Introduction: Grounds - Desk Restoration and Expansion: Glass/Silicone Superficial

The donor.
A 1990s round steel tube framed desk with 5/8" MDF surfaces

  • Lower level: 35.875"x23.875" (reused)
  • Upper level: 35.875"x9.875" (scrapped)

The doofus.

A 1987 anthropomorphous with numerous deficiencies and a fondness of bizarre acronyms.

The upgrades.

  • DREGS - Desk Refurbishment and Expansion: Drinking glass-Silicone Surface
  • Dealings - Total Board Air Filtration and Forced-air Internal Component Cooling
  • Glee - Mixable Elucidation Reconfigurable Instrument Holder

The reasons.

The donor had survived many years of abuse by at least two kids, so the top surfaces of the MDF were not in great condition. The upper level was sagging significantly and was always located too close to the lower level, which greatly belittled the usable country connected the lower equal. Additionally to the surface bubbling and scratches, MDF is also not well suited for the high temperatures involved in electronics assemblage. I had been victimization some aluminium sheet to protect the turn up from fire u only that introduces a new and very dangerous hazard when working with hopped-up electronics, then eventually decided it was sentence to update the desk.

In addition to upgrading the turn surface with a heat unsusceptible and electrically non-semiconductive material, I wanted to supplant the top level with a tool holder and storage unit settled at a greater height above the lower level to reclaim some usable work area on the glower horizontal. I also genuinely needed to add some air filtration to the board since I spend so such time in the room and there is e'er so much dust collecting on surfaces. I was initially planning to make an illuminated pegboard creature holder similar to the peerless ready-made by CasperH on the trossen robotics forum, every bit I happened to have a sheet of scrap polycarbonate in the basement and I have quite a fewer RGB LEDs that could be placed behind it to gravid effect. Regrettably, I had actually started this plan in mid to late October but my anxiousness and depression tend towards severe procrastination regarding whatsoever projects that might actually benefit myself. This tendency left field Maine repeatedly sidetracked and at long las required me to musical scale back the projects that were intended as additions to DREGS. TRAFFIC and MIRTH have been reduced to a single filter and blower that I can attach to the sections of tube frame that at one time supported the upper stratum of MDF and were supposed to support TRAFFIC and MIRTH. They bequeath likely equal completed in the future, but additive motivating will be required.

Step 1: DREGS - Desk Refurbishment and Elaboration: Glass-Silicone Surface

The materials.

  • (6) 12"x12" glass mosaic squares with .75" tiles
  • (3) 10oz. tubes of clear GE Silicone II
  • (1) small bottle of acrylate resin paint
  • (1) 1.25"x1.25"x48" length of 1/16" thick 6063 atomic number 13 angle
  • (1) 1"x1"x8' length of 1/16" ropey 6063 aluminum angle
  • (1) boxful of 0.5" long wood screws
  • (1) terminate enamel spray paint

The tools.

  • Tape metre or yard dumbfound
  • Automatic revolve around punch or scratch awl
  • Hand drill
  • 1/8" drill bit for holes in Al tilt
  • 5/64" drill spot for pre-oil production holes for wood screws
  • Usable gloves
  • Stir stick and mixing surface
  • Cheap, all-encompassing putty stab

The prep-cultivate.

First I removed the MDF boards and little steel angle brackets that helped sustenance the long wood screws from ripping through the heaviness of the MDF. The top surface of the lower level was not in good condition but the bottom was unfinished and pristine, so I flipped the MDF and painted the bottom Earth's surface with the last of a can of spray paint (satin almond?). This MUST be done outdoors or below a fume hood every bit there are close to nasty solvents involved.

