- Sep 29, 2014
- 10
- 0
- 4,510
I recently made a custom desk that looks pretty neat but I am wanting to do more with it and place all of my PC components inside of the desk itself. The idea is to have a dvd drive facing my lap, all usb ports mounted in some form at the rear top of the desk and my optical sound bar mounted somewhere in the desk.
The basic idea is to keep all wires hidden inside the desk as much as possible and only having a single cord that goes into the desk to provide power (power strip/surge protector). It is made of 100% wood save for the screws, bolts and the few brackets I've used to piece it together. The entire frame of the desk was made of 2x4. The "siding" is all 3/4'' plywood along with a few 1x2 and 1/4'' plywood for decoration. I am completely comfortable making any changes to the desk that may be needed.
Not being an electrical engineer and not being all that comfortable about knowing how doing this will effect components, temps or the electrical side of not using standard computer case materials, I have a few questions I hope someone can help me with.
Desk base/box (this is what supports the weight of the tabletop ~23,1 cu/ft)
Tabletop
The basic idea is to keep all wires hidden inside the desk as much as possible and only having a single cord that goes into the desk to provide power (power strip/surge protector). It is made of 100% wood save for the screws, bolts and the few brackets I've used to piece it together. The entire frame of the desk was made of 2x4. The "siding" is all 3/4'' plywood along with a few 1x2 and 1/4'' plywood for decoration. I am completely comfortable making any changes to the desk that may be needed.
Not being an electrical engineer and not being all that comfortable about knowing how doing this will effect components, temps or the electrical side of not using standard computer case materials, I have a few questions I hope someone can help me with.
■ Will mounting the any of the electrical components to wood increase the risk of electrical hazards (other than the obvious fact that wood is extremely flammable, especially with my several coats of Polyurethane and stain)?
■As far as grounding, static, and power usage goes will I have to take anything special into consideration?
■Since I plan on mounting the motherboard in a fairly inaccessible place I imagine that I would either need to find some way of extending onboard usb ports via extension cables. Currently the only USB devices that I use are keyboard, mouse, webcam and headphones. Are there any drawbacks or negative side effects to using usb extension cables?
■I have the dimensions of the desk below. I will be using water cooling for the CPU and I am unsure about how many fans I will be needing to use. But my main concern is with this desk being sealed (aside from a small access panel/door and other semi-loose slats of 1/4 plywood to cover random gaps) is heat generation inside the desk area. Keeping sound levels as low as possible in mind....would it even be viable to use several 250mm fans to bring air in and out of the desk? Or would I need to go with....real size "house" fans?
Desk base/box (this is what supports the weight of the tabletop ~23,1 cu/ft)
■1.5 feet wide
■7 foot long
■26.5 inches tall
Tabletop
■28 inches tabetop space
■4 1/4 height
■7 foot long
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