Introduction: Desk Wings
Are you working from home using a desk smaller than there is stuff? what to do? Make some Desk Wings of course!
It's also a tribute to the Supermarine Spitfire and the brave men who flew in them as well as Hugh Dowding and Keith Park who were instrumental in the Battle of Britian .
Step 1: Copying the Spitfire Wings
The Supermarine Spitfire elliptical wing is copied for the shape of Desk Wings.
Here's how:
- Find a picture of the Spitfires wings on the internet.
- Draw its outline on to some paper. I just draw an outline by holding the paper against my phones screen.
- Draw some grid lines on the copy and measure where the outline of the wing touches the grid lines.
Step 2: Drawing the Elliptical Shape
- Apply a multiplier to the measurements previously made and transfer to a large piece of corrugated cardboard. I multiple it by 10 as it kept the maths simple and made for a good size.
- Using these measurements, Draw an elliptical wing shape on the corrugated cardboard.
- Make the length about as far as can be reached from a sweep of your arms while sitting in your chair.
- Cut out the shape with scissors.
Step 3: Adding Strength to the Wings
Glue some more corrugated cardboard underneath the the wing using PVA glue. Have the corrugations crossing to give extra strength. Placing weights on top of the two layers can assist in getting a good bond between the two layers.
Step 4: Join Wings to Table Top
Join the table wings to a table top with a length of cloth tape / Duct tape. Add a length underneath and then with the wings hanging down, add a top side.
Step 5: Support Legs
- To keep the Desk Wings level, make support legs which are placed under the wings. These need to be about 3 inches in diameter, almost desk height and and light. A suitable building material was found to be empty beer cans joined together to make a tube.
- With a can opener, remove the tops of about 8 beer cans. Cut off the bottom if a can and insert the top of another. Continue doing this until you have a hollow tube 8 cans long.
- Gap filler was squirted into the tube in an attempt to give more stiffness. Not sure if this really helped and was a bit messy so made be skip it.
Step 6: Support Leg Ends
Cut the support legs to the required height, if required. End caps are made using cloth tape or anti slip matting. Extend a Desk Wing and place a support underneath.
Step 7: Using the Desk Wings
To use the table wings:
- Raise one of the Wings from its hanging down position.
- Place the support under the wing and lower it on top.
- Place heavier items directly over where the support is and light items at the end.