It's been a while..
I've finished the desk now. No WIP posts along the way but I did take some pictures in case I ever got round to it so here goes.
This was the original sketchup from the start of this thread
I didn't like the end panels and left the final version on the back burner while i made the other units. After more thought I changed it to versions of the chunky hollow legs I've made for other furniture in the past.
Front legs
Back leg. The ply pieces are glued in and the face piece slides in as a loose part. it can be lifted out for access to hidden wiring. The ply was in there just for a test - this is looking at the lower part of the leg and the front piece will be glued in here.
I glued two pieces of flooring plank together for the rail between the legs
Front leg glue up. The middle is in-filled with a long block at the top and a short one at the bottom.
Front legs. The top end is heavier but I marked the Top anyway.
The lower part of the back legs was glued up first.
Dry fit to the back panel. the panel was from a sheet of 18mm pre veneered MDF. Not much of it is visible and it was easy!
Legs glue up. The scrap used for clamping was my test piece for the groove and rebate in the MDF
Top cableway/ facia board
I wanted 25mm MDF for the desktop but didn't want to buy a full sheet that I had no other use for and would be stupid heavy to handle... so I vacuumed 2 pieces of 12mm together using black DPM sheet and silicone as i have done before. Bit inadequate on the picture front but maybe you get the idea.
Trial fit
If you remember my Crispins visit thread i bought some 2mm thick veneers for the surface and now need to true the edges. So I thought hmm try the track saw.
Didn't work out so good close up. Maybe with a better blade.
So back to the way I've done it before using laminate flooring planks... which are reliably straight
Veneer clamped down with a piece of CLS
Push down sticks from the ceiling and push back sticks from the wall. The plane blade misses the narrow edge on the flooring strips so it just cuts the veneer.
Masking tape trial join. the thick veneers are not flat.
There were splits near one end where the boldest crown cut grain patterns were. I got enough material not to need to use those areas but though I'd try and salvage the nice patterned grain. If it didn't work it would end up as the underside. I made the area around the split wet so it would swell and close the split.
For vacuum veneering the desktop I bought some 30" poly sleeving as the DPM plastic had been a pain to get sealed last time. I needed to get the sleeving over the panel and veneer so I made a support to balance the panel on off of the bench.
First side. I ended up using duct tape to make the thick veneer stay aligned and had the bright idea of using an old towel to protect the poly from the veneer edges.
The pump never came back on once. no leaks.
Other side
Placed in position. The towel idea wasn't so clever as I ended up with red towel glued on the edges. nor was the duct tape as it was a bugger to get off after being pressed on by the vacuum.
Made some edging
No clamps long enough to glue the end trims on. CLS and wedges to the rescue. The front trim was clamped briefly in place to align the ends.
Spraying weather! 2 coats of flag brand satin poly varnish. It has dome well on other things I have made so sticking with it.
The old desk was notched to clear the radiator. Not doing that this time so it had to go.
Sneak preview as i didn't take a picture of the new rad going in.
Installing. It was made in handleable lumps that screw together. The back panel screws to the leg uprights and the shelf and cable ways screw to the back panel.
Upright with slide in front removed for wiring
Cable holes to the monitors
The skirting board spaces the desk off the wall by 1/2" so that is where all the network cable go. Bit of a mess but a never seen one.
The other bit you don't see under the desk. There is a full width cable way at the back that helps support the desktop and a lot of wiring. The obround extension socket is a master/slave unit that turns on the sound system anytime the monitor is awake. Works well and quite cheap from homebase. Overrun after the master is switched off is about 2 mins so too long for shop vac switching.
Done
From
To
Oh and the wetting the splits down almost worked but small gaps were still there so that is the underside now.