Building A Large L-Shaped Desk For Accommodating Plenty Of Computers

Rather than threading all of the galvanized pipes, with the original design I used Kee Klamps. The pipes themselves were galvanized steel and then coated in a Rustoleum FlexSeal to make them black. But after four years, that Rustoleum finish began to rub away and not withstanding the environment as well as I wished. With time I also realized I probably over-engineered the original structure and all of the cross sections were not necessary even with the weight of all the monitors and the weight of the butcher block itself.

The previous desk build with the Rustoleum FlexSeal coated galvanized pipes, Kee Klamps, and plenty of cross bracing.

So with this new build I just opted for six vertical posts using 1.5-inch black pipe, normally used for natural gas applications. That way there is no painting of the pipes and the black finish will be maintained. With just using vertical pipes, no Kee Klamps for the cross sections are needed and a big time saver too as well as being less costly. For attaching the black pipe to the butcher block, standard black pipe flanges were used and threaded onto the pipes. This also makes it easier to re-use / move the desk in the future too if needed.

To avoid the hassle of having to re-thread the pipes, I was working from 36-inch pipes and the threaded section against the flange underneath the desk. The side against the floor was cut. These plastic caps (affiliate link) were used for providing a clean finish against the floor and paired with furniture pads/sliders underneath had worked well. Those caps fit over the black pipe just fine when heating them using a heat gun.

The pipes were cut to 32 inches for allowing StarTech 12U server racks to easily slide underneath the desk without obstructions.

In the several weeks of using the desk since, this structure has been working out fine and using the six vertical pipes has proved sufficient even with the weight of four monitors, a Thelio Major desktop on top, and several laptops along with the random assortment of graphics cards and other hardware resting on top.

This design was much quicker and easier than painting the pipes previously and having to deal with the Kee Klamps as well as being much cheaper too due to less pipes and just the flanges rather than the other costly fittings.