Building CDJ, Studio Monitor, and Laptop stands- just bought the supplies… [PICS]
I just went shopping for supplied to build some stands for my gear, my setup is way too wide (I have a pair of Technics on the way and I need to make room for studio gear). So I am going to elevate the CDJs, make a better laptop stand (the uberstand is too small and shaky for my laptop) and some Monitor stands instead of having these big ugly floor stands.
So I got some hard wood I will be using. It is about 10" wide which is perfect for making the monitor and laptop stands, just single cuts for those and I’m set. For the CDJs I need them to be about 14" wide and this was the widest wood they had. Let me tell you home depot in manhattan is not the warehouse I’m used to in the suburbs, very limited selection and virtually no wood or lumber, the plywood they had was tiny sheets and they don’t cut it there like other stores do.
Anyway, I am going to use wood glue to join the thin strip to the wide one to make them the perfect width for the CDJ stands, then I’ll use the same strip as a bottom lip since they will be angled. wood glue is very stron so I shouldn’t have a problem, I’ll probably use two hidden screws on the angled lip just to set them in place and for a little extra support.
Piping and parts are EXPENSIVE, I spent $220 total and the flanged that were over $8 each probably made up the most of it. I have straight lengths for the laptop and monitors. Looking at them now they may be a little too long and if they are I will exchange them. The short 8" pieces will be joined with a 45* fitting for the CDJs.
I haven’t decided if I am going to bolt directly into my desk top yet, I bought another cheaper hard wood to make platforms that can free stand so I can move them around if I decide I don’t want to screw into my desk yet. I also got some dark ebony stain I think will look nice. I got a cheap circular saw and better blade for it, hopefully I can return them when I’m done, home depot really ripped me off on those pipe fittings and I didn’t want to spend that much.
Any tips or suggestions? Now the tricky part is finding a time and place to saw the wood. I can’t do it now because of neighbors. I might go to the roof tomorrow during the day to do my chopping work where a little saw dust and noise won’t bother anyone.
Yes this is all for my home studio. I would screw it to the desk if I was 100% sure everything was going where I wanted but I think I’ll use wood bases for flexibility until I’,m sure. Eventually I will build a wood flush mount cover for the entire setup so everything is flush against the surface.
I’m glad i waited until now to start this project, it looks like I’ll be abandoning most of it, it is simply not cost effective enough now that I found a much better readymade unit, this must have just come out since I’ve been looking for exactly this and couldn’t find it…
I’m going to return everything except 4 flanges, two 18" pipes and some screws and get $200 or so back. I’m going to make the monitor stands but I’m going to use the metal top plates from my current floor monitor stands. I just need to drill a few holes and bolt them on. Checp, effective, and it will look clean with the Odyssey stand instead of introducing wood that isn’t adhustable into my setup. Oh well, it would have worked but been a pain and this option is portable and sleeker.
You should take that $20 and buy some microfiber cloths to dust your gear off
I’ve been frequenting the Catholic services center (similar to Salvation Army) in my town getting piecemeal parts on the cheap for my stuff as i’m quickly running out of space. Almost got an old steel desk from the 60s last week. That thing was a GD battleship but it has serious mojo.
Actually, with the wood I have I can make a wide flat platform that runs across the top held up by the piping then have a flat piece against the back that makes it booth like and hides the wires. I think I am going to do that then figure out a way to slant the CDJs later, they will be fine flat for now.
Here’s a tip.
If you plan to glue two pieces of solid wood just make sure that the grain curve on each is opposite each other. Else you will eventually get unwanted warping and an uneven surface. Ideally the two join ends would be planed down a tad to “open up” the fibers allowing the glue to soak in and also clean the surface of oils etc.
So the monitor stands are finished, orignally bought 24" pipe for them but it is too tall so I have one 18" and I have to return the 24" ones and get another 18, it’s pretty slick.
I still don’t know what I’m doing about the CDJ/laptop mount. I am waiting on a couple of deals for stands, that one odyssey one and a cheap bolt don dual CDJ stand I found.
Not a major factor (not even sure it’s measureable), but in theory wrapping wires containing an alternating signal around a ferrous core creates a inductor, which resists the signal from travelling. Best to zip-tie or velcro the wires down the pipes in a straight line.
Nice use of pipe fittings. Any ideas on how to add angled tables to the top ends? Something using triangles of wood or bent iron angle brackets fixed to a flat platform?
Hmm bent iron brackets sounds good, thanks for the idea. I will fix the wires if it becomes an issue so far I haven’t noticed anything but did think about that, also having the power next to the signal had me a little concerned but it’s such a short run.
Right now I want to do one long flat plateform with a back to it to make a booth like hutch sort of thing. That would leave the CDJs flat though so to angle them I would need to make another contraption which would get complicated. I’m waiting to see what the deal with these two other stands I found on craigslist is.
Thank you. I still need to get a large drill bit to cut a hole for wires. I’m also thinking about turning the table around so it is against my window since I can’t really DJ looking out into my living room- not enough space for parties. That would also hide the less attractive backside of the equipment and wires.
what material is the desktop and i take it those are bolts through the bottom base of the speakerstand into the desktop?
i see that small base vs the height and where the weight of the speakers are vs the strength of the desktop material potentially being problem but that’s just from looking at those pics.
If you do the pipe style stands one thing I’ve done in the past is to grind out a slot down past the threads of the pipe big enough for any cables to slide into, it takes a little more time to assemble/disassemble but the end look is really clean : )
