I am sure like many of you, my Home Studio has been and continues to be a work in progress. I am also sure like many of you, money is no object. HA! Being a husband and father of 3, I have a limited income for studio equipment so I build whatever studio related items I can such as my monitor stands, sound baffles and this workstation/desk. I have even designed a low cost “Patent Applied For” stainless steel stand for my ART Tube MP Studio Ò.

This workstation/desk unit provides for a base of 24 rack spaces and in my case, a $30 tabletop rack has added 12 more. The elevated video-monitor stand is high enough to allow for a mixer with a meter bridge underneath and the “Stealth Fighter Design” is actually ergonomic as it brings the equipment closer to the user. This design also allows for corner placement if space is at a premium.

The cost of the basic materials and assembly hardware will run close to $80 using Pine wood-products. I used an oak-faced sheet of plywood and oak 1 X 4’s for the leg support fascia thus my total materials cost moved into the $120 range. The keyboard tray added $60 and the rack-rail added another $20.

If you don’t need the video-monitor shelf stand and aren’t concerned much about paint or stain, you can knock this thing out in a matter of 3-4 hours and the cost can be reduced to a $25 sheet of plywood, $35 for 2X4’s, 1X4’s, and screen bead trim, and about $5 for screws and bolts. On the flip side, you can use this design as a starting point and with time and imagination, make this a work of art.

What is important in this entire process is measuring well and cutting well. As the design of this workstation/desk uses a lot of symmetry and 45-degree angles, the layout of this project is relatively easy to do. To make things even easier, Photo A shows you the trimmed and stained plywood pieces and Photos B, C, and D provide you with exact measurements. However, the Craftsman’s old but wise saying “measure twice cut once” will ultimately save you headaches and money as will the concept of taking your time to do it right “the first time”.

Materials List

One 4 ft X 8ft sheet of ¾ inch plywood @$25.88

Six 8 ft 2X4’s @ $2.38

Two 6 ft 1X4’s @ $2.25

(*)Three 8 ft ¼ inch X ¾ inch screen bead trim pieces for edging @$2.64

(#)Two 8 ft 3/8 inch X 1-5/8 inch mullion trim pieces for wrist-rest @ $4.64

Sixteen ¼ -20 X 3 ½ inch bolts @ $.30

Four ¼ -20 X 5 inch bolts @ $.18

Twenty ¼ -20 nuts @ $.08

Thirty-Six 2 inch (Phillips Head) drywall screws $4.50 a box

Small box of 1inch finish nails for trim $1.00 a box

2 small boxes of 1 ¼ inch finish nails for 1X4 fascia on front leg supports

At your discretion:

2-Rack-Rail Kits.

Twelve metal furniture glides to nail into bottom of leg support sections to promote ease of moving.

Stain, clear-coat sealer, sandpaper, stain wiping cloths or stain appropriate brushes

Tools

Primary power tools for this will be a good power saw with a new plywood blade (one that will cut leaving a fine finished edge), an electric jig-saw with a plywood blade, a small electric sander if possible, an electric drill with a 3/32 inch bit for drilling pilot holes, a 1/4 inch bit for drilling bolt-holes and a 1/16 inch bit for finish nail pilot holes. If you can beg, borrow, or rent a decent power miter-saw, that will be very helpful and if you have access to a large table saw, that can help make some of the longer cuts more precise (in lieu of using the power saw). A complete tool list follows:

Power Saw with new “fine finish” plywood blade

Electric jig-saw with a plywood blade

Small electric sander

Electric Drill with following bits:

* 1/4 inch, for drilling bolt holes

* 3/32 inch for drilling screw pilot holes

* 1/16 inch for drilling finish nail pilot holes

Miter Box with hand saw or power miter saw.

Wood Clamps and Measuring Square

Hammer, Phillips Screw Driver, 2 adjustable wrenches, sharpened pencils,

A GOOD TAPE MEAUSURE, keyhole saw, small had saw, saw horses,

SAFETY GLASSES, WORK GLOVES, and Band-Aids and Neosporin for splinters.

(For those of you who are NOT comfortable with sharp blades and drill bits moving at high RPM’s and/or desperately require most if not all of your fingers to put bread on the table, please utilize your courage and inner-wisdom to ask for help!!!)

Desktop and Monitor Support Layout Overview (see photos A,B,C,D)

Going back to the Stealth Fighter design concept, the desktop has a 28 inch X 28 inch square “Fuselage” that is centered at the top of the plywood sheet.

