Desks

[Erron]

I am just getting my gear together to 5-Box and am completely out of space on my desk. I've looked over the photos in the screenshot section and haven't really seen any furniture that is ideal. Anyone have a great setup and willing to share?

I really like the suggestions on a 'U' shaped desk for giving the most workspace. I do like to other things at a desk from time to time.

It would be really nice to have a secondary rack or some sort to put the CPU's on to get the heat away from the play area.

Desk needs:
Hold 5 monitors - 3 wide 19-20" with 2 monitor mounts
Ample keyboard space for X-Keys, G15 and mouse (standard keyboard trays are too narrow)
Room for 5 mid-tower PC's
Plenty of ways to hide all the cables/UPS/surge protectors

[Fog]

As for the screen placing I think you should have a look at this.

Would lift it all off the desk, leaving you with plenty of space for mice, keyboards and the likes, although it may be somewhat of an expensive way to do it.

[Xzin]

I don't even have a desk anymore.

But before I simply took 3 slabs of wood and arranged supports under them such that I maximized my leg room (could swing around with my legs out ant not hit anything).

It was just a standard desk that I modified to the right height and unscrewed the "legs" (steel legs that screwed in) and moved them around.

But my new "desk" is aluminum honeycomb that I custom cut to the right shape and it sits in front of me... sort of like a really big TV tray.

[Erron]

As for the screen placing I think you should have a look at this.

Would lift it all off the desk, leaving you with plenty of space for mice, keyboards and the likes, although it may be somewhat of an expensive way to do it.

That would be clever - then you could you use any standard table-like desk.

And Xzin's "Tray Table" idea sounds promising, but I'd think I'd need a lot of trial an error to get something home grown just right.

Has anyone seen this desk in use? Flight Sim Desk



And what about racks to set CPU's on? I have 6 Towers I'd like to place, plus printers, modem, hub, kvm, multicaster. Something that would be able to help conceal wiring as much as possible would be great. Especially if the desk is a simple table/tray with an exposed back and pole legs.

[Xzin]

I thought about buying one of these:

I instead wound up building something similar but a ton better. I mean cmon - only 3 screens? The chair LOOKS cool but it wins up being more eye candy and less function. Plus - $7k FOB..... ehhhhhhh mine cost less and does a ton more. Of course I had to design and build mine... but still.



Video: http://gravitonus.com/hardware/workstation/promo

[Shogun]

I thought about buying one of these:

I instead wound up building something similar but a ton better. I mean cmon - only 3 screens? The chair LOOKS cool but it wins up being more eye candy and less function. Plus - $7k FOB..... ehhhhhhh mine cost less and does a ton more. Of course I had to design and build mine... but still.

I really really want to see pics of that setup, but I understand the reasons for not posting em. I've been thinking about custom building a desk for some time, mounting the monitors on arms which then fix to a powder coated alluminium frame at the back. Then the KB/mice/other keys would all sit on shelves that you could position in ideal places, also coming off of arms from the same frame at the back. I did have some diagrams for it somewhere, might re-work them and post it, see if someone has the time to make it

[Xzin]

I second the powder coated idea. That is what I did for my monitor mounts. I had to design (in CAD) and construct a rather elaborate method of suspending 220 lbs of monitors. While I was at it, I added an aluminum I beam overhead and an electric hoist and electric winches such that I can move the monitors up, down, forward, back and tilt them. With memory, so they link up with my chair (BMW 7 series) to change positions of the monitors and the chair.

It's actually quite the beast - but it looks AWESOME. I also had some powder coated poles custom made to fit the 30" array.... I had to get longer ones made than Ergotron makes - they match perfectly! I even found end caps!

If you want to do something on a smaller scale - check out a product called Kee Klamps. They are British, so the exchange rate is not so hot right now but you can find them (and tons of other neat industrial stuff) at McMaster Carr) for the cheapest I have seen. Aluminum pipe may be a bit harder to get, but you can find it in bulk for about $3 a foot (assuming around 1-2" OD. Less if you buy hundreds of feet and have it delivered. Powder coating varies in cost a lot - there were a lot of local places here and I found somebody who did it for around 0.50 a linear foot. Some places want $7 per foot of pipe and $2 or more for powder coating. They are out of their minds.

No welding needed - just a hex wrench. It's a big erector set - only life sized and STURDY. One fitting can hold several hundred pounds if properly sized and attached.

Here is a Google sketchup file for a sample desk:
http://sketchup.google.com/3dwarehou...ea7cbab14987ed

Some cool videos:
http://www.simplifiedbuilding.com/keeklamp_videos.php

Types of fittings:
http://www.simplifiedbuilding.com/index.php?cPath=2

Where to purchase:
http://www.mcmaster.com/nav/enter.asp?pagenum=1580

Of course you may not need something that sturdy.

Other options might be:

Aluminum Bolt-Together Framing System
http://www.mcmaster.com/nav/enter.asp?pagenum=1584

Aluminum Fractional T-Slotted Framing System
http://www.mcmaster.com/nav/enter.asp?pagenum=1586

[Shogun]

Any drummers, or people that know drummers, will be familiar with this kind of frame system with drum racks etc. Seems like the most versatile option.

And I know a contractor that can powder coat that does other work for us, they can also source and supply me with alluminium if I need them to, once I decide to get around to it

[Stealthy]

Well you can either make it as complicated or as simple as you want it. I went for simple:



The desk is a standard rectangular desk - I just went down to an office furniture supplier and told them what room I had to play with and they gave me a few suggestions. The desk is 2.1 metres long, mainly because I wanted a separate space for my gf to study, as she's a uni student.
The PC's are kept under the desk and out of sight.

Note - I've replaced the laptops with PC's now, will post more pics when I get a chance.

Cheers,
Stealthy

[Erron]

I instead wound up building something similar but a ton better. I mean cmon - only 3 screens? The chair LOOKS cool but it wins up being more eye candy and less function. Plus - $7k FOB..... ehhhhhhh mine cost less and does a ton more. Of course I had to design and build mine... but still.

Oh wow, I would so totally like to see that Xzin!

Those tinker-toy parts from Kee Klamps sure look interesting, not much building skills needed for those at all. Just good design skills

And at the opposite end the simplicity of Stealthy's desk makes good sense.

Other than putting CPU's on the floor, which drives me nuts with the heat and kicking them with my legs, where do you guys place them? Any rack ideas?