The unnamed, named build?!

[_tucker_]

Helloooo
ok so here it goes this is my first proper build log, to be honest its taken me a long time to actually take the time to learn how to post pictures on forums, generally im a floater on here so bare with...

It started when i got bored of my last desktop build after some years of use and i managed to pick up a pc for my son to get him into pc gaming so decided heck i love the look of integrated desk builds so thought id give it a pop myself.

i have been currently building this for some months now as money is tight and i was moving house between the build.

most of the parts used in the pc was from my old build as i cant afford to replace it unfortunately as of yet, some parts have been replaced with new parts but the main parts are old.
i was browsing the web and came across 2 desks that i liked the look off so decided to go with that but make them work more for what i wanted. one being tankian the mans desk and the other being the red harbinger desk.
i am a builder by trade so most things im good with but other than that im no expert.
ill upload some pics as often as i can as i have been taking some pics as i was building the desk. its not actually finished yet im still waiting for funds to be available to finish it hence the free time i now actually have to make the build log haha.
The desk is made from mdf, timber and metal galvanised sheet metal.


ok so here it goes
part one the bulk of the desk itself...

 

[KiNgPiN83]

Love a desk build and have a design in my head i'd like to create in the future. (Among others and my current active one that is being neglected due to me not being at home at the moment. )

Still enough of that, i look forward to seeing this progress.

 

[Chris [BEANS]]

Looks a great start. I’ll be keeping an eye on this.

 

[Scottie_Dawg]

Following this, love desk builds and one day, maybe if I am lucky enough, just maybe my better half will finally cave and I can build one

 

[_tucker_]

Thanks peeps I’ll be adding some more photos later tonight if I get chance.
It’s funny at that stage my partner reckoned it looked more like a pigs troth lol.
Lucky for me I was just moving in with my partner as I had started building so she didn’t really have much choice it came as part of the package hahaha

 

[_tucker_]

as promised heres some more pictures of the progress so far.
i wanted to make a raised section in the middle to allow my legs to fit under better and allow more room in the desk so its not so cramped. plus it also helps set off stuff that will be mounted in the middle as it will be raised up and closer to the glass top.
after some research i decided to make a small compartment under the motherboards so i can run all the cables out of sight and cross between sections allowing shorter run cables, i do plan to make all cables possible from scratch so they can all match and be braided with colours of choosing.

Spoiler

I LIKE IT BRIGHT!

for ease i also cut a whole in the bottom under the cable compartment so i can always get access in the future and to make cable routing wayyyyyyy easier.
i have some timber handy from work so i got most of the stuff for free or at customers expense ha got to have some perks right!
most of this stage was done in my bedroom while living at home with the folks so anything is possible if your willing to put up with the mess.

Please excuse quality of some pic ill be posting as they was taken on an old phone and i received a new one during the build but lost a lot of pics, i managed to get some but from whatsapp so they are screen shots and some downgraded.

 

[FlyingScotsman]

Looking good, really like the idea of a desk build, very sleek.

 

[LuckyBenski]

Been waiting to see this for a while! Plenty of slow builds on here, even from the pros. Bit of anticipation never hurt anyone

 

[_tucker_]

Ok so for this part i have cut some sheet metal that will be covering the entire inside of the desk, that way i have something solid to fix to for the pump ect and that will look uniform when painted and also help ground the entire desk inside.

at this stage the metal is just loose in case i change anything and i need to cut out for the motherboard and have access inside.


i stripped out my computer and my sons computer from the towers and started laying everything out so i could get a proper feel for the layout and what would look best but also be most practical.
the psu's i thought would look bewst at the back and get good air flow while also show casing all the custom cables when made, i was alos going to remove the fans inside and replace with some rgb fans.


These are all the fittings i took from my tower build, it was was built and upgraded for years so i never realised how many fittings i had acquired haha or money spent woops.
i wont be using these fittings for the desk as i intend to use 16mm acrylic tubes or petg and make all my own bends.


I decided to order some large 60mm barrow reservoirs as i like the large clean look so they should show off the pastel coolant i intend to use.

 

[FlyingScotsman]

Nice update, keep them coming!!

 

[EssexBoy]

Nice job on the fabrication i would have gone with stainless steel brushed or mirror finish but that would have upped the budget.

 

[_tucker_]

Nice update, keep them coming!!

Cheers buddy I will be posting some more tomorrow after work.

Nice job on the fabrication i would have gone with stainless steel brushed or mirror finish but that would have upped the budget.

Stainless brushed would look pretty sweet however I want a graphite black type look as most furniture in the room it’s going in is dark grey/black. mom hopping the LEDs that will be placed around the legs and inside the desk will pop with colour.

 

[alexakasloth]

Brilliant I can't wait to see this finished!

 

[_tucker_]

Another little update for you guys.
I decided that i no longer want to keep the psu's inside the desk, the main reason for this was really 2 things, 1 being that the 2 power supply's are a different size and that was major setting off the ocd alarm bells haha and 2. it was making the back part feel a little cramped and ii think in the end it would have looked messy because trhe mains cables going into them. i would have needed to box between them to hide the cables and also have to get access to the switches when de-airing the loops on fill up.
all in all it actually meant that i now have a shelf hidden at the back under the desk to store the psu's and extension lead with all the plugs, the led transformer as i intend to put a led strip up the legs and inside the case and also some other stuff if need be. This also meant that by boxing inside the desk where they was originally being placed i would have somewhere to mount my aquero fan controllers and also perhaps a small screen for use when overclocking perhaps or just an information screen??. my aquero is also water cooled so it means i can incorporate the water loop into the boxing somehow to maker a nice clean feel.

The boxing doesn't look too bulky and the platform in the middle should fit 4 pumps and 4 reservoirs quite nicely.

From the underside the boxed shelf isnt visible really and it also doesn't intrude on the leg space underneath.


please excuse the state of the wall behind we recently had the house re wired and plumbed and the bathroom wall was behind so we chased through the wall to add a towel rain lol really didn't help with my build.
I drilled 3 holes in the front to take the 120mm fans that will also mount a radiator, most likely a thin one as i want this holes to act as the main source of air in the desk.

Here i cut a large slot out of the sides of the desk to sit a 420mm radiator in push and pull. i needed every bit of space possible inside so i opted to cut the large slot and have the fans mount on to a fan guard that will be screwed onto the side of the desk, that saved me 18mm as that's the thickness of the material used. Inside you will only see one side of fans but from the outside you will see the others that's why i decided with push and pull so the rgb fans will give it a nice feel from the inside and outside.
The back i cut a hole out to take a 280mm radiator in pull and perhaps push and pull dependant on temps once its finished, ive not built anything like this so i am trying to cover my back side anyway i can. The whole saw was a total b***h to drill so in the end i drilled a small hole then used a jigsaw to cut the shape as it was much quicker and opened up the hole bigger for better flow rate.
You can also see ive drilled some holes out in the bottom to allow for the cables to run down into the back hidden shelf that is housing the psu's now. I stuck down some 1" timber so i can screw the metal sheet too.

There's plenty of room around the motherboard for cables and air to get around and also allowing some space for the acrylic tubes,

I cut out as much metal under the motherboard area aas possible without structurally causing problems so i can have maximum amount of airflow and also more room for the cables to run in the underneath compartment.
i used metal standoffs for strength and also ground the desk to the motherboard.

After some thought i added a acrylic white frosted sheet plastic to mount the motherboard too so no cables get stuck on the solder pins underneath and also i think it will give a nice clean feel and act as a feature if i decide to perhaps put some leds under to make it glow up. i will no doubt add a small wire between the standoffs under and above the plastic so its still grounded.


Here you can get a look at the back shelf i will be mounting the power supply's in and also the storage areas above it that will house all the small annoying cable bits like fan controllers and usb hubs ect ect. Its actually worked out much better for me as the more i think about it the more i realise the amount of stuff that will be housed in there even down to a back up hdd i can wack in there or ssd.

Im really happy with how the fans will look from the front its quite clean and tidy looking especially considering what a pain cutting the holes was haha. i think with a nice fan guard they should look smart.

Hope you guys like the build so far, please feel free to criticise or add any thoughts in so far id love to know what you think. And sorry for bad quality pics its a pain i know im gutted the originals was lost.