The left and right “Wings” protrude back and away from the square fuselage and are created by drawing lines at 45 degrees away and down (left or right) from each corner of the square “fuselage” to wherever they end at the edge of the plywood. Lines are then drawn to connect the outer “wing-tips”.

The “Monitor Support” is created with 3 smaller plywood sections, a Monitor Shelf and 2-Shelf Supports. The Shelf Support sections are cut from the top (R & L) corners of the 4ft X 8ft sheet of plywood and the Monitor Shelf is cut from the lower center section of the plywood sheet as a by-product of cutting out the primary fuselage + wings desktop.

SPECIAL NOTE: When I built my workstation, I utilized a more difficult process by cutting small 45-degree angles at the wing-tip corners. This gave me a couple of extra inches of wing length but it drastically increased the difficulty of trimming out the finished product as well as adding more gray hair along with higher blood pressure. Thus I do not recommend doing this and my written instructions will not mention this added step.

Leg Supports Overview (see photos F,G,H,I)

There are 5 Leg Support Units that attach underneath the desktop. All of them are 30 inches high, all are built using 2 X 4 lumber and they will be the first things in this project that you assemble. The rear support unit measures 30 inches (high) X 24 inches (wide) and the other 4 Supports measure 30 inches (high) X 18 inches (deep).

LETS GET TO WORK!

For directions sake and layout sanity, we will call the area of the desktop that will be closest to the user when the project is completed, “the bottom” and the area of the desktop that will be furthest from the user when the project is completed, “the top”. Or when seeing this project from the Stealth Fighter design perspective, the front of the plane is “the top” and the rear of the plane is “the bottom”.

“Fast-Pass” Desktop Instructions

As shown in Photo B, draw the 28” X 28” square “fuselage”, centering it at the top of the 4’ X 8’ sheet of plywood. Add/attach the “wings” to the “fuselage” by drawing 45 degree lines outward and downward from the corners of square “fuselage” until the lines hit the edge of the plywood sheet. On the right side and left side respectively, draw lines to connect the outer “wing-tips”. Carefully and with as much precision as possible, cut this large Stealth Fighter-like piece out of the plywood sheet. Keep in mind that edges of this desktop will be used for other sections so precision cutting is of much importance.

Monitor Support

The Monitor Support is created with 3 plywood sections, a Monitor Shelf and 2-Shelf Supports. The Shelf Support sections are cut from the top (R & L) corners of the 4ft X 8ft sheet of plywood as shown in PHOTO B and the Monitor Shelf is cut from the lower center section of the plywood sheet as a by-product of cutting out the Desktop as shown in PHOTO C.

To lay out the Shelf Support Sections, measure from the top of each corner of the plywood sheet along the top edge towards the (red) Center Line and make a mark at 22 inches (POINT Z). Measure down from the top of each corner of the plywood sheet along the side edge towards the wing and make a mark at 11 inches (POINT X). From POINT X, draw an 11-inch line towards the (RED) Center Line that is parallel to the top edge of the plywood sheet. At the end of this 11-inch line make a dot exactly at 11 inches and consider this POINT Y. Draw a (45 degree) line from POINT Y to POINT Z. This should give you lines drawn from POINT X to POINT Y to POINT Z and the outline of each support section should be clearly visible.

The Monitor Shelf has already been laid out in part by the layout of the wings and fuselage (desktop). Before we finish the layout we must first do some quick prep work.

As it stands now, the outside left and right edges of the square fuselage are parallel to the (RED) Center Line at a measurement of 14 inches as shown by the green lines in PHOTO B. To move ahead, you must now continue those parallel lines down to the bottom of the plywood sheet.

With that completed, we will call the bottom left corner of the fuselage, POINT 1 and the bottom right corner of the fuselage, POINT 2. Measure down from POINT 1 along the left (green) line and make a mark at 18 inches (POINT C). Measure down from POINT 2 along the right (green) line and make a mark at 18 inches (POINT B). Measure down from POINT 1 along the left purple wing line and make a mark at 9 inches (POINT D). Measure down from POINT 2 along the right purple wing line and make a mark at 9 inches (POINT A). NOW, draw lines to connect POINT A to POINT B to POINT C to POINT D and you will have the complete layout of the Monitor Shelf.

Cutting out the plywood sections

First, review Photos-A, B, C, and D.

Cutting the sections out is fairly easy just by looking at the shape of each section as shown in the photos and using good common sense.

