Filing cabinets to computer desk...

[dbhost]

I have a pair of probably 10 year or so old Bush 2 drawer, letter sized Oak filing cabinets that are sucking up space in my office, and with my other projects going on, space sucking is NOT on my agenda... I have been looking at L shaped computer desk designs for a couple of weeks now and to be blunt, I don't like most of them...

It is probably brain damage, but something inside my skull the other day when thinking about this whole thing said... Gee those filing cabinets look to be about the right size for the base of a desk...

You can guess where my mind has been going since then...

It would be a pretty simple build. Design a top. Most likely a cabinet grade plywood top, trimmed with oak with a recess to allow for a leather writing work surface. (I have access to tanned buckskins, I hunt as do some of my friends, and we hate waste...).

Anyway I digress. What I am wondering is, am I just totally stupid for thinking I can recycle these as the base for a decent desk? I would have to convert one of them to a single large slide out drawer for the CPU, but then again, I work through a KVM, and will handle computer storage on a LAN rack. What I really need desk space for is, well... desk stuff. In the work I am gong to do that would be...

#1. VCR / DVD (recording VHS tapes to the PC, got that eating tapes issue licked. Wet cleaner tape cleaner worked like a charm!
#2. Human I/O devices. Keyboard, mouse, and monitor. I was planning on running extensions to the KVM and housing that in the LAN rack too, so no big deal on CPU location anyway...
#3. Audio input / mixer. My old M-audio doesn't have drivers for Windows 7, or Linux, so out the door it goes. I know they are cheap, but I got a Behringer 4 input, 12 channel usb mixer. I can cable up 4 xlr cables, and 8 1/4" mono cables (guitar, bass etc...) Not to mention midi in / out.
#4. Mic boom / mic.
#6. Books, writing supplies, and misc office stuff.

Likewise The pedestals would be fantastic as, well file storage. And keeping that closer to my work area would help my efficiency...

So is this a good idea, or did my brain just slip on a banana peel?

[JSUPreston]

I have a pair of probably 10 year or so old Bush 2 drawer, letter sized Oak filing cabinets that are sucking up space in my office, and with my other projects going on, space sucking is NOT on my agenda... I have been looking at L shaped computer desk designs for a couple of weeks now and to be blunt, I don't like most of them...

It is probably brain damage, but something inside my skull the other day when thinking about this whole thing said... Gee those filing cabinets look to be about the right size for the base of a desk...

You can guess where my mind has been going since then...

It would be a pretty simple build. Design a top. Most likely a cabinet grade plywood top, trimmed with oak with a recess to allow for a leather writing work surface. (I have access to tanned buckskins, I hunt as do some of my friends, and we hate waste...).

Anyway I digress. What I am wondering is, am I just totally stupid for thinking I can recycle these as the base for a decent desk? I would have to convert one of them to a single large slide out drawer for the CPU, but then again, I work through a KVM, and will handle computer storage on a LAN rack. What I really need desk space for is, well... desk stuff. In the work I am gong to do that would be...

#1. VCR / DVD (recording VHS tapes to the PC, got that eating tapes issue licked. Wet cleaner tape cleaner worked like a charm!
#2. Human I/O devices. Keyboard, mouse, and monitor. I was planning on running extensions to the KVM and housing that in the LAN rack too, so no big deal on CPU location anyway...
#3. Audio input / mixer. My old M-audio doesn't have drivers for Windows 7, or Linux, so out the door it goes. I know they are cheap, but I got a Behringer 4 input, 12 channel usb mixer. I can cable up 4 xlr cables, and 8 1/4" mono cables (guitar, bass etc...) Not to mention midi in / out.
#4. Mic boom / mic.
#6. Books, writing supplies, and misc office stuff.

Likewise The pedestals would be fantastic as, well file storage. And keeping that closer to my work area would help my efficiency...

So is this a good idea, or did my brain just slip on a banana peel?

