you are correct my son is a gamer there is a very large computer on its way soon that will live underneath the desk. It is going to be water cooled so temperature is not going to be an issue.
The back wall behind the desk is going to be wood paneled which will also cover the mounting brackets for the three monitors that will hang there.

The colour was my sons choice but I would have also chosen black :)
 
Why does a computer need to be water-cooled? I'm intrigued by the concept. Do you have radiators elsewhere to get rid of the heat ?
 
RogerS":2a1s6g4z said:
Why does a computer need to be water-cooled? I'm intrigued by the concept. Do you have radiators elsewhere to get rid of the heat ?

As far as I know Roger it is noise related, the temperatures reached by the processor and graphics card would need an array of fans to cool them which would generate a lot of noise.
 
Nice. I’d like to seen pics when he’s got it all set up.

Roger - all to do with noise and if he’s into it, over clocking. I used to ‘build’ my own gaming rigs and did all sorts to cool the CPU to enable myself to push it faster than it was clocked, to get more fps in games.

Water cooling (both internal and external), peltier cooling and many others. It’s another world of detail and gadgets and one I have neither the time nor inclination any more. Until either of my kids show a leaning in that direction that is...
 
TrimTheKing":11dfl07b said:
Nice. I’d like to seen pics when he’s got it all set up..

My son has been unwell for a few years and gaming was one of his lifelines, I will see if I can get some pictures when it is all done. It is a long term project.
He is saving for the computer currently and trying to decide between Intel or AMD chipsets and the best graphics card. He was considering building his own computer with my help but building the desk has put him off that idea. Any advice would be appreciated.
 
Putting together a machine yourself isn’t difficult, though more difficult with the water cooling, but still not difficult if you are handy as you clearly are. Cost is a big factor too, it can be fairly significantly cheaper to buy all the bits yourself but again there’s a lot of work to do.

Components wise it’s a case large enough to put what you want into it, motherboard, cpu, ram, graphics card, cooling kit (heatsink/fab for cpu or relevant water cooling kit), hdd, optical drive if required and psu.

I used to use a fantastic site called www.kustompcs.co.uk in Ayr, run by a lad called Graeme. I don’t know if he still runs it but he set it up as an enthusiast for like minded people and was always incredibly helpful. Just had a look at his site for the first time in years and there are whole areas dedicated to components, modding, peripherals, gaming rigs and he even builds/sells rigs to order and seems to have a second hand area. I would highly recommend taking a look there.

Others were overclockers.co.uk, scan.co.uk, ebuyer for buying parts. I would tend to work out what I wanted then shop around for it.

It’s been 15+ years since I put a machine together but I imagine the principles are still the same. Happy to try and answer any questions your son might have.
 
There are plenty of specialist PC gaming forums but they tend to make you go computer blind and numb or just overwhelmed with info.

hotukdeals.com has sections where people post offers on parts and ready made PC's. Worth following as the comments made give a good insight into what is good and what isn't - both kit and suppliers. Tends to be in simpler language too rather than 100% geek.

https://www.hotukdeals.com/tag/pc-parts

https://www.hotukdeals.com/tag/gaming-pc
 
Agreed Robert, and unless you're lucky to find someone who isn't a braggart and is brand agnostic then you just get confused by AMD/Intel fanboys, those who need the absolute latest GFX card vs the next one down that is one fps slower but £300 cheaper etc.
 
Not noticed the AMD vs intel thing on hotdeals. In fact the new AMD processors seem to be favourites at the moment. As always though so many series and sub type numbers comparisons are difficult.

There are people on there that break down pre built specs and cost them against self build. Not a lot of difference these days. legit windows 10 cost is usually the biggest factor. Think most windows 7 keys are still good for windows 10 so that can be a saving.
 
The next stage of the desk build is to add multiple monitors we have moved from wall mounts to this.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ATUMTEK-Dual-M ... dr-21&th=1

It is fixed to the top of the desk as shown, the current desk top is 18mm ply, The monitors weigh 4 .1kg each and the position is 250mm from each leg.

Is the plywood strong enough to take this weight and the movement of the monitors being moved.
 
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