Recycled Hard Drive Plus 3D Printing Equals Brilliantly Customized, Illuminated Computer Desk

With the onset of the New Year, getting organized is a goal for many. Listicle after listicle online gives us the top ten tips on how to make our lives better, how to be better, and how to be as successful as Warren Buffett or Bill Gates. Apparently much of this revolves around eating a better breakfast — and improving our home and work environments.

You can bet getting your act seriously together at the desk area is on that list, whether you work from your living room, studio, or still grind out the work in a real, old-fashioned office. Words that are thrown out at us constantly as we admire pictures of sleek and perfect workplaces are streamlined, efficient, ergonomic, and many other adjectives that leave us thinking more about interior decorating than actually pumping out the work.

The truth is that your desk should be dictated by what it is you do. It’s that simple. And your primary focus is probably not the multi-tiered, crafty pink shelf project from Pinterest — most likely you sit down, turn on the computer, and enter another world, hardly noticing what else is going on around you.

Reddit user sthone has created a one-of-a-kind masterpiece, using equal parts genius, recycling, and his 3D printer. The only question is whether he can start mass producing these for everyone who doesn’t have time to make one on their own.

He has the organizational concept down to a tee, and maybe to a fascinating extreme that could certainly take off as a trend — melding the computer, desk, and all its accessories into one — including the CD-Rom, power/light switches, card reader, and USB port. Perhaps sthone has this right: before we can become one with the computer, the computer needs to become completely one with its home: the desk. After all, who is really the brains of this operation? With a design that puts the center of the universe in a protected case and sets it up in lights, we can see where his work priorities lie.

While everyone suggests starting with throwing things away, ironically, sthone actually began by taking something out of the trash, and bringing it back to life, in the form of his girlfriend’s old computer which gave him pause with a ‘wait a minute’ brainstorm as he inspected the innards of an old system going to the trash and recycling, and realized the parts looked pretty good; in fact, even better than his own system. With the help of his Makergear M2 3D printer, trash turned into treasure.

The project literally is one that grew from the ground up — or rather, the desk up — as sthone began to work with some of the pieces from the old system and basically nailed the preliminary parts into a compartment in the desk for stability — and the enviable creation grew from there — into a futuristic looking design that should inspire us all.

With a number of creative touches, sthone really went to town on this integrated desk/computer model, and one can only wonder what his girlfriend’s reaction was as she watched what was originally in the trash grow into the coolest desk around. With the computer’s workings encased in plexiglass, sthone 3D printed a number of accessories and parts to make the customized computer desk.

He designed and 3D printed:

• A case to organize all the wires
• Two fans
• Exhaust port grill
• A Marvin the Martian fan grill
• Custom intake grill bearing a custom skull and crossbones
• Wire grommets for the desktop
• Wire stays to organize under the desk

To further make this the envy of the entire home office community, sthone used a drill to make a pattern on the desktop, employing LEDs to light up designated areas like the home for the mouse. The plexiglass area where the computer is actually housed is illuminated as well — with the lights off, it looks like command central where very important things happen. Bottom line on this streamlined, ergonomic creation: I want one. Don’t you?

Discuss this innovative design in the Customized Computer Desk with 3D Printed Parts forum over at 3DPB.com. Check out more photos of the desk, including some details, below.

Custom 3D printed intake grill