DIY mixing desk furniture?

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roger.unc

Active member
Joined
Mar 5, 2015
Messages
36
Location
Takoma Park, MD
Hi - has anyone cobbled together a DIY mixing desk out of off the shelf components (e.g., IKEA)?  I would love to recreate something like this commercial desk since it has 12U under both sides and a big sliding tray (but $2500 USD for the real deal is out of the question right now): https://www.soundconstructionsupply.com/product/scs-composer-keyboard-desks/.  I have two computer screens on top and a tower PC and two 12U racks underneath (though the 2x12U gear is currently in Odyssey racks). I'm not wedded to having an 88 key piano on the tray since I could see putting my mackie mix control and a typing keyboard on there instead.

I'm curious if anyone has any elegant DIY solutions besides buying the real thing or $2000 worth of carpentry tools and $2000 worth of wood.  ;) Thanks.  --Roger
 
I have ordered a rack plan from here in the past....Pretty good......
http://www.thefrankes.com/wp/?page_id=3381

This one is pretty cool...

http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/threads/my-newest-studio-desk-build.710750/

//// thread above links to here too....nice

https://www.studiotisch.com/?ID=2

and there are quite a few threads of other builds across various forums..... and pinterest even has some nice ideas........

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/472807660855743338/


I found that figuring out how to finish was the most difficult/time consuming part for me......  definitely try to have everything sorted out before building......

////nicer material makes finishing easier.......culled stuff is cheap but makes for more work unless you get lucky.... :-\
 
I built my own racks and mixing desk for my modded Soundcraft Ghost. I'll be building a sidecar ITB mixing desk pretty soon out of some black oak I've been sitting on.
There's some pics here:

https://www.omniaarts.com/studio

I am currently working on using a raspberry pi to show spectrum and volume metering via two 7 x 5 inch screens which will be fitted into the desk on each side of the Ghost's meter.
 
I made a desk out of 8020 aluminum from 8020.net. Cost about $600 in parts. You have to assemble it yourself, obviously. It works great and it's customizable. I basically just used the rough dimensions of the Sterling Modular Plan A and went from there.

nrkRYI4.jpg
 
discord said:
I made a desk out of 8020 aluminum from 8020.net. Cost about $600 in parts. You have to assemble it yourself, obviously. It works great and it's customizable. I basically just used the rough dimensions of the Sterling Modular Plan A and went from there.

nrkRYI4.jpg

This looks nice.  Do you have any more pics of different views to see how it all fits together?
 
I love T-slot framing. I had my console frame built before I knew about it. I would use 80/20 if I had to do it over again.

There are a vast number of options for connecting plates and brackets. I’ve settled on two  hole L brackets for almost all joining duties. I’d suggest using button head hex screws.

Here is my test bench setup built with 1” 10 series parts.
 

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Which series would be the most long term useful and bang for the buck, the 1"?

On the website I only saw a few different angle choices,  can things be made and fastened together at arbitrary angles?
 
john12ax7 said:
Which series would be the most long term useful and bang for the buck, the 1"?

It depends on how large and how much weight it has to support. The 1" is much less expensive than the 1.5"

On the website I only saw a few different angle choices,  can things be made and fastened together at arbitrary angles?

There are pivot point connectors that allow any angle. There is also design software. They will do custom machining for a reasonable price too.
 
They also have a number of fixed angle brackets. They can probably make any angle bracket you want. The advantage to the pivot connector is that it will take a butt cut of the framing on each side. With angle brackets the framing needs to be cut at that angle.

Personally I only use butt cuts. If you are comfortable with mechanical engineering you might have the confidence to know it's all going to work. I always seem to be somewhat winging it. I like to be able to have some options in case I missed something when I was planning it out.
 
Here is an equipment rack I made out of the 10 series.
 

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Some nice furniture builds there :)

I like to use low cost materials to make studio furn ..  I have some metal rails which I can cut to the required lengths, and the rest is pure wood work, some metal work  and so on.

Modular approches ..  I like to 're-purpose' old timber furniture, to the studio role  and fit with some custom wood/metal racks.

My fav is the 'wrap around'  thing  with nice wooden surrounds  and  well fitted key audio pieces.

Studio furniture is an art  ...  way down here, old timber furniture pieces go begging for people to buy them.  Fine woods from way  back ...  perfect for making beautiful wooden bespoke studio furniture.

I like a digital audio desk  on an antique (repro prolly)  dickens desk  :)
 
ruffrecords said:
Is T-slots or its equivalent available in the UK/EU???

T-Slot framing is a German invention. On the 80/20 available here the hardware is available in Imperial or Metric. The slot in the frame here is metric.  I discovered that the hard way when I bought 3/8" panels I wanted to slip into the slots. The slots were 8mm not 3/8".

What you linked to looks like the stuff.
 
Gold said:
T-Slot framing is a German invention. On the 80/20 available here the hardware is available in Imperial or Metric. The slot in the frame here is metric.  I discovered that the hard way when I bought 3/8" panels I wanted to slip into the slots. The slots were 8mm not 3/8".

What you linked to looks like the stuff.

I have done some more searching. There seems to be as least half a dozen different companies offering something very similar in the UK alone. Hard to know which one to choose.

Cheers

Ian
 

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