Aluminium Computer Desk for $30

A slick computer desk made for compact living made of recycled material. I got some offset boards from the local newspaper printer. Total cost under $30

Step 1 Material

The material I used was:

1 Wooden board in the same dimension I wanted my desk in.

2 Offset boards. Usually 93 x 56 cm. These you can get for free. Just call the printer of newspapers in your town and ask for Offset boards they can't use because of misprint.

2 Brackets to fasten the desk to the wall. I didnt have any good material to make mine of so I bought mine at ikea. Therefore the cost of $24.

1 Pair of scissors, Old ones that you can dedicate to cutting metal.

1 Box of glue to fasten the aluminium boards to the wood. $5, It has to be a bit elastic because wood is a living material that expandes and shrinks with temperature and moisture in the air.

1 Saw to cut the wood

Some screws to fasten it to the wall and the desk to the consoles.

A ruler and a pencil.

Comments

[SantaB]

I'm at this part... I am doing it with a big, heavy, solid wood door. I am having issues getting the nice rolled look you have going on here for the edges. Any advice?

[stolzerpa]

I'm going to find a local newpaper and ask them for any offset board or plate...
do we still have a local paper???

 

[boldinvest]

I like it. I'd flip the hinges so they aren't in the open like that.

[n0ukf]

What are you talking about? There was nothing at all about hinges in this Instructable (or in comments).

[snowpenguin]

I believe he/she means the wall brackets.

[curlyfry562]

I work on our schools offset printing presses only the offset boards, "plates" as we call them are not big enough. The largest size we have is 17x22 in. I need to think of a way to put them together than it would work.

[pdlbooboo]

dude just combine a few of them and even if they werent perfectly in line that would still look pretty cool

[mafiasam]

if you're looking to BUY some sheet metal try Online Metals. they also sell their sheets on amazon.

[Darkshot]

where in california can i get aluminum sheet metal? home depot? ikea? i would just rather buy some new stuff rather than buy it off somone that doesnt usually sell metal :/

[Darkshot]

cool!!! thanks ive been wondering how to repace the top of my homemade computer desk for a while and this is the perfect solution! since im a inventor and luv to make beetlebots! ive burned, scratched, put holes in my desk, and even yes...put a huge gouge in it by accident thats right accident! (maybe :] ) and enway this is perfect cuz it would be hard to scratch and not look nice plus ez clean up :] THANKS MAN!!

[wperry1]

Verry Cool. I was wondering though if the print from the offset boards is visible in the finished product. It would make an interesting conversation piece if it contained some relevant news even.

[Crash2108]

It would be backwards news, though..

[shadow1100mfp]

that might be a good thing though, instead of seeing "car crash:3 dead" or something similar you'd see "carcrash: 3 not dead". sounds good to me =]

[sharkilepsy]

offset presses don't print in reverse

[phrakture]

Ok ok, I know everyone is all excited about this, but I need to ask. If we assume offset plates can't be gotten, does anyone know of a good place to actually buy the same quality of aluminum sheet? Is there an online retailer where i can just order a sheet or so?

[spinach_dip]

this works out great because i am the local paperboy, so i might be able to score a couple of these! how does the drawer slide out, it looks like its locked in place?? would it work well to cut out a hole in this and fold it over to run cables through?? how could you fold over a round area?? i don't want my cable getting sliced and diced.

[atomic16]

How did you locate a printer in your town?

[MattBurch1579]

I did the same thing to my computer work desk. I ran a grounding wire from it to my cold water pipe and, voila!! Grounded workstation! I have since been able to get rid of the anti static mat my wife always complained about and no longer have to wear a grounding bracelet.

[drummerbooker14]

Very cool, now i am thiinking about upgrading my desk to aluminum. alas wishful thinking

[meddler]

Offset litho plates, like the ones your talking about come in set sizes, i'm almost finished with the printing program my school offers. We don't run news paper but print anything smaller that that. My instructor gets mad cause i'm always taking home used plates they are just to damn usefull. Not only do they cut well, they fold well, i make gift boxes out of some, i also made a solar oven out of some of the bigger ones. Never thought of using them as a canvas for oil paint will have to try that.

[cpurser]

A side benefit may be that it will help dissipate some of that Macbook heat!

[sharkilepsy]

that's true, looks like a powerbook though (power connector is round) macbook has a rectangular power connector. : ]

[sharkilepsy]

yeah, i was thinking you could easily build a heat dissipation system into this, add some fans, and you could even mount some old heatinks to the underside of the table. the table would be a massive external heatsink. cool project

[Jack of Most Trades]

Nice project! One could use this method and the offset plates (the local term for them) to cover almost any tabletop/shelf that's either crying to go Aluminium or has too many scars and burn marks. It occured to me that you could use contact cement to fasten the plates to the wood. It's flexible, and holds tight, so tight in fact that you get ONE shot at lining up the pieces before it's stuck forever. Did you round-off the edges of the board? it's hard to tell from the pix, but looks like you might have done that.

[jeffroward]

Might i suggest you help the offset material "wrap" the edges by using a little trick known as "burnishing"? Burnishing involves using a block of something dense (a nice palm-sized scrap of hardwood, like cherry or oak) with no sharp or scratchy edges, and rubbing the hell out of the material. You start about an inch or so behind the edge and, running long point to long point, rub back and forth and go over the top corner, along the edges, and then over the bottom corner, pushing like mad. This will help the aluminum conform to the edges of the wood underneath. It will also help the glue adhere, and make your edges look pro. Of course, practice first to see what you're getting in to. Awesome project, also. Thanks.

[austin]

hmm whats this about the offset boards/ what are they?

[rubing]

The offset board or plate is a thin aluminium plate that you can cut with scissors and fold by hand- They are used for printing large amounts of cmyk prints, for example newspapers. One side is plain aluminium and on the other side it is a negative print for one of the cmyk colors. They can't be re-used by the printer so when they misprint and an notices it before it goes to print they have brand new aluminium plates that they can't use. Therefore, by my experience it is very easy to get a hold of them (from your local newspaper printer). They work very well as canvases for oil painting aswell.

[firedancer]

awesome...nice computer too