cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/52327536
TL;DR: I have a desk like the one pictured and I want to build a PC into the bottom left hand drawer and a power bar and fan set into the body. so that it’s my dream desk. What do I need to know before I do this?
So I have a very similar desk to the image provided (not my desk it’s currently covered in projects), it’s a mid century tanker desk with Formica top. I also have a modestly good PC that I use for gaming. Unfortunately my tower is pretty bulky and this desk definitely wasn’t built with the idea of that in mind.
I’m considering modifying the desk so that I can fit the internals of the PC into the bottom drawer on the left side. currently, everything will be able to fit and if I place the board at the middle I will be able to upgrade the graphics card (whenever they become affordable) without issue as that would be the biggest concern space wise.
The two biggest issues I foresee are cooling and cable. For cables, I’m thinking I’ll get extenders for the video, internet, USB’s, and run them through the body of the desk. one side will feed into the drawer to connect to the PC with a little slack to allow the drawer to slide, the other will be part of a tasteful 3d printed hub on the desk, either under the lip of the back or on the table top. That way I’d be able to plug in flash drives or the monitors without trouble.
Cooling is a trickier matter. The entire desk is enclosed but not air tight by any measure. I figure, I can drill out a vent pattern in the bottom front and top back of the left tower to allow a sort of chimney effect, the hot air coming out the back of the desk will draw fresh air in to the bottom. From there, I do a similar bottom front, top back array for fans on the drawer itself, so that it draws cool air into the enclosed space near the desk intake hole, and blows hot air up the back wall of the desk. I could then even wire fans into the desk itself to further move the air if it’s not staying cool enough as I already plan to be in there running wires and maybe installing a power supply so that I always have a free outlet to test things with.
All that said, This is a bit more involved than the case mods I’ve previously done on PCs, and while I am confidant that I can do all this without damaging anything, I would like some input from others before I jump on it. Is there anything I should consider? anything I’m overlooking? I have a deep love for these desks and I’ve always wanted to integrate a computer into my desk instead of just sitting it near by. Now I kind of have the resourced and tools I need for both. I just want to make sure I do it right.
There are loads of videos on YouTube. A bunch of YouTubers had a phase of competing to make their own style of desk PC.
This sounds closest to what you’re asking for. He’s done an upgrade video as well more recently.
Cooling will be difficult, but you could use the bottom side and drill many holes in it. As many as possible. As large as you dare to. Try to sand all the edges a bit, so the air flow becomes a bit quieter.
Another big thing is vibrations. All rotating things create vibrations, and the desk itself is going to intensify them so much more than a typical computer case. You could use rubber or foam pieces to catch them.
Space in general is less than you think… :)
I’ve done the measures on mine and I’m confident that I have the space needed.
For the vents I’ve actually switched to 45° baffet vents instead of holes, they’ll be more on theme for the build and allow a lot more air with less cutting.
Vibration is a great point that I didn’t consider, I have some cork sheets that I can cut to match the fan frame and that should do wonders. I may even add some acoustic foam to the other side just to quite down the metals.
Don’t you dare start chopping up that beautiful vintage Steelcase tanker desk.
Gods no, this is literally my deal desk and my grand kids will be inheriting it!
I’m hoping to make tasteful passthroughs that will both blend seamlessly into the construction and the style of the era without damaging the overall quality and aesthetic.
I’m even painting mine in a period accurate burn orange and repolisjing the formica. The beige is classic, but it needs some rust work and if I’m doing that I may as well get it perfect.
Whatever cooling holes you make, consider ducting them into your PC case so that the components are sipping on ambient air and efficiently exhausting the heat. If your components are going to be built directly into the desk with no case then make sure they’re not making contact with any conductive surfaces and consider larger diameter fans so you can move enough air without making a ton of noise.
How large of a diameter are we taking? I have two 4in fans I was planing on making part of the desk and then the two 3in that are part of the tower that I plan to connect to the drawer.
I do have everything set up to properly insulate the components and someone else pointed out that mounting the PSU directly to the drawer will also ground it. So I got that going for me.