After the spray paint had dried/cured, next was to add together the aluminum angle around the perimeter of the 5/8" MDF. I started with the 4' length of 1.25" angle which would go along the back edge to help form a back talk to foreclose things getting pushed off the surface. I was a little openmouthed that the angle was scored on the inside of combined leg, but it wound risen being useful for keeping the screw holes in a agreeable distance from the edge. I basically impartial lined up the tape against the groove and utilized the gist punch to notice off all 2" start from the centrist of the length of lean against. After liner up the lean on against the center of the vertebral column edge of the MDF, I used the nitty-gritty punch to scratch the leg of the lean against where it would need to bend around the corners of the MDF. Using the scratches as reference, I plumbed out 1-3/16" in both directions (1.25" disadvantageous 1/16" of leg thickness that will enfold around the exterior) and in use a straight butt on (combat aluminum) to mark/scratch the sides of the triangle cutout I would need to allow the aluminum angle plication cleanly around the corners of the MDF. Better to polish of a little bit too much of the angle than to bump off too little. If overmuch material remains, you will not be able to make the inside edges of the tip over to easily touch the exterior border of the MDF, which give notice lead to tearing of the aluminum when you force information technology. One and only back corner went swell, the other not indeed much. Ane wood ass per cardinal inches is overkill, just I had a box seat of many screws that would not likely personify used for any past project whatever time shortly, and so why not? After getting the weight lined up against the MDF, I started at the nitty-gritty and utilized the holes in the angle to pre-drill the holes for the screws. I did not have a countersink piece, so the flat head screws do jut some but that does not annoyance me. I also old a cheap hobbyking juice reamer to clean up the holes a little bit and got a reminder in how easily I run when a tiny sliver of aluminum pushed into the thick layer of skin just beyond the cop of my thumb. No anguish going in or coming out, but piles of blood for such a tiny bite.

After getting the back out edging completely attached, I butted the 1" angle against one terminate of the 1.25" lean and started scoring off the 1" angle with the center punch at roughly 2" intervals on the first-year side with deviation from 2" spacing as necessary to keep at least 1" of infinite betwixt the little screws attaching the aluminum and the long wood screws that attach the MDF to the tube frame. This ended up existence 2", 4", 6", 8", 10", 12", 15", 17" from the corner releas toward the butt of the two pieces of aluminum slant. The forum physical process was much the same as with the 1.25" angle, where I first straight and temporarily attached the short edge with two screws then scored the inside of the angle where IT met the corner of the MDF. After removing the ii screws to make the needful cutout of the nethermost wooden leg, I past reattached the angle to the MDF with the same two screws and proceeded to bend the angle around the corner and score the privileged of the angle at the side by side recession. Once again removed the screws and angle to mark off and drill all the remaining screw holes in the aluminum lean on, and make the cutout for the final corner. After the aluminum had been prepped, I reattached it with several more screws on the front edge and performed the concluding bend. The final chopped in the 1" angle where the deuce pieces of angle would butt together was first rough cut with the nibbler so filed to meet flawlessly. You could perform all of the cutting and drilling of the angle prior to ever attaching information technology to the MDF, but I am not identified for my precision when using hired hand tools so chose to make it fit as I went. Afterward everything lined up, I added the last of the screws to warranted the angle.

Step 2: DREGS: Getting Messy Egg laying Tiles

Next was to stump a big batch of silicone polymer and lay down the glass tiles.

Wear gloves. Wear gloves. Wear gloves.

If you take over admittance to a supply of proper two-part silicone polymer rubber/foam, then this paragraph send away atomic number 4 skipped. A seemly two-part silicone polymer should be used instead of Gaia Silicone II and acrylic A there bequeath follow much less guesswork and major results, but I went the the cheapo/bigbox route. Spell waiting for the spray paint to therapeutic ahead attaching the aluminum slant, I started testing silicone and acrylic blends to get a better idea of what would really work. GE Silicone II is a one-part tin-catalyzed RTV silicone that uses moisture from the environs to terminated the curing process, patc acrylic paint uses water as the result that must evaporate to allow the pigments to humorous/stand by. The silicone creates an effective moisture barrier as IT cures so we cannot use it alone between two large impervious surfaces or it will proceeds a precise long time (months to years) for decent moisture to reach the inward loudness to permit it to full cure. The acrylic adds wet to the silicone blend that permits it to fully cure even when using thick scotch-sections and/or placing it between fast surfaces. The references I plant gave a ratio of roughly one fell of paint per oz. of silicone, but it rump be difficult to gauge a 'drop' if the acrylate resin rouge is thick and gloopy like the stuff I had. So, it is better to initially add too undersize key than too much, as more can be added later during mixing if the merge does not look right. If you attention deficit disorder overmuch paint, then the blend will have short adhesion and perhaps never teetotal/cure because there is too much moisture sealed within the silicone, olibanum leaving you with a weak greasy mess and wasting the total whole sle of silicone.

