Making Your Own Computer Table

These last two weeks I was busy designing and constructing a computer table out of an old antique office desk made from 3/4 inch thick hardwood (Narra) board. It was from my father and used it in his factory office back in the 70′s. If you are planning to make your own computer table, to be successful I suggest you have some basic knowledge in carpentry. Designing a computer table is not very hard specially if you already know how to use a CAD software like AutoCAD. The hardest part is to materialize what you have already drawn. Designing from scratch can be done, I mean without reference to other table design. But the problem is if you didn’t consider the structure’s rigidity, you might end up of crashing everything on the floor together with your precious computer in bits and pieces.

My tip is search the internet for computer table pictures and from there you will have an idea how to make your design pretty and sturdy.

Make a Concept:

After having the picture, first draw a 3 views orthographic drawings. The front view, top view and side view of your computer table. You should have an exact measurement already of all the parts of the table just like you see on the picture below.

Then draw and detail each part of the table with the dimensions and hole location (See drawing below). It’s your choice if you want nails and glue to fasten each part but I suggest use wood screws instead on your design.

You can also create a 3D model to see if your 2D orthographic drawing is what you really want. You can see my sample below when I first made a 3D model before I finalized the dimensions on all the parts.

Before and after:

They say a picture is worth more than a thousand words. Just look at the picture below to see the difference. On my initial concept, there was a keyboard slider under the table but I decided to retain the drawer in the middle. Waste not, want not.

Before

After