Powered Monitor Stand Hack

by Withered Perception in Workshop > Furniture

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Powered Monitor Stand Hack

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Instagram: withered_perception

Well if you have ever read any of my other Instructables you will know I HATE SEEING CABLES CORDS AND CLUTTER!

Surprisingly, this is no different!

So follow along for more of the same crap!...




Shopping

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Now I could build this and really make myself look like a totally awesome guy.

Pulling out all my tools and doing all the wood working....

But I have a life, a job and 3 side business that are taking off faster than I can handle right now.

So I don't need to prove my awesomeness... Just my ingenuity!

So off to Target it is! ... Sorry Home Depot... not this time! (Though I see you about 10 times a week now that we bought a new house, so suck it up!)

Anyways, I found these floating shelves for way cheaper than it would be for me to take the time to build them.

Bonus! THEY ARE HOLLOW!

Drill and Cut

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Estimate the size of the hole you will need in the back to hide the random crap you have on your desk.

For me this is chords, cables and a 4TB hard drive.

So let the Hack begin!

Drill 4 pilot holes at the edges of the back of the shelf.

Then drill 4 bigger holes to accommodate the saw blade of your choosing!

Now, play adult connect the dots with razor sharp jigsaw blades.... Could have used and oscillating saw here as well...

Now dump the saw dust and crap out.

Feel free to make cleaner cuts and sand the edges.

Mine happens to be going against a wall so crappy cuts and less effort for me!


Violating the Hole

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Take all of the crap you violated this thing for and violate it again!

Stuff everything into the hole and stuff some more crap behind it!

Make sure it all fits.

Amazon.com

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As everyone already knows, the best stuff for your project at the best cost is only 2 days out.

I found this 13 port USB hub and ultra quiet variable speed USB fan for like $22!

Note: The USB hub is not necessary. I just happen to have a Imac and a Lenovo laptop. Both of which have very limited USB ports on them!

Measure Fan Install

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Mark a point on the bottom of the top piece where you want the fan to be.

Transfer that mark to the top of the bottom piece.

Pre-drill, Drill, Cut

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Like it says Pre-drill just inside the lines.

Drill with a bit that will fit your blade just like step 2.

and again cut...

Also check your blade depth...I'm in a bit of a rush so I may have made a few cuts before doing so...

Considering I have tons of editing to do, clients coming over to the photo studio, deadlines to meet and my best friend of 20 years coming into town, time is of the essence!

Plus my second monitor will be sitting on the F**k up so who cares.

Vent Holes

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Considering the top piece is smaller it has reinforcement blocks that I don't wanna mess with to much.

So I just drilled an ass ton of holes to vent the heat.

Again this is gonna face a wall so I don't care what it looks like!

It's more about not frying my external hard drive than it is for looks!

Fit and Glue

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Fit the fan into the top piece.

Make "fine tuned" cuts to get it to into the damn hole!

Again it doesn't need to look good... At least for my application.

Now slap some E6000 glue where the fan touches the wood.

Feed the wire into the "perfectly" cut hole you just made and fish it out of the even more "perfectly" cut hole on the backside.

Put some more E6000 where the wood touches the wood... This of course makes two pieces into one piece.

CAUTION: If you don't know how glue works get an adult who does!

Now put something kinda heavy on it!

Not that any Ryobi tools are heavy. It was just there so I could take a picture.

In reality I brought it into the house and set a brick on in. (not shown in pictures)

It was late and I still had work to do before bed!

Before and After

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Always compare how awesome you where to how awesome you are now!

This is very important! DO NOT FORGET THIS STEP!

That's a Wrap!

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No seriously! Wrap all of your loose wires up!

Nobody wants to see those damn wires all over your house!

If you have never used wire loom START NOW!

If you refuse to use wire loom then stop reading this Instructable and take a good long look in the mirror and re-evaluate your life choices!

Inspection

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Always have the boss finalize your work!