A friend/client reached out with an idea for a project to improve his workspace. He loved the look of the Balolo Setup Cockpit and wanted something similar, but customised to fit his desk layout and materials. Knowing how much we love making things, he asked if we could bring his vision to life—and of course, we were excited to take on the challenge!
The Process
- The Design - After a site visit to get specifications for the design, we created a 3D model and plan for the stand, iterating until we finalised the design, taking into consideration the space available, size of the monitors, as well as incorporating a small groove to assist in cable management.
- Sourcing Material - We sourced some White Oak Veneered Poplar Core plywood for the material in order for it to fit the existing materials and style of the clients workspace.
- Making Jigs - 3D modelled and printed jigs were created to enable exact part cutting, hole location placements and corner radii.
- Cutting Parts - With the material on hand, we laid out and cut the parts required to dimension.
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Drilling Holes - With the aid of our jigs, we laid out the accessory mounting grid, and leg mounting holes, and drilled 33 holes in the bottom of the top, and mounting holes through the legs.
- Routing - We rounded the corners of the top using the custom corner radius jig, and then routed the signature MelonPickle asymmetrical chamfers to the the top giving it an elegant shape
- Filling Voids - We mixed up sawdust from the top with some wood glue, to create a perfectly colour matched filler, and filled all the voids exposed along the edge of the plywood.
- Sanding - It was then time to sand the excess glue off, and finish sand the parts.
- Mounting the Mounting Grid - With a top ready for finish, we were able to install the mounting grid in the bottom. We installed 33 M6 threaded inserts into the holes drilled into the bottom, to act as both a method of mounting the legs, but also a flexible system to mount various accessories to the table.
- Painting - We proceeded to paint the legs of the monitor stand Matte Black, to match the aesthetic of the black legs of the clients desk.
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Finishing - The top was finished with a couple of coats of Danish Oil giving it a durable, long lasting, hard wearing natural finish, bringing out the beauty of the wood.
- Assembly - We then assembled the stand, by mounting the legs to the mounting grid with some M6 bolts.
- Finishing Touches - All that remained were some finishing touches. We laser cut a MelonPickle badge which we glued to one of the legs, added felt to the bottom of the legs to ensure they wouldn't leave any scratches, and modelled and 3D Printed a custom phone holder as the first accessory for the desk.
We delivered the monitor stand, and it was a perfect fit—just what he had envisioned! Along the way, we faced a few big hurdles, but each challenge taught us something new about the materials and helped us build new skills. Pushing through made the final result even more rewarding!
Things to improve on
Due to using more glue than was necessary when filling the voids in the ply, and then not being cautious enough when sanding it off after it was dry, we inadvertently sanded through the white oak veneer. This caused us to need to completely remake the top, from cutting out a new piece, drilling the mounting grid holes, rounding the corners and adding our asymmetric chamfers. Fortunately we were much more careful the second time around, hand sanding the "danger zones" to ensure we were left with a flawless top.