Okay, I had a great father's Day weekend here in Atlanta, working on my studio build out with my son. I was able to to knock out my midi production desk and my mixing console. I haven't typed up the build "step by step" instructions yet, but, I will when i get a chance next weekend.
I have gotten so much help from you guys here for free so i figured its my turn to give something back. I will post the pictures and try to answer any questions here in this post for free...in which case you should be able to figure out how to build this yourself...but, you don't trust your own math or would rather have a set of plans with step by step directions....i can help you with that! I'll only charge you $25 for a Pdf set of mine.
So, with that being said....here is my project!
Materials Used (for the dual D8b console)
1 - 3/4" Plywood sheet (4ft x 8ft) *full sheet*
2 - 3/4" Plywood remnant pieces at least 32"wide x 16.5" *Minimum*
6 - 8ft 2"x4"
4 - 5/8" x 5" hex Bolts
8 - 5/8" washers
4 - 5/8" hex nuts
1 - Box of 8gauge x 3" wood/drywall screws
1 - small can of wood puddy (wood fill, whatever you call it)
1- Wood stain of your choice & poly if desired
4 - yards of material (for armrest covering)
2 - bags of padding material (for arm rest)
TOOLS used
Circular saw
Drill (w/ 5/8" drill bit)
Puddy knife
Hand sander ($8 @ Home depot)
Hammer
TOOLS THAT WOULD MAKE THIS MUCH JOB EASIER
Table Saw (for tearing down whole sheet of ply in straight cut...not free hand like i did)
Chop Saw ( again, for straight right angle cuts on your 2"x4" cuts, not slanted cuts like i did free handing it)
Jig Saw (yes, i did all my line cuts with circular hand saw...nothing a little wood puddy can't hide!!! lol)
Power sander (yeah, i was too cheap to buy one....but, would have saved my shoulders the strain)
Here we go.....
Step #1 - Table frame
The whole reason I decided to do this...outside of the cosmetic appeal of looking professional...is b/c i got tired of cheap ass furniture wobbling on me every time I sat down to it or put any real weight on it. And the reason most ikea or office depot stuff wobbles is bc it doesn't have the support it needs....so I decided to run with 2"x4"...good enough for houses right?
So i took 3 pieces of lumber and cut them down to size, drilled in some screws, and viola...frame assembled. Time = 45mins
Step #2 - plywood cuts: top, inner panels & outer panels
TIP: If you do not have a table saw, here is my method I learned from my grandad looooong time ago....how i cut in a straight line using only my hand circular saw.
Rules:
1. Any mill cut piece of lumber is going to be square and straight line!!!! So using a 2"x4" to guide our circular saw works just fine.
2. Measure your cut from the original plywood mill-cut side (that's always square and straight).
just make sure you measure right. (cut width - 2"x4" - distance of your actual blade on your saw...mine was 1")
In this picture, you will see where i took my measurements for the piece of ply i wanted to cut, starting from the clean side of ply then i tack in 2 nails as a point A & B reference for my line. Then i simply push the 2"x4" up against the nails, and then the saw and viola...straight line to tear down the length of the plywood sheet!!
Now, based on my plans, from one (1) sheet of plywood, i can cut:
(1) Top
(2) mixer base boards
(2) inner panels
My outer panels required (2) pieces of ply that was 32"w x 16.5"d, so bought those pieces from the remnants box at Home Depot.
Starting with the widest pieces first, tear down the plywood. Then, I got to measure out my inner and outer panels. The key to achieving that "tailored to fit" feel for your desk is to have one of these here:
That is a traced cutout of the side of the mixer once i removed the sides and armrest. If you need to know how to do this, just see my previous thread here.
Note: If you desire to keep your armrest and side panels on your d8b, then your measurements need to be slightly different from mine.
Once I have the panels measured out, I cut them out using...that's right my trusty hand circular saw (don't judge me...cant afford a jigsaw)...and Yes, i had bloopers and upon closer inspection you can see for yourself...but, like i saw nothing some wood puddy cant fix!!!
Step #3 - Outter Panels & Top Assembly
Note:
I choose to work from the middle > out b/c my design calls for a mastering rack in between the 2 D8b, so i was more concerned with getting the spacing of 19.125" in between my inner panels so that my rack rails can be installed properly.
Once that task was completed i proceeded to measure out for my side panels. Now the outer panels are going to be more wider than the inner panels because they must cover the frame and mixer as well.
One of the problems that I had was that I miscalculated the width (& height, for that matter) of the d8b with the panels removed and the feet still on...so I had to remove the feet AND add a spacer to the outside edge to get the d8b to fit comfortable within its section(s). See below
Look in the far left corner you can see the strip of plywood ( i was off 1.5" total, so two 3/4" ply strips were used on each side, then the outer panels were mounted on top of that).
Putting the top on was a breeze, but, starting with the inner panels first...i screwed in the inner panels, then adjusted the outer panels as they "free hanged" until i was level. Then i screwed the out panels into the sides.
Okay....so sand and stain....
That's it for now...the only thing for me to do is to install the rack rails (on order) and the armrest. The space in front of the console will be covered with the vinyl and padding. There is about 4.5" of armrest depth in front of the d8bs.
Next was to build the legs and that was pretty simple....desk height is set by your preference. i needed mine to be 28" high so i cut my legs accordingly (see step #1 for cutting 2"x4").
