3 ms·
Get an older desk - preferably one of the many-drawered variety - at a thrift store, Craigslist, second hand store or similar. Also, get a 25 to 30 cm wide, 4-5
by the_third_wave 3y ago
Get an older desk - preferably one of the many-drawered variety - at a thrift store, Craigslist, second hand store or similar. Also, get a 25 to 30 cm wide, 4-5 cm thick slab of some fine wood, Oak or Elm or something else relatively heavy. The slab should cover at least the width of the desk plus ~12-14 cm but it can be wider. Cut two 6 to 7 cm heigh 'feet' for the slab off the side and mount these on the bottom of the slab so that each foot sits on the edge of the desk. Put the slab on those feet on the back side of the desk, put your monitor(s) on top of it. The keyboard and laptop - that is assuming you have a stationary system at home, otherwise replace 'keyboard' with 'docking station' - go underneath the slab when not in use of when - like I have several times a day - the cat comes by to help you with your projects [1]. Get some 'home entertainment system speakers' from that same thrift store/Craigslist/Freecycle/dumpster and spread them out on the back of the slab behind the monitor(s), put the subwoofer in the foot well under the desk.
If you are anything like me the slab will eventually be covered in parts and pieces, rolls of solder, breadboard with cables going hither and thither and more but at least the stuff is not directly on the desk, ey?
[1] this is assuming the cat is as bad a hacker as ours is, if yours is actually better by all means allow it to participate.
- squeegee_scream 3y agoFor some reason I'm having a really difficult time understanding your design. I've read it 4 times. I'm pretty sure my ability to visualize is poorer than average. Can you explain it in another way, or link a picture or sketch?
- the_third_wave 3y agoImagine a staircase with only two steps. The bottom step is the desk surface, it extends all the way to the back underneath the second step. There is no riser under the second step, this is an open staircase. The second step is the slab on top of which the monitor(s) stand. _ __________________ __________________ | | | || | | | | || | | | | || | | | | || | | | |__________________||__________________| T | | | | XXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX HHHHHHH H [laptop] [keyboard] [drive] H ================= ==================================== | |o |[___o___][______o_______][___o___]| | | || ||--------------|| || | | || || || || | | || || || || | |o || o|| ||o || | | || || || || | | || || || || | ____________ | ||_______|| ||_______|| |_| |_| || || || || XXXXXXX = heavy wooden slab HHHHHHH = feet for slab, made out of same or similar wood ======= = desk surface o = knob on drawer or door The desk itself is an older type with loads of drawers behind the right door, shelves behind the left one. I'm using the right monitor as main, the left one is only switched on when needed. The wooden slab is not attached to the desk, it stays in place due to its own weight - one of the reason for choosing a heavier type of wood. I'm using a slab of oak I cut from a dead tree I felled some years ago. I did not cut the edges straight so the front edge is uneven, this is where the bark used to be. The top of the slab leans over a bit since it did not come from the middle of the trunk, this gives more top surface while looking interesting as well.
- squeegee_scream 3y agoWow, I did not expect such a thorough response, thank you. Yeah, I like that idea, I bet it looks amazing with that piece of oak.
- the_third_wave 3y ago> I bet it looks amazing with that piece of oak. It did when I made it and still would if only I were to remove all the stuff which has collected on it. Still, it is handy to be able to have a few ongoing projects - currently a few SBCs which I'm configuring for duty, three mobiles with broken screens which I'm repurposing, one trailer camera based on another screen-less mobile, some random breadboards with half-forgotten circuits on them, a roll of nickel band waiting to be used to make battery packs, several 18650 batteries I salvaged from old medical power packs for the same purpose, an experimental wifi-interface for a heat pump I'm working on ... and that is only part of what fits in front of and under those monitors...