DIY Time! A studio desk!

David Floegel

Silver Member
Hey guys,

I thought I should share this project with you.
Since I'm going to sell my mixer (I replaced it with 2 8 channel rack preamps) and wanna get rid of that ugly desk I'm using now I wanted to build my own desk. I did some research on desks. Most of them are extremely ugly and all of them are extremely expensive!

I found a very nice desk on ebay which was handcrafted and had a pretty "normal" design. I went to my PC, started my CAD-Software (the one I used for my mic holder too) and copied the design.

After having finished modeling a complete desk I printed out all the custom parts, went to my local building center and asked for wood and prices. The cool thing: They have their own carpenter in the center who can cut all the parts including mitres.
I decided to go for a 3cm beech solid board as I would have to wait for other wood 2 weeks at least and I will be pretty busy by then.. The grain of the beech plate looked pretty good to me as well so I took it.
The desk is 2m by 86cm + 2 desk raks - The price: 250€ including the cutting from the carpenter. Isn't that cheap?


I attached a 3D image from the CAD software so you can see what the desk will look like. I hope I'll get all the parts on Thursday (tomorrow) and try to have it finished on Sunday evening.

Not sure about the laquering yet, I think I'm going to oil it?


All the best and happy new year!

David
 

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Update Friday, 03 January 2013

Today I got the call from my building center that my wood pieces are finished.
The wood looks great to me. Well, the grain is not spectacular but I like it anyway. The carpenter did a pretty good job in cutting :)
(Picture 1)

I managed to finish mounting a border on the front of the table to make it even more stable + make it look more solid.. This border is also an important piece for mounting the legs onto the table.
(Picture 2)

Also I managed to finish both desk racks. A friend of our family who's a carpenter gave me a pretty good tip:
Since the pieces have a 45° edge I can simply "connect" them with some sticky tape (don't know if that's a common term?) from the outside, then turn the whole piece around, put some glue on the edge and fold it together - it works perfectly!
(Picture 3 and 4)

Oh AND I already cut 8 rack-rails for the racks - I will add a rail on both sides so I can mount gear from the front and the back!


I might be able to finish the desk tomorrow... STAY TUNED!
 

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Looks great so far.
And you're a pretty fast DIY builder!

As for finish, oil has the huge benefit that it's 'repair friendly'. Should your desk get some blemishes, those could be sanded out a bit. Then simply reapply oil and there won't be any traces of which areas were reworked. Wax would also work well and look great - 2 layers should do (with buffing in-between and afterwards).
 
I'm almost done!!!

On the pictures below you can see the result of yesterdays work (8am - 9pm).

Here are some pictures of the oiled desk and racks.


Todays job:
Mounting the rack holder systems + racks and shortening some legs the put them under the racks.

Pictures soon!
 

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Ah, now that looks nice! Great job!
Oiling was enough to get a really pleasing result.
Hey, that's my Charisma 8, hehe. ;-) Looks great in that rack.
 
I think I hear a lawyer from IKEA knocking at your door. Very nice.
 
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