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good job !!!! very nice

You never know! With some patience and planning, you could do something like this with a circular saw, a drill and a router!
 

Thank you
 
The last time I left off, I had just finished flushing the sides of the table in preparation to add some trim. I found a nice piece of long maple that was just a little over 8 feet long, a little wider than 1.5 inches, and thick enough to cut some 1/4 inch strips from.
 
I layed it out, setup the table saw and cut myself a test piece.
 

 
Looks good!
 

 
Here's a pic of the cutting process. I'm afraid I had some difficulty with this. Actually, let me rephrase - the saw had some difficulty with this. I was still using the same blade I've been using the whole project - which needs replacement pretty badly. Asking it to cut through 1.5 inches of maple, for a length of 8 feet was asking a lot of it.
 

 
I made it through eventually, but the whole process left quite a few burn marks on the wood.
 

 
I glued and nailed the trim around the perimeter of the desk, which was a pretty straightforward process.
 

 
And then took out a hand plane to get rid of most of the excess material and bring the trim down flush with the desk surface. Some neat pictures here.
 

 

 
After some sanding with some 60-grit on the random orbit sander to get everything smooth, I went nuts with the wood filler.
 

 

 

 
At that point I stood the surface up in the back of the shop and called it a night.
 
Next update in the loop, I setup some dado blades in the table saw, mmm mmmm, that was fun!
 
Have a good weekend everyone!
 

Exxelent !

Every time I open your topic, I wonder 'what tha' guy is going to show us'
Waiting for the next step

up pour des news?

Thanks!
 

That's awesome, glad to provide some interesting stuff for the 'net! I've got some new updates today, nothing terribly exciting, but hopefully in the next week there will be some cool stuff!
 

Stay tuned!
 
It's been a while since the last update, but basically, I got around to installing the dado blade on the table saw to make some important cuts for the two cabinets, and was able to do a bit of test fitting.
 
For those of you not really in the know, a dado blade has two regular saw blades (One for the left, one for the right) and some irregular shaped blades of varying thickness that you put in between, until you get the right width. I'll let the pictures do the talking.
 

 

 

 
The beauty of using dado blades in the table saw (At least I think) is that you can set it up at the right height and width, and then set the fence to the proper width and do all 3 of your supporting boards one after another so they will be lined up perfectly when it comes time for assembly.
 

 
I put 3 cuts in each of the 3 supporting walls of the left-hand cabinet. There was a bit of chipping, I should have probably put down some masking tape, but it's nothing major and will be on the inside anyways.
 

 
I threw on a bit of wood filler to patch up the chipped parts, and then let these 3 dry while I worked on the right-hand cabinet cuts.
 

 
I then had some time to put together a quick test fitting! Not bad! Some of the wood was just a bit crooked, so I'll have to spend some time with the sander to loosen up some of the dado joints.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 
This pretty much completes the first phase of the project - I won't have any use for any of the big, messy tools anymore.
 
All that's really left are a few small detail cuts, some holes need to be cut out, the whole thing needs to be sanded to pre-stain state, and then assembly and staining!
 
I'll be bringing all of the materials back to my place where I'll be doing just that.
 

And, through the miracle of internet technology, I'm bringing you the next update right away!
 
There wasn't much work done in this update - just thought I'd show everyone where the progress is going to be taking place from now on. The spooky basement in my building!
 
It's a really old house, at least over a hundred years old, in fact, there's a 12" x 12" solid beam of wood running as the main support member along the entire length of the house, it must be at least 30 feet long. Can't get those any more!!!
 
My main complaint with the basement is that I am constantly bashing my head on the low ceiling beams, and it's quite cold! Getting motivated to go work down there is not nearly as easy as working in the nice, heated wood shop.
 
Time to let the pictures do the talking:
 

 

 
I purchased a new shop vac at Canadian Tire along with a bunch of other stuff during the Boxing Week sales after Christmas. Sweet.
 

 
I also setup a plastic wall to help prevent sawdust from going all over the basement, as well as to help keep any breezes contained when it comes time to stain.
 

 
Some of my personal tools:
 

 

 

 

 

 
And there we have it! Until next time, have a good weekend!

Great Job !!!

Work at home is more fun, even with cold temperatures

Thanks
 

Agreed, it is very convenient, but it IS very cold down there!!
 
So, I did a bit of work in the basement the other night, and since the next part of the project is going to be assembly, I decided to give it another shot at test fitting, since the last time I tried it was just loosely put together.
 
Time to get out the sander with some 80 grit. The hose on my shop vac is a little over 2", and I didn't have an adapter to attach it to the DeWalt ROB Sander unfortunately, so a little tape had to do the job.
 

 

 
I took each piece one by one and sanded down the edges where they slide into the dado cuts. I had to do a surprising amount of sanding, as the fit was incredibly tight.
 
I also took the time to label each piece (Top, Middle, Bottom, and which side faces the front) so that it could be easily repeatable when it comes time for final assembly.
 
Almost there. So tight! I needed a rubber mallet to set some of them, and then remove them afterwards.
 

 
This shelf was just ~slightly~ warped, and needed a lot of sanding so that one end was nice and snug, and this end actually a bit of free space (Hello wood filler!)
 

 
A couple more progress shots:
 

 

 
And, all tightly assembled. I could probably jump on this box...
 

 

 
I spent about an hour and a half doing that, and honestly, it was freezing cold down there and that's about all I could stand for that evening. Until next time!
 

Yeah good job, it's a solid desk !

Hey, I was looking around for new mods on HFR, and i'm glad to find this topic, another very delicate and sharp work ! Good job.
 
I'll follow this with attention, because years ago I planned to include my PC in my desk, before giving up and prefer a home-made enclosure.

still here, an still waiting to see the results...
hope you don't have any trouble with the snow...

Wooden man, where are you ?  
Hope you don't have any kind of trouble too...
 
Give us some news

Thanks
 

Cool, glad to have you along!
 

Hehe, it's been very busy, and yes, there's also been a lot of snow!
 

The Wooden man is back!!
 
So - it's been some time since my last update (What has it been.. 2 weeks? Geez!) but I haven't been idle at home, it's just that I was really busy (There are kittens running around now!) and I've been working with some staining techniques, which has been a long, learning process.
 
I did a bit of research and came across a good video over here: Link and I opted to give it a shot, because there apparently, is a tendency for maple to come out a little blotchy due to the tight grain, or something or other like that.
 
So I picked up some supplies:
 

 
Made up a test board - some wood filler, some real maple trim, and one side sanded to 120 and the other sanded to 220:
 

 
And, apparently, I was supposed to cut the shellac with some denatured alcohol. Something I was not able to find, and subsequently, I found out that it is actually quite difficult to obtain here in Ottawa. I did not realize at the time, that I could have cut it with methyl hydrate, which is something quite commonly available at the local Canadian Tire.
 
And, this is where things start to go wrong. Here is the shellac applied:
 

 
Ok, not bad. Full strength. Ended up closing the grain structure completely, most likely. Here is the gel stain I chose:
 

 
And, onto the wood:
 

 
Wait 5 minutes, wipe off...
 

 
Gross. Seriously? This is why you test on samples first. Look at that colour - it's practically pink!
 
How about a second coat.
 

 
And why the heck not, we'll stain the back as well, where it hasn't been shellac'd.
 

 
Huh...
 

 

 
Now really. That was not quite what I was expecting. Time to get a new sample piece - no shellac, but sanded properly to 120.
 

 

 

 
What's going on here? This is not really the expected "richness" of a dark gel stain like this, is it? Hmm..
 

 
Doh! Looks like keeping the gel stain in the basement, where it is freezing, separated the contents. There is a visible layer of clear liquid on top of the stain - that shouldn't be there.
 
Staining attempt number 1? Failure.
 