Given the extra amount of volume in your PC’s enclosure, I would love to see a couple 200mm fans for intake and exhaust. Just in general, a smaller number of larger fans will move more air at lower RPMs, so that’s just what would make sense to me if I was building my own ad hoc PC case with larger than usual dimensions.
My brother in law did something similar a few years back.
He combined two of the drawers into one, leaving it looking the same from the outside. This gave him plenty of space. Cooling and airflow were the biggest issue. Panels were removed from the back of the drawers and replaced with an aluminium vent, cut down to size and reinforced with some strap brace.
Combining the space means he can get his hands in there to replace/upgrade parts as needed
Used a noctua DH15 for cooling the CPU and two fans to draw in and expel air.
I figure my rig will have plenty of overhead in just the single drawer and with the extender cables and built in wiring I should be able to just pull the whole drawer out if I need to do any serious hardware work. I do like the idea of premade vents, that would probably be easier to make than drilling the holes myself by hand.
Looks like the cooling setup isn’t far off from my plan at all though, so that’s giving me hope.
Don’t forget to install risers.
Where are you going to mount the power and reset buttons and front panel lights?
If you’re using wifi built into the motherboard, your connection is going to suffer. Consider a hard line or external USB dongle.
It will be very difficult to make a “tasteful” number of holes that also give adequate cooling.
Put hole under lower drawer for in flow and run a fan at a higher location, possibly under the top of the desk, for out flow.
Be prepared to add a secondary fans under the drawer or the desk to increase airflow if necessary.
Another guy suggested putting the power and reset on the external dock I’m going to put on the desk, that shouldnt be difficult at all as I’m currently already using a custom one and extending the cables will be a breeze.
I actually use strictly hardline on this machine, I have a long history of shitty internet and houses that muck with wifi so I’m never going to bother putting a wifi card in this guy.
I’ve had some experience there, and you’re right. Over the course of this post I’ve settled on doing vents like this instead of holes. I did sheet metal fab at one point and got pretty good at straightening these angled slats out so it should be quick work to cut bend and rotate them. These were common on economy value fixtures during the era plus it will flow seamlessly into the body and that’s gonna look very professional.
Cool. Sounds like you’ve got most of the hard stuff figured out. I like the vent idea.
While you’re at it, it would be really convenient if you could pull the whole drawer out and get access to the PC parts. Maybe wire in a harness so you can quickly dis/connect everything?
I can’t do desks which trap the knees.
I’m not all that tall, so there’s plenty of space for me.
Spouse is disabled we don’t fit under each other’s comfortably but that’s a different matter entirely.
I know it’s not what you’re hoping to do, but try mounting your motherboard and components on a decent piece of wood and hang it on the wall. No worries about trying to vent and cool a drawer, or cutting into a nice old Steelcase desk. I did this years ago, screwed everything onto plywood and hung it on the workshop wall. Looks kinda cool. Works just fine, can dust it off with the air compressor when needed. If you do mod the desk, good luck and hope it works well. I understand having an idea and really wanting to make it happen.
I actually considered doing exactly that prior to finding my perfect desk! I opted against it because I want to hang my laser etcher on the wall in a magnet backed box so I can magnet the things im working on into place. The drawer in question literally just has junk in it, like rocks and stuff, so I’m not losing anything by putting a computer in it.
Did something similar, and in my experience the vent probably won’t be enough. If I did it again, I think I’d do a watercooling solution, instead. I haven’t actually done watercooling myself yet, so verify first, but I see no reason you couldn’t route the tubes through the back and release the heat externally. The cooling could be attached to the back of the drawer, so that it all stays together. That’d also reduce the size of the holes since you’re trying to preserve the look of the desk more.
Shit, that would be really cool. I’ll have to somewhat I need to do a Watercooling setup.
I used to build industrial scale agricultural sprayers for a living and we had this setup for hot swapping sprayer assemblies, it’d be so cool to build that into the drawer so that pulling the drawer out disconnects the water circulation for easy cleaning.
Perfect for a custom build, yeah. Share updates when you do it!
Will do!
