Hi Bill, If you are wanting to be able to knock the desk down then I suggest a modular type of construction. Probably a box at the end of each leg of your 'L' to contain drawers or other shelves or partitions. You might like to consider a pair of single pedistal desks with the pedistals on opposite sides, one having the knee space much elongated to fit into the corner, the other shorter in length with a connection method to the larger desk.
The desk I am working at here at work is this sort of arrangement except that the smaller desk is what used to be known as a typewriter return. I adapted it by purchasing a keyboard tray drawer which is nothing more than a box with the bottom on glides for the keyboard, the computer sits on top of that and the monitor on top of that again. This puts the keyboard at a good height as it would have been for an electric typewriter back when that occupied this space. If you use a tower style CPU you might want a rolling shelf to allow you to withdraw the tower so you can get to the connections at the rear. Similarly, a frontless drawer or one with a hinged drop front might serve to get the desktop style under the desk surface and out of the way. Be sure to allow for ventilation though. One arrangement I have found useful in the past is to have a power strip (or two) suspended at one edge of the knee space so, when you need to you can easily unplug a peripheral but also, it seems to me I was always wanting to plug in maybe my phone charger or a talking book player or any number of devices not dedicated to that location and nothing frustrates me much more than crawling about looking for an inconvenient power outlet. I wouldn't worry too much about storing software at your working desk. Usually you instal it and that is it. Find some other secure storage location so as not to use up valuable and limited desk real estate. If you use the printer much you might like to keep paper, envelopes and inc cartridges handy though. I too am contemplating a desk and considering a solution for convenient access to printer and scanner while not dominating desk surface. Trouble is size, I am considering a drawer arrangement too, maybe drop front style for the printer which will have to be fairly wide but the scanner is another issue. My problem though is that I want to design it into a roll-top desk for the corner of the kitchen/dining room with room for laptop and a brailler so when the top is down it all goes away.I thought of a fold out shelf with the scanner fixed to the inside so it stores on it's edge but when folded out is upright with plenty of room for the lid however that won't be convenient for reaching to flip pages and so on. Cables are a royal pain but one method that can work well is a piece of 2 inch plastic pipe with a split cut in it. Actually if you open a crack quarter of an inch wide along the length you can stuff any number of cables into it and extract what you want where you need it. There are now plastic spring like things too, something like those plastic combs used for binding books where the fingers can be slipped back and a connecter brought out for use. I have never got quite that organized, I do use a certain amount of Velcro around here though and sometimes a bit makes it's way home. I lay a strip along a wall or shelf then put small self adhesive strips at intervals around cables which I can then just press into place and they usually stay there.Still a little messy but it does simplify rearranging things when that is necessary. You have all the tools you really need, I like dove tail drawers and if you want you can make sliding dove tails at least for holding the fronts of drawers to the side walls without buying a dove tail jig with what you have. Carcass boxes for drawers and shelves aren't difficult and can be very strong with the advantage that when you move you pick up the box and everything in it, drawers and their contents comes with you. Once you know what you want, then is the time for construction detail. I try to avoid attached hardware drawer pulls and door pulls these days but when I do I usually set up a little jig of hardboard or thin plywood to align the holes. I can test the fit and know the screws will hit the holes in the hardware that way and with a square or rectangle of wood, locating them where I want them is much more easily measured. Hope this gives you a few ideas. It is a slow day at work today but I am expecting something in a couple of minutes so will close now. I can't sent from here but this will go when I get home. Dale Leavens, Cochrane Ontario Canada [EMAIL PROTECTED] Skype DaleLeavens Come and meet Aurora, Nakita and Nanook at our polar bear habitat. ----- Original Message ----- From: Bill Gallik To: Blind Handy Man Sent: Wednesday, January 23, 2008 9:51 AM Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Brainstorming Design for Computer Desk Hi all you handy men (and gals), I'm posting here because I'm planning on building a computer desk and would appreciate any design features that you might think would be neat, clever, necessary and/or maximally functional. For example, I'd like this desk to have the following features: - "L" shaped to fit snugly in a corner of my basement - convenient to assemble/disassemble (just in case I move) - slide-out keyboard tray at the angle of the "L" - drawers to store paper, software, storage media, folders, file folders, etc. - "peripheral shelves" for printer, scanner, modem, router (would especially appreciate suggestions on this) Anyway, I suspect you get the idea. This would be a first time wood working project so I'd likewise appreciate advice on techniques for constructing drawers, shelves, centering drawer handles and anything you might think would be helpful for a totally blind maybe-not-so-handy guy to think about then taking on such a project. And here's a list of the tools I have at my disposal: - router with table and various bits - small portable ½" chuck drill press - bench top table saw - electric miter saw - small electric belt sander - the dowel joining tool discussed on this list last summer I have a fairly large heated garage where I'd build this desk and although I have used the above tools for various maintenance and repair I've never taken on building a piece of furniture before. I'm doing this because I'm somewhat bored and need a computer desk so I figured I'd kill two birds with one stone so to speak. I'd appreciate any suggestions no matter how technical or not so technical. Thanks! ---------------- Bill Gallik E-Mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] - "Nothing is more admirable than the fortitude with which millionaires tolerate the disadvantages of their wealth." - Rex Stout [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