1. If you're using shellac to seal, to avoid streaking and blotching - you MUST cut it
2. If you're going to use a gel stain, don't keep it in a cold environment before you're about to use it.
 
Well, time to put the stain upstairs for a little while, and maybe another trip to the hardware store... And just an fyi, this took me about a week just to do the 2 samples, since it's so cold, I can only do 1 coat per day, as it takes a long time to dry.
 
And here's a little something else:
 

 
Cute, no? A litter of 5 - the first one was stillborn, so we've got 4 kittens, pretty exciting stuff.

so cute last pic' !
 
learn to them, how to protect your house ! GUARDIAN CAT ATTACK !!!!!!!!

Cute cats
Send us one by Air Mail
 
Then, I'll stand here until you finish this wooden-mod

I want one of the kitten too, and i'm in Montreal
 
For your problem with the gel stain, you can try to mix everything again, don't know if you have paint mixer here, but when i was in france, i ofently use very old paint or wood product which with the time separate betwenn pigments and bases. just use the paint mixer and everything was good.
 
But with the temps of those last weeks, yes it's hard to work properly, you should wait one or two weeks i think, or put a heater in your basement...
 
for mixing paints:
France
http://www.leroymerlin.fr/mpng2-fr [...] t&backurl=
 
quite the same at home depot
http://www.homedepot.ca/webapp/wcs [...] PartNumber

lol thank you!
 

lmao, I would love to do that - GUARDIAN CAT ATTACK! I don't know if my roommate would like that, however!
 

Haha, yes, I will send one over in a big bag of kitty food!
 

Ahh yes, thank you for the links. As you'll see below, I had time to let the stain warm up and I mixed it occasionally for a few days, and it came out much nicer in my second attempt.
 
 
Some of you may have wondered - "You stained 2 small pieces of wood in the past 2 weeks?! That's all you have to show for progress on THE ULTIMATE DESK?!"
 
Well, not quite... Really - I did more, I swear.
 
As you all know, the first staining attempt went really poorly, so I immediately went out and started on a second staining attempt. This time, I purchased some pre-stain wood conditioner, as well as a traditional oil-based stain. I also set out to do this the right way. If I'm going to spend a week staining small samples, I might as well have something to show for it. I cut 8 small blocks of wood, and sanded them all to 120 grit, just like before, and tacked them all off.
 

 
I had a plan this time - I was going to see what kind of colour combinations I could get with just 2 stains, and 1 wood conditioner (The gel stain, for what it's worth, had been mixed several times, and had been kept upstairs for a few days). Here is the wood conditioner I used. You can see in the background that it tints the wood just slightly.
 

 
Here is the oil-based stain I picked up. It's a Minwax product, Red Mahogany.
 

 
And of course, the Varathane Gel Stain that you've already seen, also, Red Mahogany.
 

 
In this picture you can see a bit how the oil stain reacts to the wood conditioner. The wood conditioner seemed to have hardly any effect on the gel stain, most likely because gel stains don't really penetrate the wood the same as an oil stain.
 

 
And in this picture you can see the whopping difference between the oil stain and gel stain, which are, strangely enough, supposed to be the same colour. The one on the left is the Minwax, and the one in the middle is the Varathane. Neither the first or second piece have wood conditioner on them. The piece on the right is wood conditioner + the Minwax oil stain.
 

 
Here's the production line, the stain is still wet, I haven't wiped off the excess yet.
 

 
And here is the result of 2 days of staining. (First day sanding, tacking, wood conditioner, first coat of stain, second day some of them got a second coat).
 
From left to right, here is what I did to get the different results (Some of them obvious, some of them pretty darn subtle).
 
