Thread: Study - WIP

What about a screw straight through the middle of the bridle joints? I know it's not the most elegant solution, but it'll hold it all together.

Originally Posted by Glenn.Visca

What I fear is downward load (indicated by purple arrow) will place too much stress on the angled bridle joints (red) causing them to fail.

Opinions ?

I think I can overcome this by placing a brace/leg of sorts between the front rail (green) and the leg (green) ... I have to be conscious of available leg space - which is why I dont want it to be a complete leg. I am considering putting a dowel down the bridle joints indicated in red.

Additionally, just in case, I will prepare a mortise (vertical green arrow) ready to take a leg that I can add if/when required.

Thoughts welcomed.

I suggest that the frame which will sit on the drawer cabinet (section C) should be extended to connect with the rail that is supported by the centre leg. The 45° sides would then be attached to a much more rigid structure and less liable to wobbling.

Thanks to Elan and Ian.

Ian - I like your idea - but not sure how I would implement at this stage. I am kicking myself a little for not seeing this during the design.

Oh well - lets see what happens eh ...

Work continues. Left wing made, but not glued up yet.

Outside of right wing made, and managed to put all 3 pieces in situ, although the fit is quite tight, so I will take 1/2mm off each of the front to back rails to give a little wiggle room.

It's quite amazing how wavy some plaster walls can be.

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Wow !! Love the work you've done so far. Just came across this thread and it gave me quite a few inspirations..
Few things ... for your IT equipment.. I would be bit concerned about having NAS and switch in a confined space with basically no ventilation.. your HDD's in NAS will run a bit hotter than usual which will reduce their lifespan... I would make few holes in the plaster and maybe bottom or something to allow a bit of air circulation..

For the desk and leather option... what we usually do is we would basically use 3mm MDF board and apply very thin foam first.. then glue up the leather while wrapping the ends over and gluing them to the bottom end of the MDF... reason we put foam is to allow for leather to work a bit.. so you don't wear off edges..
This is if you still want to go ahead with the leather option...
You can attach those panels with double sided tape so you can remove them with ease or just use some pve and permanently glue them making removal PITA...
Also I might suggest to route a channel somewhere in the undercarriage for monitor / power / network cabling ...
Additionally might be a good idea to get some desk cable management (built in USB for data / charging ) desk power for additional appliance etc...
All of these are just a suggestion.. Again love your progress so far..

Originally Posted by Prle77

For the desk and leather option... what we usually do is we would basically use 3mm MDF board and apply very thin foam first.. then glue up the leather while wrapping the ends over and gluing them to the bottom end of the MDF... reason we put foam is to allow for leather to work a bit.. so you don't wear off edges..
This is if you still want to go ahead with the leather option...
You can attach those panels with double sided tape so you can remove them with ease or just use some pve and permanently glue them making removal PITA...

The leather panels in this build are only supported at the edges, so they need to be a lot more substantial than a sheet of 3mm. Never heard of using foam before, I would think that it would make the surface a bit too soft for writing

Hi, thanks for the comments !

Originally Posted by Prle77

Few things ... for your IT equipment.. I would be bit concerned about having NAS and switch in a confined space with basically no ventilation.. your HDD's in NAS will run a bit hotter than usual which will reduce their lifespan... I would make few holes in the plaster and maybe bottom or something to allow a bit of air circulation..

There are ventilation holes in the top of the case .. 4 x 50mm dia. These also serve as cable entry holes . There are ingress holes in the RHS, which is the same side as the intake on the switch. I have been running an SNMP temperature monitor on the netgear NAS for the last 5 year's, and since being in the case, the temperature has stabilised to be no hotter than summer days.

Originally Posted by Prle77

For the desk and leather option... what we usually do is we would basically use 3mm MDF board and apply very thin foam first.. then glue up the leather while wrapping the ends over and gluing them to the bottom end of the MDF... reason we put foam is to allow for leather to work a bit.. so you don't wear off edges..
This is if you still want to go ahead with the leather option...
You can attach those panels with double sided tape so you can remove them with ease or just use some pve and permanently glue them making removal PITA...

As Elan said, the inlay panels will be 18mm MDF. I will probably chamfer the edges of the MDF to be gentler on the leather as it wraps around. I also pmane to route shallow rebates on the underside of the MDF so the leather sits flush to the underside, again breaking the edges.

Originally Posted by Prle77

Also I might suggest to route a channel somewhere in the undercarriage for monitor / power / network cabling ...
Additionally might be a good idea to get some desk cable management (built in USB for data / charging ) desk power for additional appliance etc...
All of these are just a suggestion.. Again love your progress so far..

