Introduction
I recently read about the GeekDesk in the New York Times.This is a desk that has a motorized base that can be raised all the way to a standing position. This is a much healthier way to spend your day rather than sitting hunched over a monitor all day. Especially for someone like me whose default sitting posture is horrendous.
On the GeekDesk site, almost hidden at the bottom of the product page, I saw the deal-closing statement for me, "We also sell this just as a frame."
I ordered one immediately, because I have been wanting to design my desk for a while now. The challenge has been what kind of base I wanted, and this was exactly it.
Wood Selection
I made my desktop out of a single sheet of cabinet-quality 3/4" birch plywood. I went to Lowe's first, but the quality of their plywood was so poor that I couldn't bring myself to buy it. The plywood was warped and marked up, and it looked like they just kept leaving damaged plywood in the pile. I ended up going to a local company, Page Building Supply, for the plywood.
Birch plywood normally has one better side. Do all your marking on the inferior side. Be very careful with the surface. The slightest bump or nick will damage the veneer on the plywood. Because the wood is so light, any oil or dirt will show up in the final product.
Desk Design and Marking
I had a rough idea of what I wanted. Basically an arch-shaped desk with rounded corners. I created the shape I wanted in Illustrator, printed it out, and roughed it out on the plywood. To test the shape, I assembled the GeekDesk base, then laid it upside down on the plywood. I had to make some adjustments to make sure it would fit properly on the base.
To mark the curves, I used a long strip of 3/4" X 1/4" oak as a batten. I clamped it down on one end, then bent it into the curve and marked it. I measured the distance from the edge of the plywood so I could get an identical curve on the other side.
For the inner curve, I clamped a piece of wood to hold the batten in place, then used two clamps on the edge of the plywood as shown in the photo.
For the rounded corners, I used the nearest round object with a big enough radius, which happened to be a frisbee.
Cutting the desk
After drawing the desk shape and double checking that it would fit on the base again (measure twice cut once!), I cut about an inch outside of the lines with a jigsaw. This makes it easier for the final cut, so you're not dealing with big pieces falling off the desktop.
After the rough cut, I put a brand new blade on the jigsaw. I used a high quality extra fine blade that had upward-facing teeth, to avoid tearout on the good side of the desk.
Prepping the edge
If you get good quality plywood, it will have few voids in the plies, so you can actually get a nice edge just by rounding it over. I sanded the jigsaw cuts to smooth out bumps and imperfections. Then I put a 3/8" radius round over bit on my router table and routed both sides of the desktop. There were a couple of small voids, so I filled those with wood filler.
Cable Holes
Using a hole saw I drilled three different size test holes in a scrap piece of plywood so I could determine the optimum size for typical cables. The biggest item that has to go through the desk is my monitor attachment, so I put that and a few plugs through to test. 1.75" is the best size for this.
In the photo, notice that one of the holes is badly torn out. To prevent this, drill about halfway through the plywood, so that the guide bit pokes through the other side. Then flip the desktop over and complete the hole.
To figure out where to put the holes, I took the desktop up to my office and laid out my workspace on the piece of plywood. My assumption is that my gadgets will change over time, but I wanted to ensure that I would have the holes in roughly the right spot for a monitor, laptop, speakers, and the various geeky gadgets of the day. I sketched out spots for the holes, then measured them properly so that they would be symmetrical on the final desktop.
Finishing
After drilling the holes, I sanded the whole top with 220 grit sandpaper and an orbital sander. If you do this, it only needs a light sanding on the top. It's very easy to go right through the veneer with a power sander. I applied two coats of polyurethane to the underside of the desk. After it dried, I attached the base to the desk following the base instructions. That way I could use the desk itself as a base for the final top varnishing.
I applied three coats of varnish to the top, sanding lightly in between. Since I applied varnish to the edges each time I did the bottom or top, I ended up with five coats to protect the edges. You need all this varnish, since the plywood end grain and veneer is especially susceptible to damage, where it is also most likely to get dings.
Here's the final product. Now it's back to coding my iPhone game!
