For my dad's PC, which has a huge amount of miscellaneous cables and connections even by PC standards, I dumped the powerboard, modem, hub, AC adapters and slack cable (tied with wire ties to keep neat) into a little timber box under his desk. Its about 25cm (L) x 15cm (W) x 10cm (D), which is *almost* enough. I've never really been happy with this solution, though.
For my own iMac, I have dumped all the USB hubs, etc under a footboard section of the desk, so that they're hidden from view. A bundle of colour-matched cables for 1x USB, power and a Kensington lock, tied with colour matched plastic ties, is the only visible thing running down from the Mac. However, the area under that footboard looks like an altar to the Flying Sphaghetti Monster. Again, not really the perfect solution, and I would like to come up with something better.
The fact is, there are a lot of devices I never get to use, such as a USB gamepad, simply because it's too inconvenient to dig them out, dig into all those cables, and hook it up.
With my TV/hifi system in the lounge I custom built a cabinet with a 10cm deep hidden shelf just below the lowest shelf, where all the cables can be run. The opening to this shelf is a 15cm wide channel behind the hifi components. The entire cabinet is on furniture castors, though in retrospect if I were building it again I'd use large 2.5" or 3" castors concealed behind a skirt, as that would make it easier to push on the carpet. I then mounted an 8-way powerboard onto the outside back panel. This proved to eventually not be enough, so I've added a 4 way power-board as well. I also made the mistake of mounting it too low, so really large adapters such as the Airport Express tend to brush against the floor. All inputs, such as cable and TV antenna, run to a single patch bay on the rear panel.
It is really easy to work with, as I can just roll it out, and all the cables are easy to see and reach without having to look into dark crevices, etc. I can also unplug just three plugs (power, antenna and cable) and roll the whole thing into another room single-handed, without breaking a sweat.
I don't know if that helps you, but at least it points out a few things you should be thinking about while you're building.
- Never underestimate the amount of stuff that people will want to conceal behind a desk or cabinet. Have you seen the size of the XBox 360's power supply brick? Its nearly bigger than the unit itself, and needs plenty of ventilation.
- The trouble is that they grow exponentially, they tangle easily, they become hard to keep track of and they need to be both easily accessible without climbing in behind furniture (ie, you want something your grandma can handle), and hidden from view. Tough task, eh?
- Another thing to keep in mind is that there are a lot of things that require a lead to be left hanging, so that you can plug a device in and take it off again at convenience. Mobile phones and digital cameras are good examples of this.
- There is
definitely a need for a new "why didn't I think of that?" way of sorting out all these cables. All of the solutions offered so far are pretty half-hearted and inelegant, such as cable ties with tags, little wire baskets that clip along the edge of a desk, and so on. They help, a little, but its a losing battle. If you can come up with a new way of dealing with this problem, you may actually do quite well off it.
I've also built a powertool charging cabinet in the back room with the chargers, power adapters and so on all mounted along a pine rail, with metal hooks underneath to keep cables neatly wound. Not a bad idea if your shed is looking a bit messy.
Best of luck with your project.