I mixed the silicone a little like devising noodles by gushing the triplet tubes of silicone into a hammock on a piece of scrap metal then mixing in the paint with a stir stick and putty stab. Basically, stir for a while then scrape the silicone off mixing surface near the edges of the mound and flip/fold that onto the center of the hammock and push button it downwards and outward. Repeat until the paint is well blended into the silicone. I did not de-gaseous state the silicone polymer blend, partly because I did non throw a air pump and part because I did not need extreme tensile strength as would be needed if it were intended to be the tread of a wheel. Having aura entrained in the blend would also improve the insulating holding to the silicone which is nice as the surface is going to be used for electronics assembly (bonding smoothing iron and calefactive-air rework station).

After mixing, I in essence just scraped the mass of silicone onto the MDF surface with the putty tongue and pushed it toward the edges to ensure full coverage. I did not manage a real upstanding job of getting a accordant thickness across the entire MDF surface prior to applying the tiles and probably should have used four tubes of silicone instead of ternion since in that location was not enough to completely fill the gaps between the tiles. I did make sure to use enough pressure when public exposure the silicone onto the MDF to ensure there were no bubbles between the silicone and MDF as that would greatly decrease the bonding speciality between tiles and MDF. IT is pretty easy to spot bubbles in the thin silicone as they facial expression it has mangled or shorn off in that area. Once the silicone polymer was relatively fountainhead splashed, I started placing the tiles at the front left corner and put-upon slight imperativeness to get the bottom of the tiles oily in the silicone blend. Unfortunately, I did not prove fit the tiles prior to applying the silicone, then did not understand that the tiles were just a little besides big for the surface. The tiles ended up jammed vertically where they meet in the center and I had to remove one and only column to stupefy them to well horizontally. Once all the tiles were relatively fountainhead positioned on the surface, more pressure was applied to the tiles to fully set them in the silicone immix. This was through with a short segment of an empty silicone polymer vacuum tube wrapped in a very damp paper towel to prevent the silicone adhering to it. The water in the paper towel causes the silicone to form a skin that prevents it adhering to the paper towels or the tube, but does not interfere too much with the silicone adhering to the bottom and edges of the tiles. I basically used the tube as a roller to push the tiles further into the silicone polymer then victimised gloved fingers to push down and align any stray tiles. After the silicone had vulcanized for several hours, I mixed up other batch of silicone to shade the spaces left between the tiles overdue to insufficient silicone polymer on the MDF surface when initially placing the tiles. It was mixed in the same manner as the first batch and I just in use the putty knife to apply it to the entire surface and wring information technology into each the remaining cracks. Excess silicone polymer was pushed into the edges to form a modulation from the tile to the pinch of the aluminum lean against.

Non super pretty, just works well enough for however many years the silicone survives.

Tone 3: DREGS: Reassembly

After the tiles were set and silicone cured, the lower level was finally primed to be remounted onto the steel underground frame with the six longsighted wood screws. Prior to this, the frame was disassembled and re-assembled in a somewhat different manner because the tube that joins the two sides unneurotic was at just the far height and astuteness to cause my shins many troubles. With that tube flipped, it forms a good foot rest and does not significantly affect the stability of the desk. A trifle of silicone was added between to each one thermionic tube at the mating surfaces and the bolts partly tightened to ply a slight amount of isolation between each tube to stop the squeaking/screaky it had antecedently exhibited with bimetallic-on-metal contact. The bolts were further tightened after the silicone had been left to cure for several hours.

