51–60 of 82 posts
As you'd would expect, Wolfram has a post about his home setup, including a custom built desk [0]. Also as one would expect, the post is as lengthy as it is insightful 0: https://writings.stephenwolfram.com/2019/02/seeking-the-prod...
I was at Home Depot to get a 6 foot butcher block countertop for this purpose, but then a 12 foot butcher block countertop caught my eye... and that's how I ended up with a 12 foot desk. Huge pain to transport. Takes up too much room. I have no regrets. If you get a butcher block countertop from a big box home improvement store, make sure to finish[1] it right away, since they are moisture sensitive and the plastic w…
What sort of finish do you recommend for a desk? I used some sort of polyurethane for my current desk and it’s gotten gummy and gross from my hands and wrists (I’m assuming).
If you're okay with periodically re-applying, and don't need the durability of poly, something like tung oil is a great choice - wipes on super easy and looks fabulous. Sibling comment has great recommendations in this domain.
On gumminess - it sounds like it didn't cure correctly? Could be environmental factors, (temp/humidity) could be uneven application, etc. I also find I have to leave polyurethane alone for a looooong time for it to cure properly - I try not to touch the final coat for a week or more. I try to do very thin coats, sanding between each coat, for 2-3 coats, then for the final coat I use a spray polyurethane which seems to lie flat a bit better.
If you are anything like me the slab will eventually be covered in parts and pieces, rolls of solder, breadboard with cables going hither and thither and more but at least the stuff is not directly on the desk, ey?
[1] this is assuming the cat is as bad a hacker as ours is, if yours is actually better by all means allow it to participate.
I was at Home Depot to get a 6 foot butcher block countertop for this purpose, but then a 12 foot butcher block countertop caught my eye... and that's how I ended up with a 12 foot desk. Huge pain to transport. Takes up too much room. I have no regrets. If you get a butcher block countertop from a big box home improvement store, make sure to finish[1] it right away, since they are moisture sensitive and the plastic w…
What sort of finish do you recommend for a desk? I used some sort of polyurethane for my current desk and it’s gotten gummy and gross from my hands and wrists (I’m assuming).
If you aren’t looking for something do heavy duty, plain mineral oil from the laxative aisle at Walmart is $2 a bottle. If you want to make that more heavy duty, mix it 50/50 with beeswax and heat until wax dissolves. Then let cool and you’ll have what looks like candle paraffin. Work that into the wood and you’ll have it sealed. You will need to reapply it every so often (probably once a year but depends on use). Not a permanent seal but no harsh chemicals used and you get to keep caring for your special piece of furniture which some people find satisfying.
I think anything you can mount the computer in a drawer. Not having the case sitting on the floor or on the desk sounds really nice. I've told my wife for several years that I'm going to make a desk with a hinged top, and every night at midnight a small motor lifts it up until everything slides off onto the floor. That way people wouldn't stack random junk on my desk rather than figuring out where it should really go…
For a while I've wanted to build a big red "Ship it!" button (think emergency stop button). When slammed, it runs `git add -u . && git commit -m "Shipped!" && git push`
Our apartment at the time was kinda small and I had to fit my desk to a very specific slot, so no off-the-shelf desk would've fit the nonstandard size. I bought a 100% wood kitchen counter cut to my measurements and finished it to fit the decor.
We've moved since and I took off the old tiny desk, spread out the legs and got an even bigger kitchen counter cut. Still the same base. The old desktop is now my SO's remote work table, with a similar set of height-adjustable legs.
tl;dr
1. Get a base with a memory so you can set your favourite positions fast (sitting, standing+writing, standing+just watching)
2. Get the biggest desktop you can fit and get a sturdy one. If the tabletop is too light, it'll shake and vibrate as you type.
3. Ikea Skådis pegboards can be attached to the actual desk so they move up and down with it: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/skadis-pegboard-white-50320805/I tend to mostly focus on the displays. The desk(s) follow from that... I currently have two 43" 4k displays (Philips BDM4350UC) next to each other. One directly in front of me, the other angled to the side. It's not working great - too much strain to use the right half of the side screen. What I'm curious to test: one 43" 4k screen in the the middle with an LG DualUp 18:16 screen to each side. Maybe I should just ge…
A 43" display is the closest with a 0.39 cm difference in screen height, though I ended up getting a 42" LG OLED instead.
My main hangups are finding a nice Monitor mount setup for them. Something like the following would be ideal, but I'm not sure if it'll fit with such a big main screen: https://eu.humanscale.com/userFiles/images/monitorarms/m10/m...
Are we talking ultimate dream desk that definitely won't ever be built or something more approachable? This is weirdly one of the things I daydream about. In the latter case there's a few things I'd do, but in general simpler is better. I like clean desk surfaces, so starting with a nice piece of wood is great but entirely optional (and wouldn't do on first version). Most important thing to me would be to start with…
