Friday, March 18, 2016

Drafting Table Modifications

I have a Studio Designs Futura Tower that I draw on. I keep it tilted at around a 15 degree angle. Out of the box, it had two problems that I wanted to fix:

1. The Tower has a "pencil ledge" that catches pens, pencils, and sheets of paper that slide down the desk when it's inclined. It's too useful to remove, but it sticks up in a way that hurts the wrists of anybody trying to draw or lean on the desk. So I went to the hardware store and picked up some Frost King self-adhesive weather-strip tape to put there:


Here's how my desk looks now after cutting out a strip of the weatherseal and putting it against the pencil ledge, which I was then able to lower: 



It's very comfortable for my wrist now!

The other problem was that I didn't have a flat surface to put non-drawing things on anymore. But I grabbed a foldable Walmart TV table and put it partially under the desk, creating an uncannily natural-looking extension to the desk. The picture below also includes the pencil ledge before I put the weatherseal in.


So if you have a Futura Tower, a Futura Craft Station, or any other kind of tilted drafting table, consider modifications like these to improve your drawing experience.