Ohh no not another one of those PC in a Desk threads!!

Hi All.

Update time. Xmas is out of the way and I have had a day to get stuff done... So we now have a completed carcass including legs... I decided to make the base and the top removable i.e the legs and bas attach with 4 bolts inside the desk for easy movement.

Next weekend is going to be the boring part which is sanding and priming... dont worry though wont bore you with that... have decided to prime three coats and then spray paint it gloss white..

Acrylic cut outs are on order this week for the windows.

have also decided I am going to use the right hand section and small PC as home built NAS using Freenas and two 2tb HD's.

20150111_160532-e1421186542380.jpg


20150111_160648-e1421186517734.jpg


20150111_160536-e1421186480209.jpg
 
BluD said:
The legs look good to me, once theyre filled sanded and painted they will come up a treat. Decided on the colour yet?
Click to expand...

I am intending to do the whole thing as a high gloss white mirror finish.. hoping this will help the LED's stand out..

I had no choice really to do the legs as is because the MDF needs support across the base so four legs and it would have ended up sagging in the middle.. prolly should have used thicker MDF but didnt..

to be honest not a fan of metal or round legs.. and I am learning to work with wood...

BUT as i said they are removable from the top so if I decide i dont like them they can be wiped off and replaced with something else in seconds.

Main unit has had first coat of primer today... another two coats next weekend and i can spray paint.
 
Sounds good, i remember when people used to make MDF cases all the time about 15 years ago when there wasnt a great selection of fancy cases to choose from. THey used to look fantastic once they had all been sanded and lots of gloss on. I saw some that had been shined to perfection, i guess the guys doing them had painted a few cars in their days.

I've been tempted to do it loads of time, but i always end up sticking with my old chieftec tower. I think i just need to get trestles out and crack on with it like you did. :)

Is that 1/2" MDF then? I assumed it was just 3/4. I guess it would have weight a tonne if you had gone with thicker stuff.
 
Its 12mm MDF.. as it is its not too heavy...

18mm maybe would have been stronger..

The Mirror finished is what is going to take time.. 3 times i need to prime and sand in between then same with the spray coats.
 
enigma27 said:
Its 12mm MDF.. as it is its not too heavy...

18mm maybe would have been stronger..

The Mirror finished is what is going to take time.. 3 times i need to prime and sand in between then same with the spray coats.
Click to expand...

Some advice from a person who used to make professional competition speaker boxes.

Before you go near it with any spray paint get yourself a rad roller and a large pot of water based matt.

Then, give it several coats with the matt paint and roller.

Give it time to dry (sit it next to a radiator) then sand it back smooth. Matt emulsion is fantastic as a filler paint because it's quite thick. Not only that, it's way, way cheaper using it as your 'soak coat' when painting on MDF. MDF is like a friggin sponge and using canned primer will cost you an absolute fortune.

Then, once it's dry and sanded smooth hit it with spray paint.
 
Last edited:
Thats a good tip, MDF is certainly a sponge. When im painting it with light colours in showrooms i find i have to give it half a dozen coats sometimes.
 
BluD said:
Thats a good tip, MDF is certainly a sponge. When im painting it with light colours in showrooms i find i have to give it half a dozen coats sometimes.
Click to expand...

Yeah it really drinks paint at the start.

I give it two coats, then let it dry and settle in.

But good matt paint is so easily sand-able. It's like filler really. Just don't go using latex paint as you can't sand that stuff.
 
ALXAndy said:
Some advice from a person who used to make professional competition speaker boxes.

Before you go near it with an spray paint get yourself a rad roller and a large pot of water based matt.

Then, give it several coats with the matt paint and roller.

Give it time to dry (sit it next to a radiator) then sand it back smooth. Matt emulsion is fantastic as a filler paint because it's quite thick. Not only that, it's way, way cheaper using it as your 'soak coat' when painting on MDF. MDF is like a friggin sponge and using canned primer will cost you an absolute fortune.

Then, once it's dry and sanded smooth hit it with spray paint.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

This is what I am doing... this bit worried me the most and spent hours watching techniques on how to do it...

Finally decided on the below

Prime
Sand with 400 grit
Prime second coat
Sand with 800 grit
Prime third coat
Sand with 800 grit..

After those three coats it would be onto the spraying using the same 3 coat process and sanding with higher grit in between coats..

Tried this on a scrap piece of MDF a few weeks back and came out with a night mirror type finish..
 
Yeah it'll need at least three coats of a paint that will seal against dry patches. That's the problem with MDF, some areas have more of the PVA they use to mush together the dust.

I used to get mine coated and sanded with matt paint, then send them off to a guy I knew with a spray booth.

I used to route the edges round too. MDF chips and snaps off very easily if you bang it.
 
ALXAndy said:
Yeah it'll need at least three coats of a paint that will seal against dry patches. That's the problem with MDF, some areas have more of the PVA they use to mush together the dust.

I used to get mine coated and sanded with matt paint, then send them off to a guy I knew with a spray booth.

I used to route the edges round too. MDF chips and snaps off very easily if you bang it.
Click to expand...

Route them I did :)

Makes it look a little nicer as decoration.
 
So guys...

Here it is.. I decided to call this the 'prototype'.. now having done it once I would defiantly take more time but seeing as i had my garden and kitchen to build it in I don't think it came out too bad...

Interesting that my Gfx cards and cpu are now much lower temp wise..

one GPU idles at 26 and the other at 30 while CPU idles around 24..

Also my SLI 970 never seem to hit the temp limit of 79 anymore... they max out around 60 so should have room to overclock..

20150222_141905-e1424648523596.jpg


20150222_141854-e1424648486852.jpg


20150222_141848-e1424648563937.jpg


20150222_142139-e1424648551560.jpg


20150222_142626-e1424648538477.jpg


Thanks for looking.
 
Last edited:
awesome desk!

I couldn't quite see from the picture, but do you have anything supporting the graphics cards? or are they going to wobble on there pcie slots each time you bump the desk with your knee or something?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom