Repurposing Junque (Steampunk PC Build)

[Larry Buskirk]

I forgot about finding this.

 

 

This is complete, other than the instructions. ( Who uses those anyway ) 

I'm not sure what all I'll use out of the kit, but the monitor mounting bracket shows some promise.

 

 

Since the monitor I'll be modifying is still under warranty I don't want to drill any holes, etc. to attach the modifications.

The outer set of holes are available for mounting purposes, with the inner sets of holes fitting the monitor. 

I've also got this Oak mirror harp that I stripped, and did a few repairs too. 

 

 

Right side harp ornamentation.

 

Left side ornamentation. The tip was broke off the leaf, so I glued then hand shaped the replacement tip with rolled up sandpaper.

 

 

I hope the repair will blend in when I stain the parts. 

 

The harp is about 1/2" wider than the monitor, and I found a bundle of 3/4" Oak outside corners, I'm sure I can come up with some flat stock...then there's those Brass corner trim pieces along with the new supply of Brass lamp parts....

 

Here we go again!! 

 

 

 

[lew]

3 minutes ago, Larry Buskirk said:

Here we go again!! 

Yiippee!!!

[Larry Buskirk]

On 4/28/2019 at 7:08 PM, lew said:

Definitely has the "nautical" look!

I think it will fit in better with the décor on the TPW corporate jet. 

17 hours ago, lew said:

Yiippee!!!

[Larry Buskirk]

After looking the desk over a little better, I decided to try to repair the split, and broken side panels with the unit still assembled. The worst damage was to the left front leg. The break is visible just above the drop front on the left.

 

 

The leg was completely broken free from the side panel only being held in place by 1 of 2 10d finishing nails.

One of which contributed to the split.

 

 

The cabinet side of the damage, the nail is barely visible.

 

 

The nail being removed. Notice the tongue and groove for locating the bottom of the desk to the side panels.

 

 

The nail also broke out a piece from the leg.

 

 

The piece replaced.

 

 

Whoever attempted the previous repair thankfully used a water soluble glue, so getting it off wasn't too bad! 

And the leg glued, and clamped back into position.

 

 

There are two more partial splits in this side panel that will require more gluing/clamping. One is about middle, the other along the rear leg. The one in the middle appears to have been caused when whoever replaced the lower drawer slide cleat using drywall screws without pre-drilling. 

I'll be replacing both these, and the upper drawer cleats with ones that will go the full width of the side panels thus adding a bit more support to the panels. The upper cleats are also part of the support for securing the side panels to the bottom of the desk. Both had let loose on one side of the glue joints.

 

The bottom shelf of the desk was either added, or replaced at some point. It is made of Pine, so I'll be replacing it with Oak to match the rest of the desk. I'll probably be relocating it a bit higher so I can make a drop front drawer below it for the all in one printer.  I've got an Oak drawer front that I can use for this. It has a lock that takes the same key as the drop shelf. 

[lew]

Looks like it's gonna be better than when you found it!

[Gunny]

Some nice repair work, looks like some of mine for my neighbor and friends at times.  Usually after they tried the nail or 10 screws method.

[Larry Buskirk]

23 hours ago, lew said:

Looks like it's gonna be better than when you found it!

Thanks Lew, It was better when I found it, it got worse the last 50' coming home with it when it flipped.  

The side panels/legs are glued up panels that are only 3/4" thick.  

This poor thing has gone through several "Repairs " during it's life, and during it's deconstruction I've seen where I can make several improvements that will stiffen it up quite nicely! 

21 hours ago, Woodbutcherbynight said:

Some nice repair work, looks like some of mine for my neighbor and friends at times.  Usually after they tried the nail or 10 screws method.

Thanks Curtis, You have to wonder sometimes what someone was thinking when they did something! 

I'm going to do a little cheating with a couple of the repairs, but doing so will help to stiffen the side panels/legs. 

 

[Gunny]

3 hours ago, Larry Buskirk said:

You have to wonder sometimes what someone was thinking when they did something! 

I agree, sadly that someone was me at times.....

[Larry Buskirk]

I found some more of that wonderful "repair" work when I looked at the drawer.  ......

I'm still trying to figure out how this drawer worked after the "Repairs".  

Check out the drawer sides/slides. One has two dado cuts for the drawer bottom while the other has one.

The dados do not line up between the two sides, and they are slightly different lengths.

 

 

The drawer bottom is split, and twisted from the uneven drawer sides.

 

 

So I've decided to rebuild the drawer salvaging only the drawer front.

The plywood will be used to make a new drawer bottom.

 

 

I went about making new drawer sides, out of what else?

Of course salvaged drawer side panels. 

 

 

You can see one of the salvaged drawer sides that I used to make the new sides, along with a piece of 1/2" X 3/4" Oak strip that will be used to make the drawer 1/2" deeper. The original drawer sides ended !/2" below the top edge of the drawer front to clear the cleats for the bottom of the desk section. Adding the 1/2" to the top of the drawer front will allow my trackball to fit in the drawer. Notice the chunk missing from the lower right corner?

 

 

The drawer front glued up.

 

 

Now I'll address that missing chunk. I used a utility knife to cut the oversize filler piece.

 

 

And glued it into place.

 

 

After a little shaping with the hand shaper. (Sandpaper)

 

 

End view of the repair. As you can see it almost went all the way through the rabbit edge.

 

 

Dang, time to make a bit of filler. 

 

 

That's all for now folks!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[lew]

Really like seeing what you are doing 

[Gunny]

Some time and patience went into all that.  Nice results though!

[1fizgig]

This is some great work Larry. As a computer engineer (yes I could follow all the specs of the computer itself), I'm pleased to see someone still doing case mods.

I've never attempted it myself, although I have thought about it, so maybe this will be the inspiration I need to try one day.

 

Thanks for sharing, looking forward to seeing more.

 

[Larry Buskirk]

11 hours ago, lew said:

Really like seeing what you are doing 

 

Thanks Lew, it's been awhile since I did any serious restoration/reconstruction on a piece this old, and I'm really enjoying the task at hand. The old desk will be a bit different than it was originally, but will fit everything required.

10 hours ago, Woodbutcherbynight said:

Some time and patience went into all that.  Nice results though!

Thanks Curtis, after looking the old drawer over I figured a rebuild was the easiest, and fastest approach to get the job accomplished. The new side panels are only about 1/4" taller, and about 1" longer than the "original" side panels but give me the additional 1/2" depth to fit the trackball into the drawer. The lower cleats will almost end up in the original location which will keep them hidden just above the scroll worked edge of the desk side panels. 

10 hours ago, 1fizgig said:

This is some great work Larry. As a computer engineer (yes I could follow all the specs of the computer itself), I'm pleased to see someone still doing case mods.

I've never attempted it myself, although I have thought about it, so maybe this will be the inspiration I need to try one day.

 

Thanks for sharing, looking forward to seeing more.

 

Thanks Steve, This is my second, or is it the fifth attempt at doing up a case mod.

The first attempt was shelved twice due to motherboard problems.   

The third attempt started out here, switched course due to replacing the monitor with a larger one.

 

The case mods are not being done as much due to the taking over of the PC by laptops, tablets, etc..

I myself still prefer a desktop with a real keyboard, and mouse/trackball over a touch screen/pad.

 

If you do decide to do up a case mod please post your project so we can see what you come up with! 

[Larry Buskirk]

Ok Guy's it's getting serious now!

I may have to change the title of this topic to "Repurposing an Old Desk (New PC Build).

This old desk may just take over this build post in that it may become the main subject of this resurrection of old "Junk".

Here's what I got accomplished today.

First I started out by removing the old top drawer cleats.

 

 

I then stripped the area both sides of the lower desk shelf.  

 

 

I found out in the stripping process that this old desk had been painted either white, or light gray at some point in it's life. It took more time than I anticipated due to the paint build up between the lower desk shelf and side/leg panels. When I got it all? removed I had almost 1/8" of separation between the side/leg panels and the lower desk shelf. 

I then glued and clamped the side/leg panels to the lower desk shelf.

 

 

Afterwards I added longer top drawer cleats to help support the bottom desk shelf.

 

 

They're not quite full length to allow spacing for the drawer front panel.

 

 

I then used the new drawer sides to space the new lower drawer cleats.

 

 

Which I screwed up by forgetting to add the depth of the rear panel rabbit of the upper desk section too. 

 

 

Which probably was a good thing in that it will allow me to fill the section below the drawer bottom on the drawer front/side panels with a solid piece of Oak. 

 

More tomorrow. 

 

 

 

 

[Gerald]

Boy that is turning into some work. Maybe would have been better to build from scratch but then would not have had the character. What are the marks on the underside? Looks like saw marks with a squiggle showing it is flat.

[Larry Buskirk]

4 hours ago, Gerald said:

What are the marks on the underside? 

Gerald,

It just looks like someone marked it with a loop with open ends. The rest is just dirt.

It might have been used to mark which side to put on the bottom, there is a seam in the glue up of the panel that didn't quite come out even.

