- 2 phút trước
Máy tính để bàn này sẽ làm bạn bất ngờ và thích thú đấy
Danh mục
🤖
Công nghệPhụ đề
00:00Coming up in this video, we'll be working with sliding rails, pneumatics and springs,
00:05as well as soldering up a giant heat spreader for an experimental cooling system, all on
00:10top of dismantling an OLED monitor.
00:13And the goal?
00:14Building what appears to be a normal wooden desk.
00:18However you are watching DIY Perks, so this desk is far from ordinary.
00:24It is in fact the end game invisible PC.
00:29Let's go.
00:31Now some parts of this build are going to be super complicated.
00:35But thankfully, one thing that I won't have to design myself are the legs, as this video
00:39is being sponsored by Flexispot, advertising their E7 Pro standing desk system, which I'm
00:46going to be integrating completely into the build.
00:50Now if you've not heard of Flexispot before, they make really solid adjustable height desks
00:54that can change the way you interact with your computer.
00:57Thanks to the way the legs have been designed, they can actually be mounted onto custom desktops,
01:03which I'm going to take full advantage of by making a massive custom desktop so we have
01:07enough room for the various mechanisms that will make the invisibility concept work.
01:11And just like my last desk PC build, I'm going to be using for its main structure two sheets
01:17of three millimetre thick aluminium.
01:19Now, as you can see, it is somewhat bendy, but that's easy to fix with some extruded aluminium lengths.
01:27By screwing the aluminium sheets directly to these, they become a lamination, which brings some significant advantages
01:35while remaining hollow.
01:36You see, these sheets were super floppy, but just look how rigid they are now that they're bolted together.
01:43And this is going to make a fantastic desktop.
01:47So with all that done, we're now actually ready to start working on the potentially quite complex mechanism
01:54to make the hidden monitor system.
01:56Despite how complicated things are going to get, it starts out being quite easy,
02:01as cutting a hole for the monitor to fold down into only takes a few minutes using a jigsaw,
02:06as aluminium is quite a soft metal.
02:08Choosing a hinge for this is where things start getting a bit more involved, though.
02:12You see, simple hinges like butt hinges would leave a visible edge, going against the concept of the build.
02:19But what about concealed cabinet hinges?
02:21These are definitely more like it, but unfortunately they don't rotate around a stationary point,
02:27as this point literally moves as they open, making them difficult to figure out how to design around
02:32for a non-standard use case like this.
02:35Ultimately, after a lot of experimentation, I've settled on some rather unusual invisible hinges,
02:40which thankfully have a purely rotational hinge movement, making them far easier to design around.
02:47And with them mounted in place, the hatch can open and close without the hinges being visible in the closed
02:52position.
02:53Perfect.
02:54With this now sorted, the complexity is about to skyrocket, though,
02:58as we need to use this rotational movement to affect the height of a platform in front of the hatch,
03:04basically turning rotational movement into linear movement.
03:08Before we can get going with this, though, we need to make the platform itself,
03:12which can just be cut from the lower aluminium sheet, making it look a bit nicer with some vinyl wrap.
03:18As this platform needs to have various components mounted to it,
03:21I'm going to utilise some V-slot profiling to give them adjustability,
03:25as they can be used with captive T-nuts anywhere along their length.
03:29This allows pretty much anything to be added or taken away or adjusted as required,
03:34which is going to be very important for the mechanisms we're about to build.
03:37The first of these mechanisms is going to be limiting the platform to purely up and down movement,
03:43and is going to be based upon some linear sliding rails.
03:46These work thanks to having tiny bearings inside a guide carriage for smooth operation,
03:51and thanks to the V-slot profiles, they're very easy to mount in place, with one in each corner.
03:56Once they're mounted to their accompanying rails, they allow the platform to slide up and down as required.
04:03But how are we going to control its height purely from the rotational movement of the monitor hatch?
04:09Well, the key relies on the addition of another set of linear rails to the top of the platform,
04:14linked together with some aluminium strips.
04:18That these can slide back and forth is vital, as the intention is to use them with some heavy-duty
04:23L-brackets.
04:24These are custom-made to be of the required dimensions, and have bearings installed to provide an easily rotatable point
04:32where they're attached to the additional sliders.
04:35Now, while everything is upside down in these shots, you should still be able to understand what's going on here.
04:41With the other side of the brackets screwed to the monitor hatch,
04:45the monitor hatch's rotational movement causes the other end of the L-brackets to be forced further away.
04:51And because they're linked to the platform through the sliding sections, the platform is completely free to follow along.
04:58Cool.