1. Minwax Red Mahogany Oil Stain
2. Varathane Red Mahogany Gel Stain
3. Wood Conditioner + Minwax Red Mahogany Oil Stain
4. Wood Conditioner + Varathane Red Mahogany Gel Stain
5. Wood Conditioner + Minwax Red Mahogany Oil Stain + Varathane Red Mahogany Gel Stain
6. Wood Conditioner + Varathane Red Mahogany Gel Stain + Minwax Red Mahogany Oil Stain
7. Wood Conditioner + Minwax Red Mahogany Oil Stain x 2 Coats
8. Wood Conditioner + Varathane Red Mahogany Gel Stain x 2 Coats
 
Wow! It's pretty amazing the different shades you can get when using just 3 pretty simple substances.
 

 

 

 
I then set about the next 4 or 5 days applying one coat of high gloss polyurethane each day (That was a long and boring process). Basically, get home from work, go downstairs for a whole 5 minutes, do a quick sanding, tacking, and another light coat of poly, done for the day, wait for the next day.
 
Here's the final result of Staining Attempt Number Two. Please keep in mind, they are not in the same order that I mentioned above.
 

 

 
There's no doubt that I will use this method again in the future. I also now have a great set of staining samples for maple plywood that I will surely fine handy in the future (They are all marked on the back what the process / stain used was).
 
Guess what though. None of them really came out the way I wanted. I'm still in search for that rich, deep, red mahogany / cherry look, and these just won't cut it (Though I admit, I do like #5 and #6, but maybe only because of their really spectacular grain pattern).
 
See you next time for Staining Attempt Number Three! *sigh*
 
 
 
Oh - and here's another snap of the kittens - they are 20 days old when this picture was taken, and they had just opened their eyes only a couple days beforehand.
 

 
I won't be posting another update until next week, as I've decided to take a trip to the East Coast to celebrate St.Patricks day! I'll be in Halifax if anyone wants to go for a few pints! Have a great weekend everyone!
 

For the wood cover, I really love (in the eleventh picture) the number 2, 3, 4 and 7
But It's still your choice for sure

I vote for 1, 3, 5 and 7
 
More pix af the kitten !!!
 
I'll be in Québec city for the WE.
 
How is Ottawa?

Wow I came here a bit late  
Very nice project !
 
Seems to be very well done, congrats !

+1  
 
2,3,4,7 it's good color !  
 
 
Beautiful kitten !

3,4 and 8 for me ^^

Sry, forgot my vote  
 
3,4, 7 for me
 

3 and 4

I like your project!
 
2, 3 and 4 for me

 
+1, 3 &4 are the best!

 
 
In my opinion, I choose 1, 3 and 4.

1,5,6,7

3, 5, 7

Wow wow wow! I should have started a voting station when I started my staining!!! Thank you everyone for your feedback, you'll see below that I have chosen... something totally different!! The cats are doing great, check out the first link
 
For those of you interested in seeing how the kittens are doing, I've been keeping a bit of a video log on them - ie. I have been taking quick video clips of them every few days, since day 0. You can check them out here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/MrAderome#p/u
 
Also, here is a bit of a sneak peak, as far as actual computer hardware is concerned - I've been slowly acquiring bits and pieces, since I'm still not entirely sure what will end up in this Ultimate Computer Desk.
 
Kingston has decided to sponsor me, and has sent me this really fantastic SSD drive. I am PSYCHED!
 

 

 
As you are all aware, my first 2 staining attempts were successful in the sense that I learned a lot, however, I was still not achieving the result I originally wanted.
 
I decided to try something other than the tried-and-true local Home Depot, and I hit up a custom furniture store - Randalls. Let me tell you - it was a truly great experience, and I will be returning there many more times in the future due to the incredible service I received there.
 
I walked in with my backpack full of my 2nd attempt samples, and immediately a salesperson started talking with me about what I was there for. I explained to her the stains I tried, along with the techniques, and she asked to see my samples.
 
I pointed out the ones I liked, and why, and why I didn't like them, and she came back in a few minutes with a couple stains that might interest me. She then asked if she could do some sample stains on the back of the pieces I brought in. She took the pieces behind the counter, sanded them down, stained them, and came back in a few minutes with actual, real - this is what they're going to look like - samples.
 
