Compact computer/ monitor stand
I had built myself a nice computer/monitor
stand for my previous computer, which allowed me to keep the computer
nicely behind the monitor. People often suggest an "all in one" style of computer
for that sort of purpose, but I don't like these, because you can't keep the monitor
when you upgrade computers, and if either the computer or monitor breaks, the whole
thing becomes useless.
I had recently upgraded to a faster computer, but couldn't find anything with a faster CPU (core i5 or i7) in a smaller case. I know such systems could be custom built or ordered, but I didn't want to have to jump through hoops to get one. So I reluctantly settled for one of those big ugly boxes.
I still wanted to put this computer behind my monitor. That way it would be out of
my sight, and I'd get less of the noise from it.
But I didn't have a whole lot of time, so I settled for a much simpler design for this stand.
I started with a solid piece of ash, which I cut to be wide at one end. I cut that out on the bandsaw (no picture of that). Here I'm sanding the curved bandsaw cut smooth.
Drilling some screw holes in the end of this solid piece. If it had been much
longer, I would have had to use my
horizontal boring machine for this operation, but just clamping a box
to the side of the piece worked well enough on the drill press.
The piece mounts to a base, which is just a piece of recycled hardwood from
a small folding table I picked out of the garbage.
I have to mark the holes carefully to make sure all the screws and holes will line up once it's drilled.
Six screws screw from the bottom of the base into this piece of wood.
And here's the stand, mostly done. This is actually the front of it.
The monitor will attach to the front, while the computer will sit on
the back.
I screwed a metal mounting flange to the stand, then screwed the monitor,
without the stand, to that flange.
This monitor is a 21.3" LCD monitor from around 2004 (eight years old now and quite expensive when I bought it). Back then, most LCD monitors had the ability to rotate to portrait mode, I guess everybody thought it was novel at the time, but rotating a monitor to vertical was never that practical. Our eyes have a much easier time scanning wide objects than tall ones. Few monitors these days rotate anymore, so they don't have the mounting flange on the back in the middle anymore.
And here it is, set up with the computer on the back of the stand,
nicely hidden behind the monitor.
The computer only has rubber feet on the front, so the back end kept
sliding dangerously off the stand. I added a wooden tab to prevent
that from happening.
Shortly after, I bought a big 27" monitor from DELL (Model U2711). I decided on this
one after I had a close look at the same model at my brother's,
and saw that it has the same mounting flange as my old Samsung. The other
factor was it's high resolution of 2560 x 1440.
I keep my computer and monitor on a very low desk on wheels so I can comfortably sit on the couch, pull the computer up to me, and use it. But there's no place to put the computer under this desk.
See also:
Wooden computer
Wooden computer case
Small wheeled desk
Stand-up laptop tableBack to my Woodworking website
