Flat Pack Desk

This idea came to me one weekend when I realized that I had had the same desk since middle school.  Time for an update.  I had one 4' by 8' panel of 'Green' laminated vineer lumber (LVL) for the whole desk.  Being a college kid, I thought about how many times I'd be moving in the near future so i wanted to be able to move the desk easily and assemble it with out hardware.  I tend to lose hardware so I didn't want to risk it.  I began playing with various ideas and designs for desks but soon noticed that most of them used fasteners, wood and metal.  I was going about this all wrong.  How do I fix two pieces of wood semi-permanently?  I went through peg systems, interlocking systems, and stacking systems.  Finally, I settled on a slotted and interlocking system that is reminescent of this old play cube I had as a child. 

It worked, now sizing the piece to fit on a 4' by 8' standard sized panel and still useable.  I began investigating the appropriate heights, widths and depths and found that I needed to be creative on how and where these piece came from in the panel.  10 or so iterations and it fit on 1-1/2 panels.  More problem solving, and it all fit on the panel, but would it work full scale?

I had built many 1/4 scale models with masonite and laser cutters that assembled great, but the real test was the full size.  A CNC Router machine would make quick work of my 4' by 8' panel.

Final assembly was tough, some hand finishing was required, but it fit like a glove.  The more that I assembled and disassembled the desk the easier it became.  It was a dream come true.