Flight sim desk

[texasfighter]

I have a 13 year old wooden computer desk. It was built for a tower pc of the day. Has a vertical door on the left to put the tower in (I don't because of cooling issues), two drawers on the right, and a standard sized pull out center tray for keyboard/mouse. The height of the desk is bothering me since I have to put the joystick up there. I don't need a desk anymore with drawers and a tower bay. I need a more open flexible desk that I can use with my tower pc, joystick, etc. And eventually rudder pedals, etc. I am on a budget so have to buy things carefully and one or two at a time. First priority is to buy a new desk and get rid of this wooden monster.

I would much prefer to buy a commercially available desk. I don't have a wood shop so building one from scratch is not going to happen. Because of the layout of my home office and the large bookcase I have, I don't think I can use a corner desk like the ones I have seen. I have 44" of space to my right in front of the book case. The gaming desk I have seen on the web that I like is the one from Digital Edge. However it pushes my budget at $380 and I don't think it is made anymore. I have looked at the Atlantic Gaming Desk but I am concerned about the center drawer that is used for the keyboard. It seems very limiting since it is not open (it has sides).

I apprecicate any suggestions.
Tex

[The Fugitive]

You don't really need a wood shop to build a desk. Lowes, Home Depot or other bigger "supply" company will cut wood to your specs. Use some cabinet grade plywood cut to size, add some iron on veneers to dress up the exposed edges and a screw gun to assemble it and you have a desk built to your needs.

[morfiend]

 Instead of thinking desk,think chair!

   You can take your average computer chair,like in fugi's pic,and remove the padded arms and replace them with mounts for your HOTAS. Then the problem becomes the pedals,as you use them the chair wants to move so just take a piece of plywood and place 2 of the wheels from the chair on it and make them,then cut or drill out a hole large enough for the wheels to fit into. next you fasten the pedals to the sheet of plywood and Bob's ur uncle!

  I mounted a bentwood chair to a pedistal on castors,fastened mounts for my HOTAS to the arms and it's a self contained unit. Sure I have the room to do it but I ran a setup as I discribed above for years before I was able to setup my mancave. Nice part about using a chair is that you will still have a workable desk.


   If you search the forums you can find a pic of a mount system that Mtnman came up with that IMHO is a very workable setup.



   

[steely07]

You need one of these, roccaforte gaming desk, I have one and it's truly excellent.



Salute

Steely

[bmwgs]

You don't really need a wood shop to build a desk. Lowes, Home Depot or other bigger "supply" company will cut wood to your specs. Use some cabinet grade plywood cut to size, add some iron on veneers to dress up the exposed edges and a screw gun to assemble it and you have a desk built to your needs.

(Image removed from quote.)

I have a similar desk, and have been looking for a way to mount the stick and throttle.  I like what you have done.  Can you provide a picture showing the way the stick and throttle are mounted to the desk.

Thanks

Fred

[Rob52240]

One of my squaddies made a gamechair by bolting a satellite dish mount to the bottom of his desk chair and a plank of wood to the other end.  Looks like it works pretty good.

[ebfd11]

You need one of these, roccaforte gaming desk, I have one and it's truly excellent.

(Image removed from quote.)

Salute

Steely

I have been looking at that, but where do you get one>>>

[steely07]

http://www.800hightech.com/roccaforte-game-desk.html

says they are in stock, they are a bit harder to find these days, it's true,

[guncrasher]

I have been looking at that, but where do you get one>>>

lawn exactly where you got your last desk.  man if I was closer to pa, I wouldnt hesitate.


semp

[Bino]

The Obutto cockpit looks nice...

http://www.obutto.com/flightsim.html

[The Fugitive]

I have a similar desk, and have been looking for a way to mount the stick and throttle.  I like what you have done.  Can you provide a picture showing the way the stick and throttle are mounted to the desk.

Thanks

Fred

Sorry Fred, been crasy busy. I used a fastener that "I call" (don't know what it's real name is  ) a "tophat" In my case, it's a 3/8s wide "hat" with notches cut in the "brim" and bent up towards the top of the hat that when hammered into a hole they bite into the wood. The threaded hole through the hat is 1/4 x 20.

So what I did was to hammer them in through a 10x 24 piece of plywood from one side and attached 2 hinges to the other side with 1/4x20x3/4 bolts. Then I used a bunch of screws to screw it to the under side of my desk.

I didn't like the way it hung down. I was worried that it might weaken the spring on the joystick so I have since cut the arms and added another set of hinges to set them on a level hanger I added.

If all of this is still confusing, let me know and I'll draw up some plans and get more pictures. It will just take a few days.

[james]

Sorry Fred, been crasy busy. I used a fastener that "I call" (don't know what it's real name is  ) a "tophat" In my case, it's a 3/8s wide "hat" with notches cut in the "brim" and bent up towards the top of the hat that when hammered into a hole they bite into the wood. The threaded hole through the hat is 1/4 x 20.

So what I did was to hammer them in through a 10x 24 piece of plywood from one side and attached 2 hinges to the other side with 1/4x20x3/4 bolts. Then I used a bunch of screws to screw it to the under side of my desk.

I didn't like the way it hung down. I was worried that it might weaken the spring on the joystick so I have since cut the arms and added another set of hinges to set them on a level hanger I added.

If all of this is still confusing, let me know and I'll draw up some plans and get more pictures. It will just take a few days.

Where's big blue the pit you used to have?

[Pollock]

I have this one worth every penny for me, he also sells the plans to build it yourself.

http://www.kwikpit.com/kwikpit.htm

[Bizman]

I have this one worth every penny for me, he also sells the plans to build it yourself.

http://www.kwikpit.com/kwikpit.htm

Nice! Since it's not too expensive readily built, the plans must be almost free. Guess the material costs would be the same whether bought as a whole or using local wooden board suppliers. And since they don't ship outside the US, the plans certainly are the way to go - or reconstructing them from the given pictures and measurements on the website.

[bmwgs]

Sorry Fred, been crasy busy. I used a fastener that "I call" (don't know what it's real name is   ) a "tophat" In my case, it's a 3/8s wide "hat" with notches cut in the "brim" and bent up towards the top of the hat that when hammered into a hole they bite into the wood. The threaded hole through the hat is 1/4 x 20.

So what I did was to hammer them in through a 10x 24 piece of plywood from one side and attached 2 hinges to the other side with 1/4x20x3/4 bolts. Then I used a bunch of screws to screw it to the under side of my desk.

I didn't like the way it hung down. I was worried that it might weaken the spring on the joystick so I have since cut the arms and added another set of hinges to set them on a level hanger I added.

If all of this is still confusing, let me know and I'll draw up some plans and get more pictures. It will just take a few days.

I guess it is our age, but I know the fastener you are talking about.  Actually I only know them by the name you are calling them.  I think from years past we referred to them as "Tophat Inserts".  Your explanation is good, and I understand what you did.  My issue is I have two support bars running the length of my desk.  I will have to give this a little more thought.

Thanks

Fred