Craft/Computer Desk Day 4

After lunch today I jumped right into trying to determine if the top was going to fit upstairs in one piece.  I had a couple of 8' long 2x4's laying in the basement from some project long ago.  I took those and a couple scrap wood pieces and made a 3'x8' frame to see if the top would make the turn. 

Turns out the 2x4s were just a little twisted so I had fun trying to put the frame together

After all that I managed to get it screwed together in its sad warped shape with some long screws and clamps.  I got Leslie to help me move it upstairs and we were able to get to to fit without too much trouble so I think we should be ok for the top to fit upstairs. 

Did I mention that this desk makes for a great assembly table?  I think that might be my next shop project...I didn't realize how handy a large flat surface could be.  

Anyway, now back to our regularly scheduled programming. 

I took my Kreg pocket screw jig over to the frame and cut several more pocket screw holes to fasten the top to the frame. 

I clamped the long top to the frame so it wouldn't move while I put in a few screws to hold down the top while I flush time the sides. After screwing it down I pulled the clamps and got my flush trim bit setup in my router.  To test the cut is started on the long back side that will be up against a wall and not visible.  After making this short test cut I realized that a) I was going to need a dust mask and 2) I needed to figure out a way to attach my dust collection hose to pull as much dust as possible out of the air.

I made a quick trip to the store to get the mask. Right beside the mask they had pocket hole screws on clearance so I got the last box of 500 1-1/4" coarse Kreg screws. I was running low so it worked out perfectly.  I also got the wood for the trim while I was there.  Originally I had planned to use poplar, but it was about 4x the price of pine, so I went with pine. Since it's going to be painted it doesn't really matter much. 

I pulled my dust collector over to the other side of my shop and used some cable ties to try to hold my dust collection hose to the router.  It seemed like it might work so I got suited up for battle.  

The cable ties held the hose just fine, however, it didn't work that great since most of the dust was below the table as you can see below. I think I need to upgrade the dust collection in my shop too.  

I got the top trimmed but realized that I had two spots I wasn't going to be able to reach where the side frame attached.  

I could either take all apart and rout those 2 spots or try to clean it up by hand. So after looking around the shop I got out my block plane, a micro plane rasp and a chisel and was able to make quick work of the particleboard.  I really could have used a rabbet block plane or shoulder plane to make the cut in one pass, but having neither I made it work.  Something to add to my Amazon wishlist.

I used my jigsaw and Bora straightedge clamp to cut the top of the short side to rough length.

Again I needed to clamp the top down while I secured it with screws but this time I also needed clamp it along the length so I used the ol'clamp trick and put two clamps together to make on long clamp.  In this friction the top is right at 10 ft total so it's not practical to have clamps that long.  This worked great. 

After screwing it down I finished off the flush trimming and now it looks like a desk.  

Next shop day I will cut the trim, clean up the shop and get this beast ready for paint. I also have another project that is just about ready to be stained so I will probably do the finishing on both pieces at the same time. I'll have more on that project later, but seeing as I started it before my son was born over 8 years ago it's not going anywhere. That will be another post for another day.

Craft/Computer Desk Day 3

Today I didn't get as much time in my shop as I had originally planned, but that's ok because we decided to take our son Braden to see "The LEGO Movie" with some of our friends.  Really good movie if you do have an aspiring builder in your house. After we got home from a loooonnnnggggg lunch at Olive Garden Braden wanted to build LEGOs of course so I stayed upstairs and out of the shop for a few more hours to help him with his designs.  Always time well spent.

After he was sufficiently bored of playing with Dad, I had a couple of hours to sneak away to the shop and continue working on Leslie's Craft Desk.  

I cut the stretchers and cross braces for the short side of the L, drilled holes for more pocket screws, and screwed the frame together.  Below is the fully assembled base.

Since the frame was fully assembled, I pulled over the top pieces to see what the final desk would look like.  When I bought them I had them cut to just a little over size at the home center so it would be easier to get the assembly done.  I was planning to use my flush trim router bit and flush up the top to the frame, but now I'm wondering if the router bit will chip the laminate top.  Something to ponder tonight.

After getting the top on I realized that I need to cut several more pocket screw holes to hold down the top.    I don't want the top to move around while I'm flush trimming it to size, or to warp once it is in place.  Once the top is secured in place, I'm going to trim out the top with poplar edging to hide the particle board edge of the laminate.  After that it will be time for disassembly, a couple of coats of paint and dragging it upstairs for final assembly.

That being said, I really hope that it fits upstairs.  I could put seam on the short side and have a 7 foot piece instead of 8 foot if it does look to be close.  I think I'll take up my friend James' suggestion and experiment with a 2x4 tomorrow to see if I can get a feel on whether it will fit or not.  I only want to drag this thing upstairs once if I can help it.  If all goes well I should be able to get most of the assembly done in my next shop session after another trip to the home center for the poplar.  I forgot that last time I was there.   

Craft/Computer desk day 2

I took a few hours this morning and completed the 2 other base cabinets for the 3' side of the desk. These went together really quick and super easy with the pocket screws.  I cut a couple of 8'long strips of plywood which will be frame for the desktop and did a quick clamp up to get a feel for the overall size of the desk.   It's going to be nice, but I sure hope it will fit up the stairs....

Next time it will add a couple of plywood stretchers with pocket screws across the width of the desk and finish the remaining frame for the other side of the desk. The only thing left that I'm not sure about is how to finish the exposed laminate top edges...I'll have to sleep on that one.