May 12, 20197 yr Popular Post My son asked me to build him a computer desk. He gave me latitude for the design except for the length, depth, and height. I know that he would be adding a computer monitor bar and he wanted power and USB grommets installed in the top. Material: Top: 13/16 hard maple. Base: 1 x 2 cherry. Drawer: 5/8 hard maple Base construction: Front legs are cherry bent lamination with 14 degree cant. Drawer has box joint construction. Finish: Base has one coat BLO, one coat 1 ½ # shellac, one coat gel stain, and another coat 1 ½# shellac. Overall, everything has two coats pre-cat lacquer. I wanted the desk to be and to appear to be light weight. I know there will be a structural issue if someone sits on the desk top. I want the desk top to have a floating surface appearance, the base to have curves & angles; and the drawer to have a clean look. The inner form radius for the bent lamination was 7 7/8. The base joinery is M&T. Each joint was doweled with two ¼ dowels. Thanks for looking. Danl
May 12, 20197 yr Awesome Build!! I really like the addition of the addition of the accessible power and USB ports. That's a super handy idea! Nice dual monitor mount, too!
May 12, 20197 yr Wow Daniel, Super Nice Build!! Mind telling me where you got the Power/USB Port assemblies?
May 12, 20197 yr That is one fantastic desk . I like the tower on the wall but can see that limiting possibilities in the future . The clean appearance is a big plus. I assume he is a gamer.
May 13, 20197 yr Great desk and also some add on room if needed. However your workmanship makes it all happen and look great.
May 13, 20197 yr Author 2 hours ago, Larry Buskirk said: Wow Daniel, Super Nice Build!! Mind telling me where you got the Power/USB Port assemblies? I purchased the electronics from Amazon. Danl
May 13, 20197 yr Author Popular Post 2 hours ago, Gerald said: That is one fantastic desk . I like the tower on the wall but can see that limiting possibilities in the future . The clean appearance is a big plus. I assume he is a gamer. Having the tower on the wall was my son's request. The shelf was painted with Rust-Oleum black lacquer. Yes, he is a gamer and I'm an enabler. Danl
May 13, 20197 yr Very nice build, the lamination glue up looks like a well thought out process. Did you have to allow for any spring back on a piece this thick? How much more open time does the glue provide?
May 13, 20197 yr Tower on the wall great idea for cord access/upgrading, which is BIG in gaming (so my sons tell me!!). Leave enough room for air circulation on the wall side?
May 13, 20197 yr That's one sweet piece of construction. Very nice build. Thanks for showing us your WIP. Your son must be happy as a clam.
May 14, 20197 yr Author Popular Post On 5/13/2019 at 5:06 AM, Pat Meeuwissen said: Very nice build, the lamination glue up looks like a well thought out process. Did you have to allow for any spring back on a piece this thick? How much more open time does the glue provide? I found an article which gave a formula using number of plies and project radius to determine form radius. I wanted a 9” project radius, so I was to use a 7 7/8” form radius. When the lamination was pulled of the form after ~ 24 hr., I had zero spring back. I had 10 plies, each 0.095 thick. When I pulled of the clamps and caul, I noticed a crack in the outer ply. I believe this was created perhaps due to by a combination of the wood grain not being straight grain, the shifting of the plies during the clamp up, and I continued to apply additional pressure during the curing (I am not certain). I do know that as time goes by, the glue minutely moves and some of the clamps result in having less pressure. I had extra plies available so I glued another ply to the assembly. After I pulled the glue-up from the form and let it set for the weekend, I had a slight enclosed angle. Having a tighter radius was better than a larger radius. The final results were excellent (beginner’s luck). The pics reflect 76 deg. and zero degree, exactly what the form was built to. Unibond 1 is a PVA glue. Per the mfg description it does not have the same performance as a two part glue but is a good and safe adhesive. The specs say that you have 15 min assembly time. I would argue and say that the time is closure to 30 min. The clamping time is far less than for a two part glue, but I did not what to risk testing the outcome. I let my assembly set for ~24 hrs. Danl
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