Project Ethos & Cube - Desk Awesomeness

[SavellM]

So I have decided to detail some of the building work so far:
Started out with 2 sheets of wood, and 1 solid oak posts:
Meet Chris, my Carpenter friend...

Cutting out the different sections we needed:

A Pile of wood that will become something awesome:

Got wood?

Starting to iron on the sides so it looks pwetty:

Veneering 101:

Cutting out the curve:

Biscuit joints:

Joints:

Some more:

How they slot together, just missing the leg here:

Plaining the legs:

Legs all cut and ready:

Making the curve, having to slice out so that it can bend on itself:

Curve glued together:

Curve held together for about 2 days:

Torture:

Finally free and checking the fit:

Making the draws:

Some more draws:

Veneering the edges of draws:

Curve veneered and ready to go:

So pwetty:

Cant get enough:

Desk taken home to start being put together:

First stand before we realised we needed to change it:

Editing plans and cutting off the top:

Sad to see it go, but its for the best:

All cut up, and how it lies currently:

Hopefully will start work next week again

 

[SavellM]

Current Hardware as it stands.
Will hopefully upgrade more soon:

Current Gaming PC Hardware:
Configuration :
CPU: Intel Core i7-930 Processor 1366
Motherboard: Asus Sabertooth X58
GPU: Asus 560 ti Top
SSD Boot: Samsung 128gb 840 Pro (Yet to purchase)
SSD Gaming Drive: Samsung 256gb 840 Pro (Yet to purchase)
RAM: Corsair 6GB DDR3 Dominator
PSU: Seasonic Platinum Series 1000w
Fan Controller: Lamptron FC5 v2
Monitor: BenQ 24" 2411T

Game Gear:
Mouse: Razer Mamba 2012
Keyboard: Razer BlackWidow Ultimate 2013
Mouse Pad: Razer Megasoma 2 (Yet to purchase)

Server:
Will be built when Haswell comes out

Watercooling loop:
CPU Block: XSPC RayStorm Chrome CPU Waterblock
Reservoir: XSPC Twin D5 Dual Bay Reservoir
Pumps: XSPC D5 Vario Pump x 2
Radiators 360: XSPC AX360 Triple Radiator
Radiators 480: XSPC AX480 Quad Radiator x2 (Hopefully, I have 1 currently)
Tubes: Will be making copper tubing (Plumber for a brother)
Fittings: Aquatuning 10mm G1/4 push-in fitting - black nickel

The Watercooling loop will go between the gaming machine, and cool the server CPU.

 

[SavellM]

Some more parts of my WC loop arrived:
Things that arrived:
XSPC RayStorm Chrome CPU Waterblock
XSPC Twin D5 Dual Bay Reservoir
XSPC D5 Vario Pump x 2
XSPC AX360 Triple Radiator
Mayhems Ice Dragon Nano Fluid 1L x2

And ofc pics of the goodies:

This will get my CPU loop up and running.
Now just waiting on a new GPU when the Nvidia 700 series comes out.

 

[SavellM]

Where did you get those silicon rubber washers from ?
I want some for my rad to cut down on noise.Got 6-32 by 1/4 screws.
Still loving the build

Hey man, thanks for the love.

I got them from fleebay, if you do a search for
"Acousti AP-1003W-B Black Anti-Vibration Silicone Washers (pack of 8) Fan Access" you should find them.

 

[SavellM]

I need a bit of help/advice.

I want to paint the Radiators white, to match my theme.

But they are anodized aluminum.
What would be the best way to paint it?

Sand it down, and then use Etch Primer, then Primer, then White Paint?
I also heard U-Pol Acid8 is pretty good Etch Primer.
Do you know what kind of normal primer and paint I need?

 

[SavellM]

A bit of what we were working on yesterday:

We have to start making the dropdown for desk 2.0.
So pieces cut, and test fitting:

Yup looking pretty good:

All biscuit joints and holding its own

Not looking too shabby:

You can see the legs are cut down slightly.
And also the draw section is up

 

[SavellM]

Something else awesome just turned up

 

[SavellM]

Some more little updates.
Worked a bit more on the desk.

Close cuts to the legs, to make it more ergonomic.

You can see the drop where the gaming PC will go, and the start of the draw units.

Getting everything fixed up nice and tight.

Some nice fitting screws.

Tools of the trade

Making hole first

Nice shaping

And then screwing in.

End result

Working on the draw units

Fixing it nice and tight

Testing draw fitting, yes technically its upside down but just checking it fits

And another one for good measure

The desk is now the right way up, finally
Will finish off the draws, and get the runners installed and done.

Then back to my house for test fittings of the PC components.

That will be at some point next week hopefully.

 

[SavellM]

Thanks man
Its a labor of love...

I just hope what I have in my vision is what I can produce.

 

[SavellM]

You have a marcus doll from BL2! Well Jel!

HAHA ye good find

 

[SavellM]

So bit of an update...

Did some work yesterday afternoon.
Decided to take apart the radiators and spray the shells white.

So shells without the cores:

End bits sanded down:

Sanding away:

Ends and shells all sanded down.
Looks quite nice with the silver edges

Did a coat of primer, but it was very windy so had some bubbles and some thick bits. So decided to sand it down again.

Primer sprayed in garage = no wind!

Looking better:

Liking it in white!

Started to do some more work on the desk:

All standing:

Back is on, hiding the insides away:

Looks nice with the back on:

Inside lip cut down, and from the inside with the back on:

Cutting the draws down to fit the new design:

Showing what it looks like from under the floor looking up the desk's skirt.
Guess the back really does cover it nicely, you can just start to see the insides:

Back for where the UPS will be standing upright:

Back board joining onto desk:

Draws being fitted, checking size and spacing:

Back to do another coat of primer:

After its dried for awhile:

Looks really nice in white:

Sexy!

Some Moar:

Quite like it with the grainy look, of the black still slightly coming through:

Now, I just need to let the primer fully dry, and then I will spray it Matt White.

Did a stain on a cut off piece of wood to check it matches my TV Unit at home. (I can report it is almost a perfect match)

 

[SavellM]

Some more lovely toys turned up...
Creative Sound Blaster Zx

Boxed:

And the Card, and ACM:

 

[SavellM]

Whats in the box?!

Its a Access Point for home

Not strictly part of my desk build but thought I would share

 

[SavellM]

Some more of what Chris has been working on today:
Mortise and tenon joint:

And the Lid coming along nicely!

 

[SavellM]

Thanks guys

 

[SavellM]

Oh man do I have an update for you guys.
My mobo trays are finally cut and ready

I will get them within the next few days, but these are the pics from the creator

Also remember that Cube will be a server and a half height machine, and Ethos will be for my gaming so slightly larger to accommodate bigger that ATX size, eg the Rampage series of boards.
And lastly its just a test fitting with a dummy board.

*Warning, there are a lot of pics*

 

[SavellM]

Yup so that it will last a long time

 

[SavellM]

So a bit of an update.
Working on the Desk Sunday and finishing it off now before staining and taking it home.

Getting ready to make the glass template

Rough cut out

Cuts in nice and close

So nice

Chamfer Edge

Cut outs

Chamfer'd Edge to join with the side

Joined up

All sorted ready to send off to get Glass cut

Getting ready for staining...
Filling any bits and then sanding it down.

All joins filled

Top re-veneered.

Cutting down 4mm for the piano hinge

Fits, Check

Nice and snug

Top fitted and working nicely!

 

[SavellM]

Just hand chiseled the corner bit where it joins with the other side.
So it gets a nice corner

 

[SavellM]

So update today.
What we worked on yesterday.

Finishing off the filling and sanding making sure its beautiful

Staining started

Getting Draws all stained up.

This little bottle of stain goes so far!

Looking good!

Next we need to do a matt varnish to seal it in and add protection.
Then were pretty much done on the build side.