 

[_tucker_]

So its been a while since my last update as quite a bit has been happening and Christmas and lazy to be fair mostly ha.
so next update, here ive shown a few pics up to the stage of painting! i cut some holes out at the back section to add in some power and reset switches which will operate the pc from the outside of the desk.
I started to play around with the res and pumps in the middle and bent a couple acrylic tubes just to get a feel for it as i haven't done this before and im curious as to how sharp the bends are that is possible. i drilled out some holes in the back to run the drain ports on the res through the back wall including the return pipes for 2 loops, i also drilled out a hole in the middle to allow for cables to run in and out.
during this stage of the build i moved house and the new build room had way more space even tho it was pilled up one end with boxes, i converted the garage to a spray booth by putting up plastic dust sheets everywhere haha not the best idea as there was almost no ventilation but heck it worked! the colour i went with was graphite black which is a sort of grey ish ting black that is a matt finish, it was quite difficult at first but after a while i got the hang of it and it looks pretty good for a noob.
i designed and made a mount for 4 ssds with clear frosted plastic so i can mount some addressable leds behind and run some cables in needed and the cables that run to the ssds themselves are all hidden.

i had some more in depth pictures of each stage but sadly i still cant find any so they are all retrieved from whatsapp who kindly downscale the picture quality ahhhh.
i will hopefully get some more pictures up soon and a little more organised soz.

 

[Chris [BEANS]]

Can’t wait to see it finished up, looks awesome mate. Well done!

 

[Dempsey22]

This is looking awesome so far. I want a build a desk PC for some time now. Lack of skills is holding me back lol

 

[_tucker_]

Can’t wait to see it finished up, looks awesome mate. Well done!

cheers pal I’m really happy with it, I really didn’t know what to expect as it was sort of a design as I build thing.

This is looking awesome so far. I want a build a desk PC for some time now. Lack of skills is holding me back lol

mate go for it you don’t know until you try! As long as you take your time and research. Just takes a while as there is so many things you have to think about to make sure it all works in the end.
There’s a bit of skill required but practice makes perfect, ive never sprayed before but with a few testers it came out just fine in the end

 

[_tucker_]

So another little update here, i customised a couple of large fan grills and screwed them on the outside of the desk, these grills will actually hold the radiators and fans so i can maximise space inside by utilising the 18mm thickness of the mdf side panel.
luckily the shelf at the back fits the led transformer on very well so its neat and tidy, i may eventually change it to a cheap psu and power them that way so at least i can power some other devices from it that may be required in the future such as external dac and power for keyboards and phone charges ectect. i started sleeving the fan cablesfor now however i don't intend to keep them as they are a little dated and don't really suit the build at all, i want some nice clear fans with leds.
After which i started to tackle the main cables which was a lot of fun even tho it sounds extremely boring ha, its surprisingly easy but just very time consuming, to be fair the amount of colour combinations alone was mind numbing but a decision was made and i cracked on. ive used many brands before in the past but i never really put the effort in and the materials was rather poor but the mdpc stuff is quality and well worth the extra penny's or pounds. i opted for 18awg wire but its double insulated thickness so it looks a good thickness without being overkill.
for the graphics card and cpu i opted for 2 colour patterns to mix it up a little and had a coloured layer and a grey layer, i intend to try and mix up patters on all devices so it has some variation. i was very pleased about going with a motherboard mounting tray so i could run the cables under it as there is an alarming amount and not an awful amount of play on the cables because the thickness and the tight sleeve. i think not having the heat shrink was a wise choice as well so it looks very clean but takes a fair bit longer to make.
After some trial and error with some frosted acrylic sheets i finally found one that is dense enough and frosted enough to hide the led strip while diffusing to give a nice even glow between colours when lit.
I also fitted some old style fan guards for the front to stop the kiddies from poking at the pretty lights on the fans haha but they look pretty decent and suit the desk so im happy.
Im using barrow fittings for the build as they are fantastic quality with a decent price so as some started arriving off the slow boat i popped the pass through fittings on the back box, I also got some lian rubber pass through grommets for the cables, its surprising how little choice there is for grommets without using large cable grommets that would look way to bulky for this build however im a little worried the one i used may be too small.
i really like how the push buttons look on the back as well the silver and black go well.

 

[IWANTBLUE]

awesome Build... Congrats
I've got 2-3 different desk ideas in my head but no cash at the moment..
love your colour choice for the Braiding too, subtle graduations with a smack you round the head 'poppin' pink in the middle.
Was there a reason you went with Tin in the base with so much mdf construction?