Ok, I've gotten the 'green light' from the wife to build my first pit. She gave the thumbs up after saying "As long as I get the same amount of money to do with what I want that you spend, ok."

I want this pit to be 'generic' for simming, and still usable as a computer desk. I plan to fly IL-2 1946 and do some racing sims like Dirt 2, 3, and some others.

Here is what I have designed so far:



The problem I have is, not the design, but the cost. As designed it uses 1 1/4" Schedule 40 PVC pipe. The total cost for the PVC alone is going to be about $230, add in the 1/2" plywood, fasteners, and glue and your talking about almost $300. If I can build it out of 1" Schedule 40 PVC instead, that would cut the cost almost in half. I'm just not sure if 1" PVC is strong enough to hold my 20" CRT monitor.

Any engineers out there that can help me determine if 1" PVC will work for this project? Or do any of you have other ideas or designs that will still meat my goals with this project?

Thanks in advance.

If you're spending so much, why not go MDF? Might be easier.

Perhaps you could go with the 1" PVC to cut cost but get a few 2x4's to provide extra support under the monitor area. Is replacing the monitor out of the question?

I'd rather not spend that much, I'd like to keep the total budget for this project around $100 to $150 tops. Hence the question, but MDF adds a ton of weight without any additional strength, so I'd rather not (I'm personally not fond of particle board).



Replacing the 20" CRT with an equivilent LCD would cost me about $200, enough to make the project out of reach for now. In addition I still want to get a Logitech G27 racing setup.

Hmm, I hadn't thought of using wood for structural support. I may be able to redesign it to rely on plywood and 2x4's for support and use 1" pvc for the 'moving' parts, like the keyboard tray and HOTAS supports. Thanks for the ideas.

Ok, redesigned by adding 1/2" plywood outside, which should add the streangth needed.

The Cost for materials, minus fasteners and glue, is down to about $180. Still over my budget ideal, but much more managable.

Not sure about how much MDF costs in your area but from a rough guesstimate, you will only need one 2440x1200mm board for your project. MDF for your surfaces, kiln-dried or other cheap timber for your upright supports. From what I see of your drawing, you only have the main desk area as the biggest surface. You seem to have two shelves, a keyboard tray, and some small side tables, easily done with what's left over from your MDF sheet.

One 18mm MDF costs about £18, a pack of six 47x50mm timber costs... £6? Then some screws, wood glue if you want, a drill bit for pilot holes. Could be done in one afternoon.

I'm curious... you're not planning on cutting all that PVC by hand with a hacksaw, are you?

If you mount 2 pieces of 1" PVC vertically (2 legs) under the monitor between the lower table surface and the floor, they would be fine with the weight.

you can get a decent 23" lcd for 150$

1" schedule 40 PVC should hold the weight as long as you add in some supports like have already been mentioned. The problem that you will have long term with PVC is that it will start sagging since that stuff is not meant to support weight.