***Never place yourself at risk by attempting to use tools with which you are unfamiliar with or unaccustomed to. Do not use power tools in you are under the influence of alcohol, drugs, or medication. Remember to wear your safety glasses, consider wearing gloves, and most importantly, take your time and let the blade do the work!

Using the layout photos A, B, C, and D:

1) cut out the monitor supports at the top of each corner of the plywood sheet.

2) make the cuts on the orange lines (wing-fronts).

3) make the cuts on the brown lines (end of wings)

4) make the cuts on the purple lines (back of wings) up to the wide blue line (consider using a jig-saw on this cut when getting closer to the wide blue line.)

Special Note! There are no cuts made into the 28” X 28” square “fuselage”.

Wide blue line cut (see Photo-D).

The safest way to make this cut is to use your electric drill and drill a number of small holes next to each other along the blue line and use your keyhole saw to cut a section through these holes long enough to allow and jig-saw or small hand saw to be used to complete the blue-line cut.

For those of you with advanced power-saw pedagogy, you could drop your power-saw blade right down onto the wide blue line at the Red Center Line area and cut in that direction until you get about 1–inch from the purple line then turn the saw around, drop it into the cut and saw into the other direction until you get about 1–inch from the purple line on the other side. You can then complete the blue line cuts with a jig-saw or hand-saw. If you have even the slightest concern about attempting this specific style of cut, opt for the safe method described above and always refer to *** above.

Special Note! Now that all your pieces are cut, this is a good time to sand and prep them for finishing and perhaps even a good time to add whatever stains or finishes you have chosen for this project.

Leg Supports

As seen in PHOTO F, there are 5 Leg Support Units that attach underneath the desktop. All of them are 30 inches high, all are built using 2 X 4 lumber and they will be the first things in this project that you assemble.

The rear support unit measures 30 inches X 24 inches and the other 4 Supports measure 30 inches (high) X 18 inches (deep). You will need to measure and cut your 2 X 4’s as follows: Twelve 30-inch pieces;

Eight 18-inch pieces;

Two 24-inch pieces.

You will also need to cut four 30-inch sections of 1-inch X 4-inch for fascia pieces.

Although factory cuts on lumberyard wood are somewhat accurate, you will need to fully ensure that all cuts made for the leg supports are precisely square. To assist with this I recommend that you slice off a short (1-inch or so) section off each 1” X 4” and 2” X 4” with your miter-saw to ensure “square cuts”. (Remember that you may be attaching some of your highly-valued rack mount studio equipment within the left and right leg-support sections so there should be little margin for error.)

Leg Support Assembly

This will require the electric drill with the 1/4 inch bit, adjustable wrenches, 1/4-20 X 3 ½” bolts, nuts and washers as well as taking another hard look at Photo-F. (When assembling the leg supports, washers are used on the head and thread side of each bolt for added strength)

Rack-Mount leg support assemblies

In this process we will call the 30-inch sections, the legs, and the 18-inch sections, the cross members. Place two leg sections parallel to each other, (wide side facing up/down) at a width of 18 inches apart. Place an 18-inch cross-member (wide side facing up/down) at each end of the parallel “legs” thus creating an 18-inch X 30-inch rectangle shape. Use your wood clamps to connect this rectangle shape, using a measuring square to ensure that each corner is square. After pieces are attached and squared, make one mark at each corner of this rectangle by measuring in and down 2-inches. At this mark, drill a hole through both pieces of wood (4-holes total).

Insert a 1/4-20 X 3 ½” bolt into a washer and then insert the bolt through both pieces of wood, inserting the bolt, first through the 30-inch “leg” and out through the 18-inch “cross-member”. Once the bolt is through both pieces of wood, place a washer on the threaded end of the bolt, twist on a 1/4 nut and tighten firmly. Follow this same procedure for the other 3 corners of the rectangle then remove the wood clamps. Follow this same global procedure for each 18” X 30” Rack-Mount leg support assembly.

When all 4 rack-mount leg supports are assembled, we must create 2-sets of supports for each “wing” (left and right). To begin, pick two of the four support units and turn them so the 18” cross members are facing out and the legs are on the inside. Bring the 2 units together so that all 4 “legs” touch each other. By doing this, the units together should create mirror images of each other. With the 2 units touching as such, on the top of the left unit write in pencil, “RIGHTside- left” and on the right unit write in pencil “RIGHT side-right. This specific pair will be attached to the desktop to create a rack-mount base under the RIGHT “wing” .