04:59As you can see, though, it only affects the rear side of the platform.
05:03But as the sliding section runs all the way to the front, we can actually use some extra identically proportioned
05:10brackets
05:10to exploit geometry and turn it into a parallelogram, forcing it to remain flat no matter what.
05:18With it flipped the right way up, it's now the moment of truth.
05:22Will it work?
05:25Hey, look at that!
05:27Much to my joy, this works a treat, with the opening of the hatch resulting in the platform rising up
05:33to become
05:34flush with the rest of the desk, the most important milestone of this build.
05:40As you can see, though, it does have a tendency to slam closed.
05:44But this is easily fixed with some pneumatic struts.
05:48These strongly resist being opened out, but are happy to close with very little opposition.
05:53So, by attaching them to the V-slot profiles, they'll restrict the movement of the sliding section
05:58and force the hatch to close softly.
06:01I'm also integrating some tension springs to help them along,
06:05as they'll counter the effect of gravity on the platform and the hatch,
06:08and bias them towards their opened positions.
06:11This balances the system beautifully, providing not only a nice soft close action,
06:17but making it much lighter to operate as well.
06:20To finish things off, the use of some magnets allows it to confidently lock into its open position when it
06:26gets there,
06:27which makes the platform feel surprisingly solid.
06:30There's plenty of space for a keyboard and mouse here,
06:33and the mechanism moves them out of the way completely to make room for the screen.
06:38Speaking of which, seeing as it's such an important feature, it makes sense to go with one that's rather special.
06:45You see, computer monitors have gone through some major advances in the past few years,
06:49to the point where we can forget about old-style LCD panels like this entirely,
06:54and use a vastly superior OLED one instead.
06:59Now, as you can see, this is an ultra-wide, which is a fantastic format for both gaming and productivity,
07:05but what makes it particularly special is that it can be made flat,
07:10an essential feature for the desk as it makes the monitor's profile super thin.
07:15Its electronics pose a challenge, though, as they are on the back, so need to be detached to be hidden
07:20elsewhere.
07:21I'll be honest, dismantling such an expensive monitor is a bit scary,
07:26but there's not too much that can go wrong so long as I'm super careful.
07:30This one is more complicated than most due to its adjustable curvature arm,
07:35but once everything is finally stripped down, I'm left with the raw OLED panel.
07:40It's incredibly thin, and also thankfully incredibly light, but it does have some proud mounting cylinders
07:48that will prevent me from attaching it directly to the front of the monitor hatch, as they are simply in
07:53the way.
07:54My only real option is to drill holes in the monitor hatch for them to hopefully disappear into.
07:59As this is also a bit floppy, though, I've made two identical copies to make it two layers thick,
08:05with some vinyl wrap around its perimeter to finish off its visible edge.
08:10Once it's reattached, a front plate can also be installed directly onto it.
08:15This again helps with rigidity, but it also provides a lip for the OLED panel to rest upon.
08:22Now, so much of the build actually relies on this installation going smoothly,
08:27and if it goes wrong, it's going to be extremely costly, because this panel and the screen was like 2k.
08:34So, yeah, there's a lot resting on this actually working well.
08:39So, I'm just going to lift it up, and it's going to stand on that lip,
08:43and these holes at the back should allow the little noggins to go through.
08:47And as each of these noggins has an internal thread,
08:51I can use them in conjunction with some washers to pull them tightly in place.
08:55There's just enough room on the bottom here to connect one of the two control boards as well,
08:59with the other tucked inside the desk behind the hinges.
09:03With the screen now installed, the concept really is starting to come together,
09:09and it's looking pretty awesome.
09:10But as this is just so unique, I think it deserves high-power PC components for inside it.
09:17The ones I have for this are some of the highest-end parts available right now.
09:22An Intel 13900K on an ITX motherboard, and a Zotac 4090 graphics card.
09:28To get the most out of them, I am of course using water blocks,
09:32so that the heat that they generate can be pulled away from them as quickly as possible.
09:36And of course, the other benefit of using water cooling is that it keeps their profile quite low,
09:40so that they can fit within the desk, using some PCB pillars to make them nice and secure.
09:46As there's not quite enough room for a normal power supply though,
09:50I'm using a set of gallium nitride alternatives.
09:53These can deliver 500 watts each, one of which is dedicated for the motherboard and CPU,
09:59and the other for the graphics card.
10:01As for storage, I'm adding a Flashdoor NAS that I'm populating with 12 4TB flash drives,
10:07for a rather gargantuan 48TB of space, accessed directly through a 10Gb M.2 network card.
