Standing Desk in library + Hidden Computers

Hi All

Wondering if anyone has done anything like this at school.

I am looking to install a very thin floating desk that has the motherboards hidden inside. Then wall mount the monitors so that the only items on the desk are keyboard and mice. The idea is to have more of a "station" so that children come and use the computers, then leave the area when finished as opposed to hanging around. My main concern is installing the motherboards inside the desk.

My main questions are: Any danger in mounting motherboards inside a wooden box?
Any down sides to a standing desk?

Here are some examples of the kind of thing I am after

PIC 1

PIC2

Cheers. Any input greatly received as this is just an idea at the moment.

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Any down sides to a standing desk?

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Students get nackard! How long will they be using them for?

I would think the idea is that they are used for short periods of time?, student logs on checks email goes away or logs on prints homewok and goes away.

Ben

Just wall mount some OptiPlex 9010s

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Originally Posted by FN-GM

Students get nackard! How long will they be using them for?

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Thats the idea. No hanging around. Quick bit of research or printing. Then straight off as nowhere to sit or hang around.

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Originally Posted by plexer

I would think the idea is that they are used for short periods of time?, student logs on checks email goes away or logs on prints homewok and goes away.

Bingo

Ben

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Originally Posted by SYSMAN_MK

Just wall mount some OptiPlex 9010s

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That would be lovely but no money for that I am afraid.

or some HP DC7800 usff - available from misco for about £100 each?

Wood is not conductive, as long as it does not hear up enough to catch fire, and as long as any paint is non-conductive you should be fine.

There is someone on the forum who mounted a suite worth of PCs in wood cases without metal ones. Works fine, just keep conductivity and sticky student fingers out.

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Originally Posted by Oaktech

or some HP DC7800 usff - available from misco for about £100 each?

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Ideally want everything hidden away.I had originally thought you meant an all-in-one machine. Hadn't realised they were so cheap though to be honest. Maybe worth considering as was planning on adding ram + ssd to these units anyway.

Cheers

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Originally Posted by titch

I am looking to install a very thin floating desk that has the motherboards hidden inside.

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Good plan. The cheapest option is probably a floating shelf under each monitor. From experience I'd suggest avoiding the Ikea one, it's nearly impossible to attach to the wall properly, try the Homebase model or similar instead.

If you're worried about heat dissipation you can always simply install fans in the side of the shelf. I'd probably go for a fanless Atom motherboard:

LinITX.com - Fanless Motherboards

Those motherboards are quite cheap - they come with an integrated processor, so all you need to add is some RAM and some storage (a cheap SSD should do it - LinITX also sell basic ones: LinITX.com - Solid State Drives (SSD)).

If you just want a thin client, you could use Raspberry Pi.

I've looked at these before, which sound like they're similar to what you're after ;

I-desk I-Fold
or
I-desk I-Cyber

(no affiliation with the company, just seen at BETT and during the course of project scoping)

JB.

Have you thought about using a VESA mounted PC (screwed into place behind the monitor)?
It'll reduce the visible cables & secures the PC from curious fingers.

Hi Sorry I'm a bit late to this. I created 3 suites of ITX motherboards (many moons ago) using the sub desk space as the case, Hinged panel panel in knee area, kitchen worktop on top) on the whole it worked quite well. We tried the same thing housing standard desktops but the heat build up was too much, we needed to add two external extractor fans (ventaxia) to shift air through the sub desk space.