The first piece of furniture I'm building is a desk. I spend a lot of my time using computers, and this lying on the floor to do so, has completely lost its novelty. I decided that a desk would be a good first project 'cause it'll be complex enough that I can test out the means of construction, but doesn't require any precise fitting like some of the rest will.

STAGE 1: PLANNING

Since this is my first piece, I'm not building anything fancy. It'll just be a simple desk with an overhead shelf. I checked an ergonomics chart thingie and it said for someone my height (5' 9") the ideal desk height is 28". I took their word for it.

One of the primary design goals when approaching this project was to avoid pipe length addition where precise results are required. For example, I sought, to never have to rely on the fact that two three foot pipes equals one six foot pipe. I did this because I didn't know how reliable the Kee Klamp catalog was when it gave the effective width of the fittings. The other benifit to this design requirement was increased flexibility in the pipe lengths. It didn't matter a bit if my 26" pipes were all 24" or 28", so long as they were all (pretty much) the same length the design could handle it. This later proved invaluable when I made the 54"/64" error.

These are the diagrams and documents I made when planning:

• A diagram showing the pipe lengths - This isometric view shows the general layout of the desk. As you can see it's 64" wide and 64" tall. Hopefully, that square-ness won't give it an odd look.
• A diagram showing the KeeKlamp placement - The numbers in this diagram correspond to the part numbers in the Kee Klamp Catalog.
• A diagram showing an exploded view - This diagram was necessary to show which pipe travels through a joint (as opposed to actually being composed of two pipes which meet at a joint).
• The list of materials - This document shows my initial estimations as to price and quantity for the fittings and the pipe. The glass surface isn't included.
• The pipe shopping list - This is the sheet I gave to the pipe cutter an Home Depot specifying what pipe lengths I need. A careful observer will notice an error wherein I make reference to lots of 64" pipes, but then refer to them as 54" pipes in the summary. I wasn't a careful observer. More about that later.
• The KeeKlamp RFQ - This is the document I faxed to American Steel requesting pricing for the Kee Klamp fittings. They charged me 100% of MSRP and gave me shitty service to boot -- I hate localized monopolies.

STAGE 2: PREPARATION

August 11, 2000: I finally got around to starting work on this project. I bought the pipes, got them cut to length, cleaned them, and put two coats of polyurethane on them. For more detail on the pipe finishing procedure see my furniture page.

Unfortunately the guy cutting the pipes called me to confirm the order at 9am (2 hours before anyone has any business waking up) and asked if I wanted the 64" pipes cut to 54" because of the error I'd made on the pipe shopping list. Being groggy as hell I said yes, when I should've said 64" was the desired length. Since I okayed the error I was stuck with the shorter pipes. Fortunately, I figured out I could salvage things by getting just two of the 64" pipes made instead of the orginal nine I'd ordered. Doing so lopped 10" off the width of the desk, but the height will remain the same.

September 10, 2000: I got a price quote from American Steel, the local Kee Klamp distributor. Looks like the fittings will cost about $250 with shipping. That's a lot more than threaded fittings would cost, but I guess they're still considered a specialty item. Still, I can't help thinking I'd be spending 1/2 that if I could just get Home Depot to carry 'em.

September 21, 2000: Welp, I went and paid for the Klamps today. They should arrive at my apartment some time next week. If all goes well I'll have a desk by the end of the weekend. Then again, when does every thing ever go well on an assembly project?

STAGE 3: ASSEMBLY

October 5, 2000: The clamps finally arrived in the mail today. I headed to the hardware store to get some tools, and an hour later had put the desk together. These Kee Klamps really were easy to work with. They were manufactured precisely enough to eliminate wobble, but not so well that slight variations in pipe length couldn't be accounted for at time of assembly.

Once I had the frame together I went back to Home Depot to get some plywood for the surface. It's set up now and working well. Hopefully I'll be able to place the glass order before too long. A friend from Scouting's neighbor has access to wholesale glass manufacturing and I should be able to get a deal through him.