Tony's Woodworking Projects

Computer Desk - Version 1

Specifications

Made of 3/4" plywood (pine), 2" x 4" pine studs and 1" pine boards, stained a walnut color. Eight feet long, three feet wide and over 5 feet high.

Story

Somewhat sadly, this desk no longer exists. It served its purpose very well and was not worth moving to Texas when I moved. Despite the low-grade materials, and the rough workmanship, this desk served as the "command center" from about 1985 until 1997. In retrospect, this shape for the design was probably roughly inspired by the fold-out G.I. Joe Headquarters I used to play with when I was younger.

At right is the only known picture of this desk as it existined relatively early in its lifetime in Kings Park, NY. You can see from the picture that it was usually filled to capacity, and the non-bulky design makes the desk even hard to make out from the clutter. You see the Commodore setup on the left (dual monitors back in 1985...how about that?). The Intel 8088 machine is on the right.

It was designed specially to be a multipurpose, dual computer desk. The requirements was to have my Commodore 64 on one end, my Intel 8088 machine on the other, and a regular desk in between. Plus, plenty of shelf space, sturdy but not clunky. It had a wrap around design, and I used lots of short 1" x 1" pieces as between shelf supports rather than solid pieces of wood.

This was made with only a circular saw, belt sander, oscillating sander and a borrowed router. I constructed it in the kitchen (and sometimes patio) of a very small house.

Sketches

I do happen to have located the original sketch sheet for the design of this desk. See the images below.

View from the top

Exploded view separating top from bottom

Some detail of one wing of the desk

Front view

View of top from the front

Complete sketch page

Miscellaneous notes/thoughts on this project: