Ash Trestle Desk

[Rutabagared]

In to avoid shoving it all down your throats at once, I'm going to try to post as I go on this one.  I respect your opinions and I welcome your feedback. Thanks for looking.  I'm shooting for this.

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[TSO_Products]

[member=3075]sawdustinmyshoes[/member]  - thanks for sharing your pleasing traditional design treatment - much nicer looking than the pair of purely functional square telescoping power-coated steel tubes on my height adjustable desk with flat steel bar feet. At least I have a solid wood edge on the 72 inch top as a consolation  [smile]

Share pictures of the joinery if you decide to build your design!

Hans

 

[Rutabagared]

[member=3075]sawdustinmyshoes[/member]  - thanks for sharing your pleasing traditional design treatment - much nicer looking than the pair of purely functional square telescoping power-coated steel tubes on my height adjustable desk with flat steel bar feet. At least I have a solid wood edge on the 72 inch top as a consolation  [smile]

Share pictures of the joinery if you decide to build your design!

Hans

You're welcome.  I'm going to attempt to post all the in-process work including jointery.  I may or may not break out the "Domi-Shelf".

I like the wood and metal aesthetic also.  I just don't have the tools or skills to work metal.  My across-the-back-alley neighbor is an expert welder.  I've attempted to persuade him to collaborate on a piece.  I may have to resort to coercion. [smile].

 

[Michael Kellough]

[member=3075]sawdustinmyshoes[/member]  - thanks for sharing your pleasing traditional design treatment - much nicer looking than the pair of purely functional square telescoping power-coated steel tubes on my height adjustable desk with flat steel bar feet. At least I have a solid wood edge on the 72 inch top as a consolation  [smile]

Share pictures of the joinery if you decide to build your design!

Hans

You're welcome.  I'm going to attempt to post all the in-process work including jointery.  I may or may not break out the "Domi-Shelf".

I like the wood and metal aesthetic also.  I just don't have the tools or skills to work metal.  My across-the-back-alley neighbor is an expert welder.  I've attempted to persuade him to collaborate on a piece.  I may have to resort to coercion. [smile].

Money usually works.

What is the line that parallels the edge of the legs? Is that just showing where the round over starts?

 

[bobtskutter]

I'm loving your work and am looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

This this going to be a desk for a PC?  Could it become a little "tippy", the leg seems to be towards the back of the desk and it looks like it may tip forwards if someone puts too much downwards force on the front edge.

Might the foot at the base of the leg need to be a bit longer?

Thanks for sharing

Regards
bob

 

[Rutabagared]

[member=3075]sawdustinmyshoes[/member]  - thanks for sharing your pleasing traditional design treatment - much nicer looking than the pair of purely functional square telescoping power-coated steel tubes on my height adjustable desk with flat steel bar feet. At least I have a solid wood edge on the 72 inch top as a consolation  [smile]

Share pictures of the joinery if you decide to build your design!

Hans

You're welcome.  I'm going to attempt to post all the in-process work including jointery.  I may or may not break out the "Domi-Shelf".

I like the wood and metal aesthetic also.  I just don't have the tools or skills to work metal.  My across-the-back-alley neighbor is an expert welder.  I've attempted to persuade him to collaborate on a piece.  I may have to resort to coercion. [smile].

Money usually works.

What is the line that parallels the edge of the legs? Is that just showing where the round over starts?

It does.  That or limiting accesss to the shop "beverages". [big grin]

Correct.  The line shows the roundover limit.

 

[Rutabagared]

I'm loving your work and am looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

This this going to be a desk for a PC?  Could it become a little "tippy", the leg seems to be towards the back of the desk and it looks like it may tip forwards if someone puts too much downwards force on the front edge.

Might the foot at the base of the leg need to be a bit longer?

Thanks for sharing.

Regards
bob

Thank you for the kind words.

It will house a laptop and two monitors.  Funny you mentioned both items.  I share the same concerns.  There are about 10 iterations of the upright layout.  But I settled on this one purely for aesthetic reasons.  I feel the weight of the desk will prevent tippiness unless it is stood on or some other extraordinary force is applied.  But if not, I'll make changes by redoing the feet and top cleats.

 

[Rutabagared]

I'm loving your work and am looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

This this going to be a desk for a PC?  Could it become a little "tippy", the leg seems to be towards the back of the desk and it looks like it may tip forwards if someone puts too much downwards force on the front edge.

Might the foot at the base of the leg need to be a bit longer?

Thanks for sharing.

Regards
bob

Thank you for the kind words.

It will house a laptop and two monitors.  Funny you mentioned both items.  I share the same concerns.  There are about 10 iterations of the upright layout.  But I settled on this one purely for aesthetic reasons.  I feel the weight of the desk will prevent tippiness unless it is stood on or some other extraordinary force is applied.  But if not, I'll make changes by redoing the feet and top cleats.

There's also room to scooch the top back a few inches.

 

[bobtskutter]

I've never used Fusion360, but i think it's supposed to be a sort of all in one design package.  If you tell it the density of the material can it work out a center of gravity?  You might be able to "calculate" how stable the design would be.

Regards
Bob

 

[Michael Kellough]

I like the design as is but if you want to reduce the front weight and make it a little fancier (and more challenging) you could taper the thickness of the top from full thickness at back to 1/2” at the front edge.

 

[Rutabagared]

I've never used Fusion360, but i think it's supposed to be a sort of all in one design package.  If you tell it the density of the material can it work out a center of gravity?  You might be able to "calculate" how stable the design would be.

Regards
Bob

Thanks, Bob.  I'll investigate.

 

[Rutabagared]

I like the design as is but if you want to reduce the front weight and make it a little fancier (and more challenging) you could taper the thickness of the top from full thickness at back to 1/2” at the front edge.

Thanks, Michael.  I may model that and check.

 

[Rutabagared]

Saw this on Instagram.  I'm feeling a bit better about my design.  The uprights are biased rearward and significantly narrowwer than mine.  This does have the advantage of a drawer, shelf and motor on the back for added weight, however.

Thomas Moser Desk

 

[Rutabagared]

Sanding the top.  Gotta love the Rotex (I got mine in 2005 and put it through a lot).  The joints required a small amount of leveling.  I typically sand tops starting with 80 grit in Rotex mode, switching to RO with the same grit.  I then jump to 120 in Rotex mode. Switch to the ETS EC 150/3 (new to me and love it), progressing through 220.  In this case, I started at 60 grit in Rotex mode.  Both sides of the top took only ½ hour through 120.  By the way, I accidently left the MIDI suction power at 3 bars throughout the this session with no noticeable differnce from max setting in residual dust.  I’ll be running it at the lower level by default going forward.

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Through 120 grit.  I noticed a small bit of cupping across the width (the weather changed since machining the pieces and I had the overhead door up) so clamped the edges down.  Sometimes this works but most of the time it doesn’t depending on the weather and unseen forces in the universe.  The cupping is minimal and will likely be removed when screwing the top to the base.

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Gotta love the MFT TS combo.  Short work of 5 degree angles on the uprights.  There is a lot of talk over inconsistent crosscut results with the MFT, and I struggled with it at one time.  But I now get accurate and consistent results.  Review Sedge’s great videos and this topic for set-up.  Getting a large engineer’s square and focusing on conisent, “linear” force when cutting helped immensely.  You don’t have to spend a lot of jack on a large square.  I think mine was less than $60.  Check the web.

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Not a bad off-the-saw finish on the end grain.  Standard blade fitted to my circa 2005 TS.

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[Rutabagared]

Template Time.  My Shaper Origin set-up most of the time.  The MFT’s sacrificial top is ideal in this application.  It is beginning to tell a story of templates of yore.

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My process for templates (almost always 1/2” MDF) is 0.020” offset, 1/8” depth, followed by 3/8” depth then 0.535” depth. Then one final pass at 0.000” offset at the same depth.  I’ve used the same ¼” upcut spiral that came with my Origin for many cuts and it’s still going strong.  I do keep it clean though.  I always intend to be mindful when placing the double-sided tape so I can avoid routing into it, but always seem to anyway.  This makes a mess of the bit, necessitating cleaning with mineral spirits (my standard is a Simple Green soak).  BTW, the double-sided tape Shaper sells on their website is by far the best I've ever used.  Worthy of the cost.  Tears easily (no scissors required - if you've ever used another kind that doesn't tear, you know what a pain this is to cut with scissors) great holding ability, and removes easily.
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[Rutabagared]

Templates and their pieces.  Note that the templates (save for the upright) are routing templates.  I oversize them ¾” so I can lead in and exit out of the cuts without contacting the workpiece.  I settled on 3/4 “ to minimize waste and for ease of attaching standard 3/4” pieces of MDF on edge as stops.

[attachimg=1][attachimg=2]

 

[Rutabagared]

I like the design as is but if you want to reduce the front weight and make it a little fancier (and more challenging) you could taper the thickness of the top from full thickness at back to 1/2” at the front edge.

Michael,
Do you have a standard approach to reducing thickness this way?  Roll up the sleeves and bust out the handplanes and sanders?  Any tips are greatly appreciated.  Thanks.

 

[bobtskutter]

Just a thought...how about a router flattening jig with the work piece on an angle?

regards
Bob

 

[Michael Kellough]

Just a thought...how about a router flattening jig with the work piece on an angle?

regards
Bob

That’s a good idea but I think it should be done with a planer sled so a roughly equal amount of wood can be removed from both sides, to reduce the likelihood that the stock will distort.

Take some off the underside then rotate and flip the stock (back into the same planer sled jig) and take some off the top side.

But if the boards are already glued up… a power plane followed by hand planes and/or Rotex etc.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Very nice. I'm looking forward to the next installment of progress pics.