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Lasagna Noodle Desk made of Maple
Nov 07, 2022
I’m a novice woodworker and recently started as an Assistant Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at MIT. I designed and made a curvilinear desk at the MIT Hobby Shop for my office utilizing reclaimed maple from the school’s basketball court renovation. Part of the project was standard glue-up for the flat desktop. To make the curves I used both a lathe and a CNC router. I also spent a month hand sanding and using a scraper to smooth it off. I’ve attached photos of the desk and included additional information below.
The inspiration for this project was that I wanted to commit to a project that would get me out of my office and working with my hands so I could start my time as an Assistant Professor with the precedence of balance. When it came to the design, I wanted to build an unconventional desk that would be challenging to construct, requiring that I learn new tools and techniques, and provide a fun way to interact with folks visiting my office.
For many more in progress photos please see my Instructable post:
which recently won the Grand Prize in the Instructables First Time Author Contest
Finally, I’d like to give a huge thank you to the resources of the Hobby Shop and the shop instructors (Coby Unger and Hayami Akawa) who enabled me to create this desk — I would not have attempted it without them! I’d also like to thank Matt McGlashing of the MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics for the beautiful installation of this desk in my office!
Furniture type:
Desk
Wood:
Maple
Other materials:
3 zipbolts, a black anodized aluminum L angle, some screws
Finish:
Danish Oil (Natural color)
Approx. hours to complete:
About a solid month of work over the span of 9 months.
Dimensions: 30″ x 54″ x 36″
Photographers: Tess Smidt and Coby Unger and Jay Connor
Do you own the rights to the photographs: Yes
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The desk installed in my office on campus.
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Rolling and gluing up wooden half-tubes from trapezoidal slats to form the curves of the desk. Spring clamps held the tubes in place for drying and when smoothing the outside on the lathe.
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CNC'ing the inside of the half-tubes followed by many hours of scraping and hand sanding.
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Glue-up of the straight and curved pieces. Scrap blocks were hot-glued on to the maple to give something for the clamps to hold on to.
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