[Build Log] Star Wars Eyefinity Battlestation (Desk)

Desk Complete


In all its glory


Monitors set up, but not in eyefinity. I'm still waiting on my dp cables for that and to get my cable management on (built in to the bottom of the desk).

Build log in next post
Edited by irun4edmund - 8/8/12 at 3:46pm

Matrials Used:

JED-WEN 30" x 80" exterior solid core door from home depot


Office height desk legs from KE Hardware
I picked these over something cheaper because: 1) you can separate the legs from the mounting brackets with little effort, making this desk relatively easy to move and 2) the bottom of the legs have a 1" adjustable 'leveler foot' to balance out the desk on uneven floors. This was worth the extra $$$ to me, you might find something else more suitable to your needs.

Vertebrae under the desk wire managers from Mockett
Side note: About a week after I ordered this I had the brilliant and much cheaper idea of Using a 3" or so diameter ABS or PVC pipe with holes cut into at regular intervals with a dremel to achieve the same results. Doh! Still I'm really glad I discovered this hack, i hope some else can benefit from my experience.

2x 26" Vinyl Star Wars Logos from Vinyl Disorder




Ebony Stain and Polycrylic finish from minwax

Progression:

First step is to figure out which side you want to be the top and then flip it upside down to attach the legs. To place the legs, i measured 1" in from the edge of the table on the bracket diameter, and 2 and 3/4" on the wings and marked the screw holes . Then i drilled the guide holes with a 1/8" bit, taped off at just under 1" so I knew when to stop drilling, don't want to go too deep




legs attached

Next I placed the Vertebraes to visualize the placement. They ended up needing to be cut down to size, but i knew this was a possibility.


I ended up cutting each to 26" to give 1.5" clearance by the leg brackets and 4" on each side of surge protector


Miter box used for the slice and dicey. As a side note, this made if very hard to slide the Vertebrae back in, tapering out the inside with a dremel would definitely have helped.

Next I measured out the middle of the table and mounted my surge protector, placed 2" in from the edge.

I know its a pos monster, suggestions on a new and better one are welcome


Vertebrae placed and attached. These didn't come with mounting screws so I had to get some from a hardware store, cost $1. I used 3 per track. The Vertebrae Had to be placed around the crew locations. I haven't tested this, but I'm pretty sure they won't slide over the screws. I didn't drill guide holes for these.


Flipped for sanding, staining and poly. I didn't sand the top as it was already smooth. I sanded the sides and rounded off the corners and edges with a belt sander. Sorry, but I don't have pictures of this. Which is just as well, as this was my first edging attempt and it was less than perfect.


I did three coats of stain. Follow the directions on the can. I wanted a darker color, so i let it set for the maximum of 15 mins before wiping up the excess.

Since I wanted to use polycrylic instead of polyurethane (the stain I used was oil based and polycrylic is water based) I let the table dry for 5 days after the last coat of stain. This is incredibly important, if you apply polycrylic too soon you will ruin it and have to start over. Polyurethane can be applied much sooner but will yellow over time. This isn't a problem with wood stains as it will only enhance the color, but makes lighter colors (like white) look pretty bad.

5 days later I applied my first two coats of poly, two hours between coats. After letting the second coat sit for two hours i very very light sanded the surface with a 320 grit sanding sponge. Hand pressure only, making no more than 2-3 passed over any one area. Then I used painters tape to mark off vinyl placement. Since the stickers were 26" in diameter and the table was 30" wide I measured 2" from each edge.



The vinyl came with application instructions that I won't cover here, but I suggest if you plan on using this guide that you follow them precisely.


Applied and ready to remove the backing. The Imperial Empire emblem was a real PITA to get down because of all those cut outs, and it wasn't perfect. You can get the bumps that occur from bunching of the vinyl out with a little sanding (white only, don't do this with colored vinyl most of them are dyed from a white base). The Rebel Alliance emblem was much easier to do, since it was more of a solid piece.

After getting the vinyl down, the last thing to do is apply 4 or more coats of poly to protect everything. I sanded between coats 2 and 3 for better bonding. I didn't want to accidently remove areas of coat 1 completely and you should never sand your final coat.


And that's it, you're done! Let it sit for a day or two to fully dry before putting stuff on it or you risk damaging the finish.
Edited by irun4edmund - 8/8/12 at 7:36pm

Now that we got the prettys and build log out of the way I wanted to give the considerably more boring background story of where this concept came from. I needed an large desk suitable for eyefinity. I seriously considered an IDEA galant, but I'm no where near an IKEA and shipping is an insane $350 for that desk. So I knew I was going the DIY route pretty quick. My first concept was a L desk made from plywood, 2x4s and 4x4s. Cover the surface in movie and game posters, then coat the entire top in 1/8" of bar resin. However this was going to be too heavy, difficult to move, got expensive and was going to cost 300-400 bucks. That's when I stumbled upon the concept of the door desk. Its cheap and pretty easy to do, problem was most of the builds I saw used 4x4 legs or some parts from IKEA. I needed something more mobile and I wasn't going to use IKEA stuff on priciple for the ridiculous shipping fees. Discovered the legs while google surfing for something that suited my needs, this was a pretty quick find. Next I wanted some sort of cable management system in place, most of the DIY options were not going to suit my needs so I again turned to google. Found Mockett and bought the Vertebraes. Again, i thought of a ABS or PVC pipe hack after this (see above) that I wish I had discovered sooner, but oh well. I already knew I was going to mount the surge protector on the bottom.

Lastly was personalization. I didn't want just a plain jane desk, I wanted something unique to me. At first I still wanted to do posters or something with bar resin on top, but bar resin is expensive and posters are hard to find in anything but the gigantic 24"x36"ers. A friend mentioned vinyl as a possibility, but I had questions first; like will the poly react with the vinyl adhesive and peel the sticker off? Again google research said no (this piece of information was actually the most difficult to find), the concept was finalized and moved into development.... 3 weeks later Star Wars superdesk is born.

I did this build log, because most of the information about the parts and the process was hard to find, I wanted others to be able to duplicate any portion of my work easily if they desired. Also, I thought it turned out well and wanted show everything off
Edited by irun4edmund - 8/8/12 at 5:15pm

Nope. The desk is solid, no noticeable bowing in the middle. The only problem i've had is cranking the base up tends to make the mouse jump around Make sure you get a solid core or outside door. You can run into trouble with hollow doors. Plywood is also a bad idea without some sort of lateral bracing.