Take the remaining two support units and turn them so the 18” cross members are facing out and the legs are on the inside. Bring the 2 units together so that all 4 “legs” touch each other. By doing this, the units together should create mirror images of each other. With the 2 units touching as such, on the top of the left unit write in pencil, “LEFT side-left” and on the right unit write in pencil “LEFT side-right. This specific pair will be attached to the desktop to create a rack-mount base under the LEFT “wing”.

Attaching Fascia to rack-mounting Leg Supports

This will require your electric drill with 1/16^th inch bit, a hammer and finish nails. If you look again at Photos-F, G, H, I you will see how the 1” X 4” X 30” fascia attaches to each of the 4 rack-mount supports. These should be initially attached/nailed snuggly but not so much that you can’t easily remove for later staining and reattaching (or you can stain them first before attaching). You must also ensure that fascia runs exactly parallel (up and down) with the leg as your rack rail kit will attached to the leg and any amount of fascia intruding beyond the leg and into the rack-mount area may preclude your rack-mount equipment from attaching correctly. Starting with the Left-Wing rack-support, bring the 2 units together so that all 4 “legs” touch each other. By doing this, the units together should create mirror images of each other as described here earlier so that the “LEFT SIDE- left” support is on the left and LEFT SIDE-right in on the right. Remembering that these support unit will be attached underneath each wing facing front to back, attach each fascia piece to each support so that the fascia covers the front of the support leg and cross-member, again referring to Photos-F, G, H, I. By holding or clamping the fascia against the leg and cross-member end, drill four to six pilot holes using the drill and 1/16^th inch bit and nail the fascia as appropriate.

Following the same instructions above, attach fascia pieces to the RIGHT SIDE-left and RIGHT SIDE-right supports.

Attaching Rack-Rail to mounting supports

This will require the electric drill with 1/16^th inch bit, rack-rail, rack rail connection screws and the appropriate screwdriver for the provided screws. Rack-rail is generally a piece of metal that is bent length-wise into an L-shape with one side having larger screw holes allowing the rail to be attached to equipment cases or furniture and the other side having smaller screw holes (that face out) for attaching rack-mount equipment. For directions sake, we will call the side of the rack-rail with the larger holes, “the side” and the portion of the rack-rail with the smaller holes, “the front”. Again, as described earlier and starting with either the LEFT PAIR or RIGHT PAIR, bring 2 leg-support units together so that all 4 “legs” touch each other creating mirror images of each other. Measure down 1-inch on the inside of the fascia and make a light pencil mark on the 1-inch side of the fascia doing the same to each side. It is from this point on down that your rack-rail will be attached. Place or clamp the rack-rail so that “the side” is touching the 30-inch leg and “the front” is facing front AND AT THE SAME TIME making sure that the rack-rail front is placed where it runs parallel along the “line” where the 1” X 4” fascia and 2” X 4” leg meet or just forward of that line if possible. Make pencil marks for pilot holes inside at least four of the larger rack-rail screw holes (this will allow “the side” of the rack-rail to be attached to the leg). Do this for both support sides of each PAIR.

Back Leg-Support

As with the leg-support assemblies, this will require the electric drill with ¼ inch bit, adjustable wrenches, ¼ -20 X 5 inch bolts, nuts and washers as well as another look at Photos F, G, H, I. With this support, we have four 30 inch legs instead of two and the cross members are 24 inches long. This unit is assembled much like the rack-rail supports with one exception. When constructing this unit, we attach another layer of 30-inch legs so that the 24 inch top and bottom cross-members are sandwiched between 2-pair of 30-inch legs providing more strength to the lone support for the rear of the workstation/desk. In essence, we will be building a 30-inch by 24-inch rectangle with one more layer of 30-inch legs added to the thickness. To begin, lay out your rectangle in the layers as described above and clamp together ensuring that each corner is square. As with the rack-mount supports, measure 2-inches in and down from each corner and make a respective mark for drilling each of the 4 bolt-holes. Carefully drill your 1/4 –inch bolt-holes through the 3 layers of 2” X 4” ensuring that each corner is square. Insert the four ¼ -20 X 5 inch bolts making sure that there are washers between the bolt-head and wood and nut and wood. Tighten firmly while ensuring that each corner is square.