Step 4: Dealings: Existence Cut-rate With Air Filters

The materials.

  • (1) 24"x24"x1" pleated air filter
  • (1) cheap froth brush for applying paste
  • (1) ~2"x~26" piece of scrap artificial
  • (1) bottle glue (e.g. Titebond wood)

The tools.

  • Heavy duty serrated pair of scissors or tin snips

The swear out.

Arsenic it seems public for numerous stores to list whol sizes of send filters of a relinquished filtration rating and steel at the exact equal damage, I definite to be cheap and turn a single 24"x24" filter into tetrad 12"x12" filters. Basically, sporty use a dyad of hard duty serrated scissors OR Sn snips to chop the 24" dribble into four equal sized pieces. Subsequently that, beget some scrap cardboard (I used empty cereal boxes) and cut it to size, fold it, and glue it to form new borders/reinforcement for the smaller filters. I used wood glue and a foam brush to bond the cardboard to the filter, as that was what I had on hand. The Sir Henry Joseph Wood glue needs to be spread real thin to keep information technology tacky and non impregnate the cardboard, which will make the cardboard draw in/deform. The secured cardboard border is necessary for pleated filters to attain a decent seal in the permeate holder/caparison, otherwise publicize can easily pass around the edges of the filter. The end result does not have to be pretty, as my attempts make percipient.

Footstep 5: TRAFFIC: the Filter Housing and Blower

The materials.

  • (1) 120mm fan (Delta AFB1212SHE: 151CFM, 12V/1.6A, 54dB; $5 at Surplus Center)
  • (1) 12V/+2A power brick
  • (1) 12"x12"x1" pleated air filter
  • Polycaprolactone (PCL) (Instamorph, etc.)

The tools.

  • Microwave, unpleasant home, or stove

The process.

If using a microwave, place the PCL in a large glass or instrumentation bowl with a fair number of water, then heat in 10~15 second intervals checking for the pellets to appear clear/see-through throughout their volume. If using a active home operating room stove, purpose a metal peck/goat god filled with several cups of body of water and inflame to boiling over high heat and so drop to low heat before adding any of the PCL pellets to the water. Gently stir until the pellets are transparent end-to-end their intensity and scoop them out onto a plate or bowl to cool and drip milkless for a little bit of clip before disagreeable to physical body information technology.

Although IT is potentially very life-threatening, I have a tendency to not vex with the weewe when heating PCL in a microwave. As you heat the PCL, you leave get a molten shell on a wholesome core. The water acts as thermal mess to moderate the temperature of the PCL and prevent excessive heating that can take fire the liquefied PCL. Instead of adding water, I only place the pellets in a bowl (operating theater pre-formed/reused slab directly on the spyglass collection plate of the turntable) then alternately stir up and sit in 10~15 second intervals. Departure it to sit (or stirring it) for several seconds allows the heat added to the exterior of the PCL mass to travel further into the interior of the mass instead of overheating the molten exterior.

Formerly you have a sufficiently large and pliable mickle of PCL, outset forming IT into a cone shape/Pyramids of Egypt with one end having a 12.25" square initiative for belongings the dribble and the other end having a 110mm circular hole in a 4.5" square for mounting the fan. The PCL bequeath become progressively pissed and translucent as it cools, so you leave get an theme of how much clip you have unexpended to work with it before needing to reheat it, if requisite. After oven-shaped into the conoid/Pyramid, the permeate should fit easily into the 12.25" guileless opening and the blower should line up relatively well with the 4.5" square and 110mm hole for mounting with some screws. The blower spins only in one direction, so pee-pee sure the uptake side is pointing towards the filter thusly you answer not get lots of dust accumulating on the blades of the blower. Telegram the blower up to a 12V power supply capable of at to the lowest degree 1.5A and IT is smooth.

Conditional your outlook, it may be a good thing operating theater bad thing that I do not yet have whatsoever pictures of my initial attempt. I expect most people would prefer not having their eyes bleed from the visual horror.

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