Along the full length on the rear is a cable tidy with hinged lid for concealing power supplies, tucking cables away, power strips etc.

I need to work out a plan for the down stroke of the "T" ... But we are not quite sure if we want active equipment on that part of the desk as its only 600mm wide.

Many thanks for comments !

Have you considered a panel under your protruding section, creating a "torsion box", and providing a substantial increase in strength. You may be surprised how much strength is achieved with a sheet of 6mm ply top and bottom on a 40x19 frame where it is glued and pinned to all sections of the frame. If there was a single run from Point B to Point C, half rebates where it crosses the other members would provide significant strength if sheet braced top and bottom.

I hadn't actually, but I expect this would deny access to the frame internals, which I need to secure the table top.

I think the brace attached to the front section and down to the leg will provide good support to these joints.

you could leave access holes. If you have some light scrap laying around, knock up a small box and sheet either side, cut some access holes and try it out for strength.

Your cantilever section will be a concern without some form of bracing, not form day to day use, but when someone parks their bum on it without thinking.

All sections glued up after cutting slots for the buttons and breaking all the sharp corners. God damn these thin kerf blades. I swear that cutting a 6mm slot took 5 passes through the saw !

After putting all pieces except the front most one in place, I plumbed them up and bolted them together.

With the temporary leg in place in the middle, it became quite clear that more than one leg would be required. (I expected this would be the case ... But wasn't sure what would flex and where). Any downward pressure at the joints generated quite a deflection that would kill the whole thing.

Time to prototype some legs !

So for the last 15 year's I have had 2 x 900mm lengths of cypress that I have moved from house to house, into storage when I moved to Singapore, out of storage when I came back, and once or twice more. "Perfect !" I thought. Dressed them down and cut them in. So far so good. That has stiffened the whole structure quite well, and dusty enclosure now smells sensational !

Having solved that problem, I needed to address the centre leg and brace from the cantilevered section. CRAP ! No more cypress. Down to the local timber yard I go.

"What's the shortest length of 100mm cypress you will sell me?" ... "2.4" is the reply.

Ahhh bugger. Need 700mm, so thats ANOTHER 1.7 length of cypress I will drag around for the next 15 years. Anyways, it was 125mm they had going for 1/2 price so I grabbed it and smiled for the princely sum of $25.

Once dressed down 110mm, I cut it in and started to think about the brace from the cantilevered section. Umming and ahhing ... Then decided to bring the leg forward to the end of the cantilevered section and lo and behold ... It's clear of our knees. Problem solved !

So here we are all positioned.

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With legs now all but solved, I needed to find an elegant way of tying the frame down to the wall cleats, as downward pressure on the front has a tendency to lift the rear.

I made some gussets from some 8mm ply, but this proved difficult to attach "nicely".

Decided some L brackets would do the trick, using the slots in the frame as the hold down point. Called Dad for some advice (an old maintenance fitter before he started working for his father in the 50s).

3/16 flat steel about an inch wide and cold bend it in your vice.

Here is the result of the first prototype.

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So I cut a few more, bent and drilled some slightly oversized screw holes.

Works a treat. I can now sit on just about all points of the table and its as solid as a rock. That's 100 .. umm .. err .. ahem .. 85 kilos !

Thanks for looking.

Rather than sit at the old dining table in the family room, I thought I might make a temporary top out of some MDF. These pieces help to sort some of the geometry and can be reused as the leather inlay panels later.

So, we have temporarily moved back ... And wow ! So much nicer, table at right height etc. ... Yet while we thought we would have loads of room, it very quickly gets gobbled up !

Originally Posted by Glenn.Visca

......... Yet while we thought we would have loads of room, it very quickly gets gobbled up !.....

You do have loads of room it is after all a functional piece.

As the desk has multiple 90, 45 and 22 1/2 degree joints, and my old shooting board had twisted and split (...was only a test model anyway), I thought it necessary to make a new one.

The board is from 3/4 hardwood a little under 8" wide (out of Dads stock of bits and pieces).

I reclaimed the fences from the old one, and made up a new 22 1/2 fence.

The base board is trenched to each of the fences individually. Each fence has about a 5mm taper over its length on the back face, meaning they are hammered into position just enough to hold firm.

Trenches are cut with knife walls and tenon saw, roughed out on the SCMS, then cleaned with Stanley #71.

Not surprisingly the 90 and 45 were knifed with a square. The 22 1/2 had to be measured as accurately as I could.



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