Project Xelladesk (Computer Desk Build)

[Alexander Lee]

Hello everyone, I have been inspired by some projects of epic proportion on this forum (Azurite and his desk would be one of the major inspirations, I am sure most of you will have seen this but if you haven’t do check it out) and on the internet and so have decided it is time tackle a project myself with the help of a few friends and the OC3D community. The desk will be made from a mixture of steel and wood and I am also hoping to have a few glass panels to see the lovely hardware inside. I plan to make the project fully watercooled and I look forward to trying that aspect out for the first time. I might also be making a custom aluminium motherboard tray but who knows what this project will entail, it should be quite a journey and hopefully I will learn a few things along the way.

For this introductory post I have added some google sketch up images but do expect some regular updates and I will do my best to show the action as it unfolds. We have access to a range of equipment such as laser cutters and lathes as well as having contacts that can complete powder coating for us. I also look forward to your comments and suggestions on how things about the desk or my manner of reporting on the action can be improved.

My first thoughts while designing.

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A little Hardware added and some rather large speakers.

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A close up of the main section.

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Thanks in advance for any suggestions you do give. Please send suggestions for names for the project as well as I couldn’t think of any.

Alex

Note to the Moderators: Sorry if I haven't done the pictures correctly, I tried to resize them but am not sure if I have done it right so please let me know if I need to change anything.

 

[Hassi94]

Cool that you've modelled it in sketch up

Good luck and I'll be tracking your progress

 

[Alexander Lee]

Cool that you've modelled it in sketch up

Good luck and I'll be tracking your progress

Thanks for your comments

 

[Pr3d4t0r]

looks great and very innovative, but is going to be wood? wood and high temps dont go together very well

 

[Alexander Lee]

looks great and very innovative, but is going to be wood? wood and high temps dont go together very well

Thanks for the comment, where the hardware will be will all be powdered coated Aluminium. It doesn't really show up very well in those images but will be trying to do some close up views shortly.

 

[samhatcher]

Hi Alex, As we've already discussed I can do any power coating joinery or milling for you if necessary at cost price, and I wish you luck with the project

 

[The Orange One]

Good Luck with this Project

 

[sheroo]

I hope you get this project off the ground - I really like the design.

 

[yassarikhan786]

Desk design looks awesome, will follow this

and good luck with the desk

 

[Alexander Lee]

Hi Alex, As we've already discussed I can do any power coating joinery or milling for you if necessary at cost price, and I wish you luck with the project

I hope you get this project off the ground - I really like the design.

Desk design looks awesome, will follow this

and good luck with the desk

Thank you for all your comments and wishes of good luck.

I will be running a competition in the competitions thread and the person who comes up with the best name will win a prize as I can't think of anything to call the project!

Edit: We have now come up with a name but will be running some sort of competition to give one of you a prize... I will probably run a random number competition in the competitions thread!

I will give a better update over the next few days and hopefully will be starting to order the materials over next week. Thanks to everyone for your interest in this.

 

[The Orange One]

How abbout - - PROJECT ABYSS, as a name for it

 

[yassarikhan786]

Thank you for all your comments and wishes of good luck.

I will be running a competition over this weekend/next week for the best name for the project and there will be a prize for the winner as I really am stuck on what to call it.

I will give a better update over the next few days and hopefully will be starting to order the materials over next week. Thanks to everyone for your interest in this.

Can I have your folding rigs if I win

 

[The Orange One]

This looks extremely promising, although it will take lots of skill and patience.

Good Luck with it. I'm well Jelouse

 

[Alexander Lee]

How abbout - - PROJECT ABYSS, as a name for it

Nice, I like it

Can I have your folding rigs if I win

no.

This looks extremely promising, although it will take lots of skill and patience.

Good Luck with it. I'm well Jelouse

Thanks

I imagine the project will take me a very long time but am looking forward to the challenges that it will pose and learning a thing or two from the process.

 

[The Orange One]

Nice, I like it

Good. I'm sure i'll come up with more ideas if you want them

 

[G-Dubs]

shows great promise. looking forward to seeing it develop

 

[Alexander Lee]

Good. I'm sure i'll come up with more ideas if you want them

I look forward to hearing all your ideas.

shows great promise. looking forward to seeing it develop

Thanks for the comment, just looked at some of the stuff you have done and they look amazing.

I will be putting a new update on tomorrow and look forward to hearing all of your thoughts. As well as the ongoing tweaks to the design and other discussions being carried out with contacts my friend and myself have been thinking about lighting effects. The basic idea is to have colour changing LEDs on the back of the monitors that would be controlled by DMX and scripts so that they complete a sort of mood lighting effect. For example if I was running battlefield on the PC then the wall would light up in red behind the monitors (not overly bright, sort of the right amount). However if I was internet browsing then a more lighter blue tone would be used. Anyway, more information when we look further into how this effect could be achieved

 

[The Orange One]

That Mood Lighting Sounds very Good, and very Unique Also!

 

[yassarikhan786]

The mood lighting does sound awesome. Ambient light behind the monitor is apparently supposed to ease the strain on your eyes.

 

[Alexander Lee]

That Mood Lighting Sounds very Good, and very Unique Also!

The mood lighting does sound awesome. Ambient light behind the monitor is apparently supposed to ease the strain on your eyes.

Thanks for your comments and I am very interested to see how it turns out as well as Sam knows a lot more about the lighting than I do.

Not so much an update but a plan! (From the lighting person: Sam Hatcher)

For lighting we intend to use a custom built DMX interpreter modded also to function as an USB interface, for which we will be creating a custom audio spectrum analyser that will intergrate with OLA (Open Lighting Architecture) which will allow us to trigger very precise pre built lighting sequences using MIDI which will allow us to 'match' specific game play to a lighting state, for example, when there is gunfire in a game, the lighting will strobe red.

(Pictures to follow soon!)