I recently moved all my junk to Florida from Wisconsin and don’t have a place to put all my electronics peices and parts and tools and whatnot. I don’t want it all laying around for the cats to sort for me, as most of it would end up sorted under and behind the furniture.
So I have been looking for either a TV armoir or a computer hutch. I ended up at the Rooms To Go warehouse on exit 10 off of I4. They sell all the local scratch and dent items there.
Man did I make a find! I picked up a Tracey Computer Cabinet which retails for $699.99 for $327.99. Good deal, eh? It has some minor nicks and such in the corners, but nothing more than I would pick up in a year or two. It is missing the top crown moulding and only has 3 of the legs, but this works out in my favour as well!
I am going to put it on a cabinet so it stands taller. 23 inches taller in fact. That is the height of my elbows to the keyboard tray as the hutch sits on the ground tonight. This way, I can work on it standing up, or I can use the tall chair I will be getting/making for it.
Being that I am a internet junky, most of my electronics requires programming and an eithernet connection. So I will use the ‘computer’ part of the hutch to full effect. My 4U rackmount computer will just be either in the lower cabinet or sitting on the top of the unit. I will put my rackmount KVM in it to, as my next main computer will be DVI and won’t work with the KVM. I will also add a 24 port hub so I don’t run out of ethernet jacks.
I plan on picking up one large or two smaller LCD monitors for use in the hutch. This will give me the maximum amount of storage space inside.
This is the unit sitting on the ground without the legs. I will be getting a cabinet of some sort to go underneith it. This cabinet will be for storage of all the ‘good junk’ parts like old VCR boards and so forth that I would be canabalizing from. This should leave about a foot to the ceiling. I will put the computer gear up there I think so it can keep itself cool.
It even comes with a whiteboard and corkboard! Here brother is checking it out. One of the few times he will get to sneak into it.
The Keyboard tray is sitting in a pull-out work surface. This is PERFECT for my needs as I can pull out the workbench, and also access my keyboard.
The bottom has 2 drawers, a thin shelf (for the computer I guess) and a pull out printer drawer that won’t fit either of my printers. Looks like parts and tool storage to me!
UPDATE: Here is the plans for the base I plan on making for the electronics hutch. http://mike.creuzer.com/2008/01/electronics-hutch-base-plans.html
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