Quantor Posted February 7, 2015 Share Posted February 7, 2015 Hi @all, today I want to present my Project for the Contest. It's called the "Heaven & :)" DeskCon. Before I go into the details I would like to introduce myself. My name is Oliver, I'm 44 years old and living in Germany. I'm working as a self-employed System Support Analyst for several companies out of the IT and financial sector. The story behind my project: the first time I had the idea to build a desk around my PC's came up my mind 4 years ago. So I made plans using Pen & Paper at this time. But then a lot of shitty things happened in my private and professional Environment and so my plans were wandering into a drawer and long time forgotten. Somewhere in 2013 I stumbled across an article about the cross-desk from Red Harbinger and digging more into it I also found the buildlog for the L3P-Desk. I was noticing some similarities regarding my old pen & paper design so I searched my drawers, found my plans and were on fire again. I reworked my designs a bit and made my first sketchups. By November/December 2013 I was ready to start my build and buyed a lot of materials and ordered a bunch of new Hardware for around 2500 Euro's... And then ? The online shop I placed my order and wiretransfered the money to went bankrupt. Money away - No Hardware received. Since then my attorney is trying to get some of the Money back, but as there were a lot of strange things going along with the bankrupt of this store (orders missing, accounts emptied, frauds, aso. - a total loss of 60 Million euros) there is not a real chance. Project canceled again. First half of 2014 a lot of other shitty things happened (my father got his 3rd stroke and needs help and Attention since then). So my girlfriend and I were forced to modify our home and taking my father to us. As I still had the materials for the desk I bought in December standing around and always in the way and as I was in need of a better organized Workspace I finally made the decision to now start the project with my old Hardware components. I reworked my plans again and made some new sketchups. My concept: In cause of all the ups and downs going along with my build I gave it the name "Heaven & :)". Within this project one Office and one Gaming PC will be build into a DIY-Desk builded from scratch. Both PCs will be watercooled using acrylic tubing. The first designs were made Long time ago where desk-cons were not that common like they're now. To make it some kind of unique the following Gimmicks will be integrated: -Two 7" Touchscreens at the front for individual use as Status Monitors for the Hardware or for Information purposes.-There will also be space for my additional Hardware like Router, NAS, Soundsystem aso.-The usb hubs will automaticly appear and vanish by sensor touch-DIY control elements for the lightning and touchscreens-Two sparkling and bubbling Watercolumns will serve as main-balancers and front desk legs at the same time One of my very early sketchups from 2013, based on my pen & paper plans out of 2010. And these are the actual sketchups from August 2014: So I finally started to build my desk at the 1st September 2014. Actual Status: 85% complete The project started without any Sponsors. Only with a lot of motivation and heartbleed... I was Publishing my worklog on one of the bigger german forums and within the first 6 weeks a lot of positive things happened. I was able to find some Sponsors supporting my project. Therefore I would like to thank the following companies for believing in me and my project and for making it possible: 1. Cooler Master and CM Storm For providing me one V450S PSU and one V850 PSU, one Reaper Mouse and one MECH Keyboard. 2. BitFenix For providing Fans and Cable Extensions for my project 3. AquaTuning Germany For providing Pumps, Radiators, Switches and some other stuff 4. Sapphire For providing one R7 250 Ultimate and one R9 290x 8GB Vapor-X OC graphics cards 5. Angelbird For providing two 256GB SSDs An early concept Video about my project could be found here: Heaven & :) Concept Video So much for the start post and good luck and a lot of fun to all of the competitors. Rgrds, Oliver Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quantor Posted February 7, 2015 Author Share Posted February 7, 2015 To go along with the rules - The following components will be and were used during the build: (Not every component will be shown in the final pictures as some of the components were replaced during the build - just want to show/name them all) Mainboards: ASUS Striker Extreme ASUS Striker II Extreme (showing up on some pictures - was replaced in cause of defects) ASUS Maximus VII Hero Storage Devices: Allnet 6400 Plus NAS 2x Samsung 1TB HDDs 1x Western Digital HDD 2x Angelbird 256GB SSDwrk SSDs 2x DVD R/W Drives Fans: 2x BitFenix Spectre Pro LED 230 6x BitFenix Spectre Pro LED 120 1x APlus 250 PSU: Cooler Master V850 Cooler Master V450S Graphic Cards: Sapphire R7 250 Ultimate Sapphire R9 290x 8GB Vapor-X OC HIS R9 280x Watercooling Equipment: Alphacool Balancers Alphacool NexXxos Radiators Alphacool Graphic Cards Cooler Monsoon Fittings Phobya DC260 and DC400 Pumps Phobya Touch 6 Pump and Fan Controller BitFenix Recon Pump and Fan Controller HeatKiller 3.0 CPU cooler Aquacomputer Kryos CPU cooler Liquid Extasy Graphic Card Cooler NoName Acrylic Tubes NoName sparkling water columns as Main Balancers Phobya Cables and Sensors Build Materials: Wood Glass Plexi Other things: AquaComputer "Farbwerk" controller AquaComputer LED Stripes NoName LED Cluster Lights Pollin 7" Touchscreens Logitech G15 Keyboard Logitech G19 Keyboard CM Storm Reaper Mouse CM Storm MECH Keyboard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quantor Posted April 29, 2015 Author Share Posted April 29, 2015 The first week: (Days 1-7) I started my project by constructing the desk-body.... First cutting and sawing the wood to the right lengths, meassures and shapes.... Then drilling holes for excenter-connections.... As a next step I've removed a 250mm fan from an old case.... ...and then I "constructed" a router-stencil.... ...and used it with my router for making a hole for the 250' fan... ...also used the router for adjusting some of the bottom boards... ...to put them together with the other already prepared pieces.... As a next step I was working on the middle wall of the desk and also at the false bottom which should later on carry the Motherboard-Trays... And then I've checked for the precision of my work till this step.