The Good & Evil DeskCon Project

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A day later I've started to take care about the lower sections of the containers. They were also in need of some cuts for cables and especially the glass windows and doors:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the cutting I've continued with the inlays for the windows:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After I've finished all the parts I was able to also glue them finally together:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also used filler on these parts:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sanded and ready for the next steps: 

 

 

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After all the main parts were now ready so far it was time to start with the paint-job. So sanding the parts and applying a primer to the later visible sections:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the primer was dry I was able to start with the layers of paint. As MDF is absorbing a lot of primer and paint at least at the edges I've used two layers of primer, four layers of paint and two additional layers of clear coat on all the parts. The whole process took me around two weeks including the time for letting the parts dry between each layer. So the following pictures are a mix from various days and stages. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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After all these parts dried I was able to move them over to my living room to continue with the work on my project. During this time the whole living room was like a construction site. So I think it's time to send a big thank you to my wife who arranged herself with the situation . During the time I was building the desk my "workplace" was a temporary setup using a tapestry table. As not all parts were painted at this time I've made also temporary use of the non painted ones. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After having these parts inside I've started to cover the unpainted areas with a structured carbon film. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And in the next step I've inserted the glass windows. I've used tempered, tainted glass for this. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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So now it was about time to also prepare the backsection of my build for moving it to the inside. Therefore the liftable section and it's container needed to be disassembled, filled and sanded in preparation for the paint-job. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Continued by priming and painting it.... (which also took me two weeks again in cause of the drying times)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again these following pictures are showing different stages within the process and not representing the final result. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Before I could move the missing parts into the living room I've prepared them using a multiple socket and a network cable for connecting it to a power outlet and router.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also I've drilled some holes for finally mounting the lift. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then moved those parts also into the living-room.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I know: At this time all was still looking a bit wild but all those non-painted areas will later not be visible. Also I was running out of paint during the process and the same brand of color wasn't avaiable for the moment in my prefered store. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Ups... seems that I've forgotten one step. So going back to the time while the backsection was drying. After installing the glass windows into the front containers I've installed also the glass doors into them: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But going back to the actual timeline:

 

After moving the backsection into the house I've spent my time on adding some more of the carbon film to the liftable section, "marrying" it with the lift and finally testing the fit of the holders for the matrix-modules and the middle board. 

 

 

 

 

 

By the way: The lift can be programmed using an app. This will limit the maximal height the stamps of the lift will go up. The following picture is showing the maximal height without the limiter. 

 

 

 

 

And with activated limitation: 

 

 

 

 

There's another limit-value for the lift when it is retracted. This is avoiding any damages. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Next step was reinstalling the screen mount and attaching a 28" 4k Display to itand pre-cabling it:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I've installed the controller, the powersupply, the matrix displays in it's holders and cabled it. The matrix displays are plugged into a wifi-switch so that I'm able to turn them on and off when needed.

 

 

 

 

Also I've installed the soundbar:

 

 

 

 

and the subwoofer:

 

 

 

 

As those Matrix-modules are really sensitive and could be damaged very fast by obstacles or objects I've decided to cover this section using plexiglas. To create another "special effect" I've decided to use a semitransparent dark grey plexiglas for it. This is making these displays nearly invisible and only visible if powered on: 

 

 

 

 

I've made a cut-out into the plexiglas where the soundbar is and two holes for the USB-hubs:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I've then installed the cover along with two more screens (24" FHD):

 

 

 

 

 

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After finishing with the first installations it was time to test the matrix displays within their new "habitat". As there were no installed PC-components at this time I've connected an old PC to the setup to test for proper functionality:

 

 

 

 

As already written earlier, the matrix is connected to a wifi-socket which can be controlled over an app to power it on/off or by using a scheduler. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the 4 weeks of drying times of the painted desk components I was able to play around a little more with the matrix controller and its software. It turned out that the software has a lot of limitations as it were designed to run big advertising screens. So the possibilities were a bit limited. To make it usefull for my personal needs I've received a little bit of help from a friend (programmer) who helped me to understand and programm the api of the software. So from now on I can also send all kind of informations automatically to the displays like system temperatures, notifiers about incomming emails, games or songs which are played right now, and many things more which I'll show later in this thread.

 

 

 

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Before I was able to start with installing the hardware some more work urgently needed to be done. 

 

 

First of all the "bridge" was waiting for completion. So I've added some side plates and drilled some holes:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then I primed it. As it was already close to december and the temperatures outside were not any longer comfortable for paint-jobs I've done this in the living room. 

 

 

 

 

Next I was in need of some more MDF-plates to separate some compartments within the top of the containers. These I wanted to use for installing the mainboard-trays on it and for adding an additional tech-compartment behind them. To see how much space I can use I've installed one of the radiators to see the dimensions and the avaiable space:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next I was unboxing the trays (Dimas-tech) I've ordered some weeks ago:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next I was sawing some fitting MDF-plates:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moddyfying them to fit with the trays:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally covered them and the trays itself also with carbon film:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Next was finishing the paint-job on the "bridge":

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the dry-times I've also installed a 8-port network switch:

 

 

 

 

 

Moved my 3D-Printer to the lower right compartment and added some magnetic snappers to the glass doors:

 

 

 

 

I also added another shelf into the bottom left compartment. As I haven't had a hole cutter which was big enough for a hole I needed in this plate I was forced to work around it manually:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So for now all was prepared to begin with the installation of the hardware.

 

At this point I was already spending around four month on the project (beside my regular work and my family). So during the time a lot of packages with products from my sponsors had arrived and as it was already close to christmas it was time to free them from their brown carton boxes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cooler Master products arrived a bit late for the above group shot. So I'm showing them later in details as the pictures I've made of them are showing the desk already in a more advanced state and I don't want to corrupt the timeline. Here's just a sneak-peek: