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Nomad Corner Desk

Nomad Corner Desk
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I built this thing with inspiration from other nomad furniture projects on here. There is NO hardware up in hurrrrr.

Materials:
1 sheet of plywood
3 pine boards 1"x12"x6'
Stain/Polyurethane

Tools:
jigsaw
circular saw
drill
orbital sander
wood rasp


Suggestions/Tips:
1) don't use 1"x12" boards. use 2"x8" or 2"x10" boards. it will be much more sturdy.
2) in choosing lumber, make sure that the ends of the boards are true and that there is no curve across the grain. if there is a curve, you won't be able to fit the legs into their slots in the desktop.
3) be very careful in cutting out the holes in the desktop. cut it small and remove additional wood with a rasp, as needed. you need a very tight fit in all the joints to avoid the need for brackets and screws.
4) the drill is for pilot holes for the jigsaw blade.
5) the rear leg is great for hiding wiring. an entire power strip fits behind that thing.
6) it's easy to make a compass for drawing out the arc in the desktop by hammering a little nail into a corner and tying a string and pen to the nail.
7) i would suggest shaping the wedges such that they exert force towards the inner points of the desk to tighten the joints the best.

Customization:
1) i'm going to add a keyboard drawer under the desktop and may suspend the computer tower from a wire/plywood harness under the desktop. as you can see from the photos, the computer tower looks awkward the way it is.
2) felt pads or screw in levelers may be necessary depending on your floors.
5 comments
Apr 18, 2012. 10:42 AMcpatterson10 says:
Are the shelves made from plywood? Do you cut them out from a large piece of plywood before making the desk surface or will I need two pieces of plywood?

And what did you use for the wedges?
May 19, 2011. 11:39 AMbucklipe says:
Could you rotate the images please. My brain has trouble interpreting them. I turned my monitor sideways to see them clearly.

Enough of that, I like the care and planning of the desk. I think I am looking at my next desk. Thanks for posting...
Mar 15, 2009. 8:27 AMMarksson says:
Hobbssamuelj, this is an awesome design! I've been needing something like this, and its perfect! I'm going to get on this as soon as I iron out a few things I don't understand. Really, one thing: How does the main desktop rest on the legs? I see there's photos of the underside where you captioned that it's resting on wedges, but, are the legs a bit wider above the desktop so that there's something to provide pressure to keep the wedges in place? I couldn't abide an unsturdy piece of furniture, and I really like this design. Please tell me more. Thanks! great 'ible!
Feb 2, 2009. 4:52 PMOroka says:
I really like your design. I have been wanting a corner desk but all the designs I have seen in stores are too small to fit 2 19" LCDs (or now my 24" LCD). Im pretty sure your dimensions would fit my monitor, but would easily scale up or down for personal preference. I would personally use a better looking wood for the desktop, and maybe run a router around the edges.... but that is the beauty of your design, very open and customizable. Another modification I would need would be a extra wide keyboard tray. My keyboards tend to be wider than most, not leaving much room for my mouse. I would mount my modem and router to the back of the rear leg, and maybe even my power bar, that way there are minimal cables on the floor. I use a large laptop as my desktop, I connect my mouse, keyboard, monitor to it, that way I can take my computer with me. What I might do would be to make hole in the desktop that I could put my laptop in, then put glass over the hole so I can still see the laptop (it is pretty cool looking... I like to see it). I just lift the glass out, disconnect the wires, and away I go! Feels like a summer project in the making ;)

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Author:hobbssamuelj