10:16We are, after all, going for the endgame here.
10:19With everything wired up, and the water blocks connected together in series,
10:23we need to think seriously about how we're going to deal with all of the heat that these components
10:27generate, as they total over 800 watts. And standard PC radiators aren't really an option,
10:34because they're just so thick.
10:36While smaller radiators are definitely available, I have an idea that I really want to try,
10:41which is to use these old server heat sinks. As you can see,
10:45they've got a really fine fin structure, which makes them extremely effective at transferring heat
10:50into the surrounding air. And they're the perfect size to match these laptop fans.
10:55If you recognize these, these are actually from my previous project, where we made a portable PS5.
11:00And if you remember from that video, these fans are bi-directional, which means that they can actually
11:06cool two heat sinks at once. And in this configuration, they can actually get rid of 40 watts of heat
11:13silently.
11:15Now, obviously, that's a long way shy of the required 800 we need to get rid of here. And that's
11:21why I've bought 40 of them.
11:23This is possible only because they are just so cheap, as they are, after all, from decommissioned servers,
11:29and are available online for pretty much nothing.
11:32In order to combine them together into one giant heat sink, though, I've bought some brass box sections
11:38to make a massive heat spreader for them to attach to. As you can see, these are completely
11:44hollow, which is important, as the idea is to have the water that cools the components
11:48flow through them to transfer all of the heat into the brass. To do this effectively,
11:54they each need some holes drilled through them so that the water can flow from one to the other.
11:59Being brass, they can, of course, be soldered together really easily, making each join watertight.
12:05In order to provide some water entry points, I'm simply using some barbed elbow joints,
12:10using plenty of solder to ensure that there won't be any leaks.
12:15The intention with this is for water to enter one port and go up and down its entire length
12:21a few times before exiting through the other port. As the surface area of this new brass construction
12:27is so large, it basically becomes a massive heat spreader, which allows all of the heat sinks
12:33to work in tandem to remove all of the heat from the water.
12:36Now, it does end up being super heavy, but thankfully, I don't have to worry about this,
12:42as the Flexispot desk is happy with a load up to 160 kilograms. So me and my dad should weigh
12:48about 160 kilograms together, and the desk can handle it no problem. It goes so high,
12:55you could actually paint a ceiling really easily with it. And this is a lot of weight. This is two
13:01people. Like, it's a lot. So I don't think it's going to have any problems holding those heat sinks.
13:08Having so many heat sinks, though, does mean we need quite a few fans to keep them all cool,
13:13with the idea being that they should each work at a slow speed to operate quietly.
13:18In order to take advantage of their bi-directional air output, I've 3D printed some air ducts that can take
13:24the rear output and push it back towards the top heat sink, so they both get cooled at the same
13:29time.
13:30Now, wiring up so many fans has the potential to be quite a tedious job, but my favourite method to
13:36speed things up is to use strips of copper tape to make some voltage rails, with the third strip
13:42carrying a fan speed control signal, known as a PWM signal. After hooking up the custom brass heat
13:49spreader to the main water cooling loop, the whole thing is ready to be filled with coolant. As there
13:54hasn't really been room for a proper reservoir inside the PC, though, I'm using an external pump
13:59to force the water into the system, as it allows me to get rid of any air pockets by temporarily
14:04looping
14:05the coolant through the external plastic container. Before we can test it out, though,
14:10it does need closing up with the bottom panel. Since you last saw this, it's had a variety of holes
14:16and
14:16cutouts made in it, most of which are for airflow purposes, and to allow for easily removable covers
14:22for access to the internal components. So although this is on the bottom and won't really be seen,
14:29having it finished in this vinyl wrap makes it look really rather smart, and honestly I'm pretty happy
14:34with how it's turned out. But before we flip it over and start working on the top section, which is
14:40of
14:40course still raw aluminium, I'm getting fed up of it just being perched on top of my workbench. So I
14:47think it's high time that it has its own legs, and this is where we're going to be installing and
14:52integrating FlexiSpot's standing desk system. Now this is the E7 Pro, and I've made some slots for
15:00the legs to be fitted into, like so. Now if you weren't integrating these into such a custom project,
15:08they'd normally be installed onto their robust steel frame, which is how FlexiSpot have managed
15:13to maximise rigidity on all of their desks. This steel frame also houses the control box,
15:19with a smart magnetic cover keeping it all neat. For me though, I've housed this control box inside the
15:26spare chamber opposite the PC components, where all the cables for it can be plugged in. So with the feet
15:32added, the next job is to get this upright, and I think it's a bit heavy for me to do
15:38on my own, so I'm
15:40going to employ some help. Oh nice! That's good! Look how solid that is! Hey look at that! How cool
15:54is this?