Final Assembly-Legs to Desktop

This piece of the puzzle will require a Phillips head screwdriver, electric drill with 3/32” drill bit, screws and a friend to help with assembly. For initial assembly, we will attach the 3 outer leg-support units, the Back Leg Support (BSL), the LEFT SIDE-Left (LSL) support and the RIGHT SIDE-Right (RSR) support. to the desktop. (The LSR and RSL supports will be attached later and will need special attention as required by the particular rack-mount kit purchased.)

What is most helpful here is the fact that if these 3 supports (BSL, LSL, RSR) are assembled correctly, they will stand upright on their own and we will take advantage of that fact in this assembly process.

LSL attachment

Let us first take a refresher look at Photo-G and then envision those 3- leg-support units standing by themselves without the desktop. Place the 3-supports as envisioned in their approximate locations and have your assistant help you place the desktop gently on the standing supports and then move the supports so the desktop can stand on its own upon the 3-supports. As your assistant holds this all steady, move the LSL support so the top left corner of the fascia is even with the front left corner of the desktop and the 4-inch width of the fascia is even or flush with the front of the “left wing”. (It is important that the fascia is even or flush with the front of the “left wing” as this will ensure proper alignment of it’s parallel LSR unit.) Recognizing where the top LSL cross member is, drill a hole through the desktop into the cross-member about 2-inches back from the fascia, insert a screw and tighten it down. Making sure that cross member underneath the desk is running parallel to the “wing end”, drill another hole through the desk into the cross-member about 15-16-inches back from the front of the fascia, insert a screw and tighten it down. Place and tighten 2 more screws through the desktop into the cross member equidistant from the 2 screws already inserted.

RSR attachment

Now, thinking in a mirror image, install the RSR support underneath the “right wing” in the same manner as installing the LSL.

BLS attachment

Now that you’ve attached the LSL and RSR supports, attaching the BSL support will be a breeze as you will use the same process for attaching it by drilling holes and screwing it down tight. However, the BSL must centered equidistant left and right of what we earlier saw as the RED CENTER LINE. On my own desktop I attached the BSL so it was flush with the very back edge of the desktop but you may choose to place it closer in towards the front if you wish.

LSR and RSL attachment

Attaching these two supports is done in the same fashion as the other 3 supports except that these must have exact precision measuring and installation done primarily because some rack-rail kits require exactly 19-inches between the wood pieces that the rail is attached to and some rack-rail kits require an ADDED ¼-inch or more over and above the 19-inch width. You must FIRST read the rack-rail instructions provided by the manufacturer to determine the exact width required before moving ahead with the installation of these 2 final supports.

In my case, I used 2-kits from Middle Atlantic that required exact 19 inch measurements.

To begin, I placed each support under the desktop in locations that looked visually close to where they should be. Starting with the left-side, I took my tape measure and measured 19-inches from the LSL “leg” towards the center of the desk making marks at 19-inches at the front and back of the wing. I then moved the LSR so that the LSR leg was in line with the 19-inch mark at the front and back (to ensure the LSL and LSR were 19-inches apart and parallel, front and back) and then attached the LSR in the same manner as the other supports but with only a screw at the front and the back. I then pulled out my 19” patch-bay and installed it to be sure my measurements were correct. I then added the 2 final screws to attach the LSR to the desktop. After completing the left side rack-mount bay and thinking in a mirror image, I did the same with the RSL.

Keyboard-Shelf Installation

If you plan to add a keyboard-shelf, this is now the time to measure the space in between the right and left patch-bays to determine what size computer keyboard shelf your workstation can accommodate. Keep in mind that the desktop in ¾ inches thick when purchasing any necessary attachment screws.

Trim Installation

If you were fortunate enough to have cut your plywood carefully enough and successfully to not have any splits or tears, you can easily cut and nail ¾-inch screen bead trim pieces along the edges and “call it a day”. However, if your project went like mine and have some little problems that need to be hidden, AND you like the wrist-rest concept, cut and attach the screen bead trim first and then follow-up with 3/8-inch X 1 5/8-inch mullion trim pieces. Of course a trip to any lumber-yard will provide you with a myriad of trim choices over and above what I have shared here.

Well, that just about does it except to wish you the very best on your project journey and to let you know that you are more to welcome to e-mail me with questions or comments.

PS-I have had quite a few folks ask how I able to get such a shiny and smooth looking finish of the top surfaces. Long story short, it took 4 coats of a Minwax Oxblood stain and 2 clear polyurethane top coats to get my desk to look as smooth as it does. Although it was a slow and steady process, it was well worth the time.

Following: at your discretion