How cool is that? I could have just gone there in the first place and spent the whole extra 2 dollars, but would have walked out with 1 product - the right one - the first time. Amazing - I'm really happy I discovered that place.
 
I can't imagine Home Depot opening up any of their products for a test piece.. I've never asked though, so who knows. Randall's is my goto place for stains now, however!
 

 
Once again, I decided to see what variety of colours I could get with what I had on hand, so I setup 8 samples once more:
 
1. Old Masters
2. Wood Conditioner + Old Masters
3. Wood Conditioner + Minwax + Old Masters
4. Wood Conditioner + Old Masters + Minwax
5. Wood Conditioner + Old Masters x 2 Coats
6. Old Masters x 2 Coats
7. Wood Conditioner + Varathane + Old Masters
8. Wood Conditioner + Old Masters + Varathane
 

 
I worked on the samples for about a week (1 coat per day, did 5 or 6 coats of poly on top, light sanding between poly coats)
 

 
Here are a couple close up shots while staining was in progress
 

 

 
And a comparison with the previous samples, once everything was nicely glossed up
 

 
Look at the difference in colour! Now that's more what I was looking for. There's no question that the gel stain has "muted" the grain a little bit, however, the colour is unquestionably closer to what I was looking for originally.
 
Here is a shot of my previously favorite samples from the 2nd round, against the new samples
 

 
And a closeup of the 2 samples I think I like the best. The differences between this batch are quite subtle, as the Old Masters gel stain has a very strong dye which mutes out the effects of conditioner, or any other stain applied before or after.
 

 
Now that's what I call progress! I think I can call it quits for testing stain now. Time to move on to the dreaded motherboard tray / I/O Slot stuff...
 
Until next time!

That's really beautifull
You made a good choise I mean, that's gonna look great !
Can't wait the next step
 
Did you plan to contact other hardware manufacturers for any other sponsoring ?

Cool to see that admin are ok with this english topic
> ultimatedesk : Where did u find those 3d models of fan, power supplie, etc ? I thought there is a topic on H.fr but i can't find it now.
Great job by the way (and we got the same cats ^^)

Thank you, I really like the colour as well. I think that I will try and contact other manufacturers, but it takes quite a bit of time and luck!
 

Eh bien, le project c'est dans les images, non? I got all of the 3D models from Google Sketchup Warehouse:
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehouse/
 

Hehe, merci
 
 
 
Sorry about the lack of updates everyone, it's not that I haven't been working on the desk much, but it's more that I've been using the camera a lot (You know.. kittens) and I haven't had time to sit down and sort through all the photos, re-size, crop, etc for some real proper updates.
 
I've had this update sitting on the back burner for a little while now and I've been meaning to squeeze in it somewhere. I had been talking with some folks at Danger Den because I was looking at their motherboard trays and I/O panels, and they've decided to sponsor me!
 
Big thanks go out to Danger Den, as these are critical components required for a professional end result - you've all seen the mangled results of the cases I tore up earlier in the project.
 

http://www.dangerden.com
 

 
Everything came very nicely packed - not much loose play, and plenty of foam to absorb any shipping issues.
 

 
I had these PSU support brackets custom made:
 

 
I sent them a higher resolution image of this, that I threw together in Sketchup:
 

 
Also included in this little shipment were some momentary switches for power and reset. (These are really popular these days, aren't they?)
 

 
And some real nifty motherboard trays:
 

 

 
All the acrylic is 1/2" clear - I will leave them wrapped up until the project is close to completion. With these parts -finally- settled, I can cut some holes in the cabinets and actually put them together -for real- !!
 
Stay tuned, I'll sit down this weekend and sort through the next round of updates
 

yess    
hope somes assembli pictures soon

Yeahh good products !

What a nice stuff !

 
Ah ok ! Je savais pas qu'il y avait tant de choses sur google warehouse !  
 
Je suis attentivement ton topic en tout cas