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quantor Posted April 29, 2015 Author Share Posted April 29, 2015 Days 8-16: After the main-body for the desk was finished it was about time to work on the backward table-legs... During this phase I've received a delivery of the sparkling water columns which I wanted to use as front desk legs and balancers for the cooling Loops.... A quick function test before I started to work on them.... As a next step I tried to cut the columns to the needed sizes... So I was trying to figure out which tool would be the best to do so... and the first tries were all Fails... Thank god that there were enough material to "try and error"... After most machines were Fails I've used a good old very fine Hacksaw... The parts were then finalized by using a belt sander.... The next delivery I've received were the Touchscreens which I've ordered... So I used a router to integrate them into the front board of the desk.... And within the same step I've also made the openings for fan-Controllers and DVD-Drives.... Within the following days I've made several things parallel... I've received two cheap PC-Cases (9,90€ each) I've ordered on ebay for using the Trays... For getting them out I was forced to use a drilling machine cause everything was riveted... and then I adjusted the trays with an angle grinder... It was also the time to get the glassplates for the Desk-Windows... For that reason I've disassembled an old Terrarium.... ...and removed the Silicon... And after using a glass-cutter and a sander, I've received four usable plates... (one spare).... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quantor Posted April 29, 2015 Author Share Posted April 29, 2015 Day 16 On this day it was time to make the notches for the Trays into the middle wall... And also some holes for the cable-tunnels... Most of the things are not looking that pretty for the Moment... The fine-tuning and reworking was done later on.... As the Grey trays were not really were fitting within the project I painted them White.... And also I was making the hole for the glass plates into the desk-plate..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quantor Posted April 29, 2015 Author Share Posted April 29, 2015 Day 17: As I had not had the time to make all 3 Windows on day 16 it was time to finish it now.... Sketching... making the border with the router... preparing the hole with a multitool, using a buzzsaw for the hole and then again the multitool for finishing it.... Done also a small Video on how to make the window withing the plate.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quantor Posted April 29, 2015 Author Share Posted April 29, 2015 Day 18: On this day I was working on the front desk legs... First I was drilling 13mm holes into the plastic covers of the columns for the tubes later on... and also into the the false and the real bottom of the desk, after figuring out their exact Locations... The I was using the plastic covers of the columns as templates... And then using the router to fit the covers into the desk.... As the plastic covers were not straight I was Routing an inner and an outer circle to make them fit.... As it was the first time I had the body upside down I was using the oportunity to fill the Slots of the planks with glue... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quantor Posted April 29, 2015 Author Share Posted April 29, 2015 Day 19: On this day I started to integrate or to prepare the Integration of some of the components I've received meanwhile.... Gott sei Dank habe ich aber schon alles was da so gekommen ist rüber in die Werkstatt geräumt, insbesondere die Kabel : I was starting with the Radiators.... First I sketched their positions.... After drilling the mounting holes I was using the fans as templates to sketch the notches.... And then using the router to make the holes.... After finishing with that it was time to make a "reality check"... Looking if the sparkling-water-columns-desk-legs-balancers are solid enough to carry the weight... checking if the height of the table is ok and if it's comfortable enough to sit and work on it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quantor Posted April 29, 2015 Author Share Posted April 29, 2015 Day 20: As I was not completly satisfied with the front wall of my desk I decided to make a 2nd Approach... So I asked a good friend of mine to stop by with a real professional router and other needed equipment... And we've done the whole thing again... This time using a template for making the 5 1/4" mounting holes.... I think the Pictures are speaking for themselves.... Much better than before.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quantor Posted April 29, 2015 Author Share Posted April 29, 2015 Day 21 / 22 Not much happened on Day 21 and so I made no photos... I've used this day to Level out, to fill and to smooth some of the till then not so pretty parts.... So I continue directly with day 22: On that day I was working on the desk plate together with my friend who lend me Hand (and his Equipment)... Started by making two channels into the backside of the plate which will later on host some of the acryllic tubing... After that I divided the plate into two parts... There were several reasons to do that... but the most important is that if I would have let it in one Piece it wouldn't be easy to Access the Computer components in the main part of the desk without draining the Loops and removing the tubes... As the back part of the plate should later on receive a cover out of Plexiglas it was necessary to make it 3mm thinner... Next step was using the 5 1/4" template again to make two more mounting holes into the front plate which I was wanting to use for Switch-Panels later on... And after this it was time to have a look at the 230mm BitFenix Fans I wanted to use on the rear side of the desk.... They don't have only the function of blowing air into the desk... They will be integrated removable so that I can use them as some sort of maintenance flap to have a quick and easy Access to the rear connectors of the Motherboards.... At the end of that day I was working again on the sparkling water columns... As they should later on supplying the pumps in the back legs with water it is necessary to drill holes into the columns for mounting... Stupid thing: You only have one try ... If it Fails you can throw the column away... But all went good.... First "practicing" on a Piece which was a leftover from my cutting attempts.... And then going for the real deal... And another snapshot from the actual Standings by the end of that day: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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