15:54Now let's try out the FlexiSpot legs. Oh yeah! All that smooth! Check that out! So I've just adjusted it
16:05up,
16:05and it should be about the right height to use as a sit-down desk, which it is. But what
16:11if I want to
16:12stand and do some work standing up, which I personally actually prefer a lot? Well, with the push for button,
16:18I can actually raise this up, and it becomes a standing desk. Look at that! And if you're particularly tall,
16:26it can go really high. It just keeps going, and going, and going, and we're done. So it comes to
16:40a nice stop.
16:40Now, as you can see, the raw aluminium doesn't really suit being a desk surface,
16:45so we need a way of covering it with a much more suitable material. I've encountered this
16:50problem before, of course, as the original invisible PC was also constructed out of aluminium,
16:56which I gave a wood appearance by gluing thin wood veneer on top to disguise it. This hasn't really stood
17:02up to the test of time, though, as some parts of it have started to peel away. So this time
17:08round,
17:08I've ordered some massive oak planks. Don't worry, I'm not about to stick these on top and call it a
17:15day. I took them to a joiner to have them divided up into many smaller and thinner lengths. Compared
17:22to veneer, these are still much thicker, though, and are actually structurally sound, and will make a
17:27much more robust covering for the desk. I'm using some CT1 glue here to stick them down to the aluminium,
17:33being extremely careful to make sure that they fit nicely around the monitor hatch and the keyboard
17:39platform. Another advantage of using thicker wood compared to veneer is that it's possible to route
17:45out some patches of it underneath to make room for any elements on the desk that are proud of the
17:50main
17:51aluminium surface, like the back of the monitor's wiring and some of its threaded noggins. If you're
17:57wondering what the white patches are, that's actually wood filler, which goes into any gaps or
18:02knots to make them smooth once it's sanded down. So with all of the wood added, it really hides the
18:09aluminium well. But what about the front and sides? Due to all of the mechanisms that have been jammed
18:15inside the desk, it's not actually super thin. But to make it appear much thinner and more elegant,
18:21we can employ another illusion, tapered edges. As you can see, these have an angle to their underside,
18:29which means that once they're glued to the outer perimeter, they give the desk a much thinner
18:34appearance, with only the thinner forward edge being visible. Very cool. The mitre joints in particular
18:41are a really nice touch, and I've got my dad to thank for these, as he made these extra sections,
18:46and that's why they're so precise, as he's a much better woodworker than I am. After giving it a
18:51thorough sanding down, it looks absolutely fantastic, and the final job is to give it several thin coats
18:58of oil to bring out the richness of the wood. When putting oil on oak, it can end up with
19:04a pretty
19:04bold, honey-coloured finish, which I'm personally not a fan of. So to avoid this, I'm using a combination
19:10of two types of oil to give it a lighter appearance. The difference with this technique makes it look almost
19:15like a different type of wood, and is definitely more to my tastes. Being oiled gives the surface a cohesive
19:22finish, with the hatch barely being visible now, except the back edge of course. As the hinge point
19:28is below the surface of the wood, a groove has had to be made to prevent the wood from intersecting
19:34and jamming as it opens. To make it completely invisible, I've made a little spring-loaded insert
19:41that can fill the gap, with the idea being for it to move out of the way as the hatch
19:45opens and pull
19:47itself back in when closed, and it's surprisingly effective. And with that, the end-game invisible
19:54PC is complete. Just looking at it, you wouldn't assume that there's an entire PC setup here. The
20:02thought that there's a monitor, keyboard, mouse, and a fully water-cooled selection of ultra-high-end
20:08components right here in front of you is kind of wild. Even if you did know it was here though,
20:14how on earth is it supposed to be opened? Well, this secret lies with what appears to be a silver
20:19paperweight. It might appear rather ordinary, but it's actually a super strong magnet. Of course, it's
20:26not attracted to the aluminium at all, so even when resting on the desk, it doesn't give any clues away.
20:31But earlier, I embedded a steel sheet into the top edge of the monitor hatch, underneath one of the
20:37bits of wood. This gives the paperweight a specific area to be strongly attracted to,
20:42allowing it to become a sort of key that can be used to open the system up. Thanks to the
20:47internal
20:48sliding rail mechanism, this opening action brings the keyboard platform up to be flush with the rest
20:53of the desk surface. And because it moves so thoroughly out of the way when closed, there's space
20:59for pretty much anything you can think of. Here, I've not only got my full-sized mechanical keyboard and
21:05mouse, but I've built a little speaker system and dock as well. Even headphones and an audio interface
21:12can be fitted here, all to be made invisible with one simple movement.
21:18That this works so well is hugely satisfying, especially having spent so many weeks making
21:24sure that this mechanism works properly. And that it's on FlexiSpot's adjustable height
21:30desk system gives it that final level of polish. Now, one aspect of the build that hasn't been tested
21:36yet is its cooling system, which is rather unusual. So let's put it through its paces and make sure that
21:41it can actually keep the hardware in check. For this, I'm running two bits of software at the same time,
21:49Prime95 and Fermark. These stress the CPU and graphics card respectively to push them to their
21:54limits for maximum power draw, the heat from which has to be gotten rid of by the cooling system.
22:00As the components I've used are pretty much the highest end parts you can get right now,
22:03it's a lot of heat to contend with. And ideally, we're looking for them to flatline in temperature.
22:09But disaster, they don't. The temperatures of the components keep going up and up, ultimately reaching
22:17their maximum and throttling to keep themselves from overheating. And what's worse is that this
22:23is with the fans at full pelts, making a lot of noise. Now, this is supposed to be the end
22:28game
22:28invisible PC, so that its cooling system isn't working anywhere near where it should is pretty
22:35annoying. So what on earth is going on here and what can we do about it? Well, after some experimentation,
22:42it appears that the issue lies with the airflow path of the fans being too restricted by things like
22:47the air ducts and, ironically, the fine fin structure of the heatsinks, resulting in them
22:52barely moving any air at all. It's actually so bad that I think the best course of action
22:57is to completely remove this version of the cooling setup and come at it from a different angle,
23:03this time swapping out the small bi-directional fans for some normal 140mm PC fans. You know,
23:11there's a reason why they use them in PCs, and sometimes, just sometimes, it's worth going with the
23:16crowd and not experimenting too much. They do, of course, protrude beyond the bottom of the desk now,
23:22but I don't think that this will be too much of an issue, as they are at the back after
23:26all,
23:27and will never really be seen. These obviously can't be made to work with the old heatsinks,
23:31so I'm swapping them out as well in favour of some that have a significantly wider thin spacing,
23:36as well as a taller height, and this should help keep airflow restrictions to a minimum.
23:42These heatsinks are also from decommissioned servers, and are even cheaper than the first
23:47set, despite being much larger and arguably nicer looking thanks to their nickel-plated finish.
23:53From here, it's pretty much the same as before. The heatsinks can be placed side by side right along
23:58the back of the desk, with the custom brass heat spreader being sandwiched in between them.
24:03It looks kind of wild, and I've never seen so much heatsink surface before.
24:09This might seem a bit over the top, but the thing is, these heatsinks have cost less than a single
24:15computer radiator. So in terms of value, they're actually excellent, but will they fix our cooling
24:23issues? There's only one way to find out.
24:26Well, uh, yeah. Yeah, they do. Perhaps a little unsurprisingly, this quantity of heatsinks absolutely
24:34obliterates any heat in the system, and it's able to keep all of the components cool without even
24:40breaking a sweat. I mean, the fans are turning at about 400 rpm, and yet they're keeping 800 watts of
24:47PC cool silently. And I really do mean silently. Here's a little example.
24:54So you're presently listening to the audio output from this studio-grade microphone,
24:59so if the PC is making any noise, you should be able to hear it.
25:07I can barely hear anything.
25:16That's an absolutely fantastic resource. Remember, this is running Fairmark and Prime 95.
25:24I'm happy with that. Now, although this heatsink setup is far larger than the old one,
25:29it's not at all visible unless you're literally on the floor. So there really is no compromise for
25:35getting pretty much the ultimate in cooling performance, as it can handle anything that's
25:39thrown at it while remaining inaudible. Speaking of compromises, there are certainly none here.
25:45We've got ultra-high-end components driving an ultra-wide OLED monitor with a full-sized mechanical
25:52keyboard and mouse. And would you know any of it was here at all? I'll let you be the judge.
25:59But other than that, I really hope you've enjoyed seeing this end-game, invisible PC.
26:05It's been a wild one. It's taken so much effort, but I think it's been worth it, because this thing,
26:11I think, has the highest end finish of anything I've built. Now, a quick shout-out to Basically
26:18Homeless for setting the par high for me to revisit this topic again. And yeah, I wonder what he'll do
26:26next. But other than that, I'm Matt, you've been watching DIY Perks, and I hope to see you next time.
26:32Goodbye, for now.