I think all that was holding it together was the 10d finishing nails. It was real wobbly before the re-glue, I was almost afraid to move it fearing I would just end up with a pile on the floor. 

Getting it re-glued with the cleats really did help stiffen up the cabinet. 

Edited May 11, 2019 by Larry Buskirk

[Larry Buskirk]

Finally got a couple of decent days to work in the outdoor shop! 

So here's what I did with those couple of nice days.

First I went about stripping most of the rest of the desk.

Then I started with the modifications, and some more repairs.

First up repairing a missing chunk from the desk compartment bottom shelf.

 

 

This was done by adding a 1X3 cross brace between the sides. ( actual size 3/4" x 2 1/2")

 

 

I then went about repairing holes from the lid support arms.

 

Right side.

 

 

Left side.

 

 

I didn't really repair these holes, but simply covered them using 1/4" X 1 1/2" Oak strips.

 

 

A view of the hole covers glued, and clamped.

 

 

The strips at the bottom of the photo were applied to cover the following hole, and to widen the desk back rabbit edge. They were made from 1/2" X 3/4" Oak strip.

 

 

And the hole covers installed. Right side first. The strip missed covering one hole which is right next to the strip.

 

 

And the left side, all holes covered. 

 

 

I then went about adding a 1/4" X 1/2" strip to the rear of the back desk legs. 

 

 

After which I added an Oak 1 X 2 (actual size 3/4" X 1 1/2")

 

 

A bit tricky to clamp.

 

 

Which basically doubled the rear leg depth.

 

 

And created a dado groove for inserting a back panel.

 

 

I'll be using a double back on the desk for a cable chase to keep things neat.

The bottom shelf will be redone in Oak, and I'll be adding a drop front drawer below that for the all in one printer.

 

That's about it for today. 

The weather forecast doesn't look too good for the next week with lot's of rain in the forecast. 

 

So until next time. 

 

 

[Larry Buskirk]

Made a little progress today working around the weather.

Not near the progress "The Boss" made with his wonderful looking Curly Maple chair. 

I'll have to settle for what did get accomplished. 

 

First of all was a Menards run, that place was pure crazy today.

Must have been due to another one of their 11% off sales. 

Then I was running out between showers to cut a piece, then getting it glued up rinse and repeat. 

The first piece was a 1/2" X 3/4" stick across the top of the previously added side braces, the second was a 3/4" X 1 1/2" brace between the rear leg extensions, and finally the third was 3/4" X 2 1/2" brace between the 1/2" X 3/4" brace and the 3/4" X 2 1/2" cross brace on top of the desk compartment lower shelf which will serve as a monitor mount for the 15" monitor that will be inside the desk compartment. The photos show this in better detail.

 

Front view.

 

 

Rear view.

 

 

I'll be adding a pair of lift top compartments along each side of the 15" monitor. I saw this type of compartment on a desk that my neighbor has in his Antique Store next door, and thought they'd be a perfect compliment to this old desk. I was considering adding a pair of drawers but thought these would be way cooler.   They'll also hide that dug out spot from the old drop front support arms. 

 

That's all for today folks, so until next time. 

[Gunny]

13 minutes ago, Larry Buskirk said:

That's all for today folks, so until next time

Coming along nicely.

[Larry Buskirk]

Made a little progress over the past couple of days despite having to work around the crazy off/on rain showers.

I finished the build outs of the inner desk compartment side panels.

 

Here's a view of the left side before the build out.

 

 

And a view after the build out.

 

 

Now the right side before. 

 

 

And after. The buildout didn't cover the dugout caused by the drop front prop, but I'll be building lift lid compartments that will hide this.

 

 

Now a frontal view. The brace across the front was also added.

 

 

Here's a view during a monitor mock up. The lift lid compartments will be mounted both sides of the monitor. I won't be hard mounting the top of the cabinet, instead I've decided to hinge it from the rear and use it as a lid that will provide access through the top to the monitor mount etc.

 

 

I also made up a couple of brackets that will be used along the front side of the rear legs.

 

 

These got installed here, and will be used for locating the PC shelf, and the rear panel behind the PC. I'll be making a different shorter in height lower PC case section on the lower shelf. This is being done so I can get the drop front drawer for the all in one printer below the PC shelf, and still allow a bit of space below the drawer.

 

 

I also accomplished getting the original drawer in the glue-up stage.

 

 

Since I will be eliminating the repurposed silver box due to height issues, I probably should retitle this topic,

"Repurposing Junque (New PC Build)"