I seriously considered doing this when I reorganized my study a year or so ago. Solid core doors work well as desktop space, but I made a mistake thinking that 36" would make a nice top. It's too dang deep. I should have gone with 30".

My "desk frame" is 1/2 steel pipe and fittings. Since I already have a 2 drawer lateral, I didn't need paper storage. Instead, I have plastic containers with lids and cables, cards, drives, etc., somewhat organized into separate containers and stacked. The steel pipe and double sided velcro gives me some cable management.

My setup isn't quite as elaborate as yours. I have my main rig for a little video editing and some gaming. I have an old P4 based system that I keep since it has onboard IDE and SATA. I also have an HP xw9400 I just got off eBay a couple of months ago running ESXi 5.1. Two VMs so far, Server 2012 Essentials (handles the backups for all the Wintel machines), and an XP VM for when I need to run some old software.

[LCHIEN]

I used a pair of 2-drawer file cabinets and a hollow core door for my first desk/worktable.
Can't recall if i had to shim the top up a little with some wood to make it the right height but that's easy.

Sounds like you need a riser for some of your stuff to keep the desk area clear of single-layer stuff (a riser makes better vertical space use.)

[cabinetman]

Two drawer file cabinets can have a range of 28"+ to 30"+. Adding a hollow core interior door (1 3/8") or an exterior solid core door (1 3/4"), could either be a comfortable height, or on the high side. Desk heights are usually about 29" to 30".

.

[leehljp]

This is what I used as a desk in Japan for my full 26 years there. I liked it quite well. I made an oak top about 10 years ago but like JSU above made it too deep (36") and wished I had made it smaller. It was quite heavy and I never got around to cutting it back down to 30 inches.

To me, 36 inches is good for a desk in an office in the middle of a room where one walks all the way around; but it is a little too deep against a wall, unless one intentionally adds shelves above it.

[dbhost]

If I shim the top with 3/8" ply to get it all level, and add a 1.5" top, that would put the writing surface at 30.5", which is exactly where my current desktop is, and I love it...

I am not thinking anything quite so deep though. 24" max. My current desktop is 20" deep and has been pretty usable for my purposes.

Yes my setup is elaborate, I know. Occupational hazard. I have some side stuff I do, and I keep an environment as close as I can mimic to my work environment, at home such that I keep in practice with the systems we use, again as best possible. I am not paying the money for quad processor 8 core PowerEdge R910s anytime soon you know!

I also need to make a "relay rack", to mount up in the LAN rack. Which I have on the way. I opted for a wire bakers rack for cost, simplicity, and flexibility. Not to mention they are super easy to resell if I need to later on... The uprights for the rack and attaching it to the LAN rack shouldn't be a huge problem, I just need to make sure I space the holes for the tee nuts just right so I get my screw spacing right. I am thinking about hanging this all off of, the basket thing that hangs below the shelf. I should be able to ram 6u in there with no trouble at all. That would give me more than enough space for the patch panel, switch, KVM, modem, router, and UPS.

A riser, or hutch of sorts is in the design phase as well. The VCR etc... need to be stored up high, but close enough I can access it easily.

Now for the fun part. striping down the original finish, and taking the original drawer boxes apart, and at the very least adding dowels to the joints to stiffen it up a hair. Possibly dismantle them and reassemble using actual glue...

Once I do that, I can refinish / finish them in something that LOML would like. With the paint colors we are going with, I am thinking about using Minwax Ebony stain on the whole thing. I want to get as dark as I can, and I do not want to use paint...

But then again, I am putting the horse before the wagon. I need to get some measurements of the filing cabinets, and get to sketchup and see if I can make things work the way I am thinking...

This might end up really good, or really bad...

Oh, for what it's worth, this desk will be against 2 walls, kind of arranged in a room corner, close to outlets. Doing it that way to allow for room to work with the bass and guitar when needed. This is a very small room it is all going into (10x10), and it all needs to fit.