How to set up your home office with a DIY Cable Management Box

Difficulty

Easy

A home office desk becomes a mess in no time. Alongside pens, notebooks, a cup of coffee and some snacks, there’s usually a laptop, mobile phone and tablet lying around. Time to organise! In just a few steps, you can easily create your own cable box. As a result, you will have a clean and tidy home office set-up with all your cables managed in one box.

You need

Tools

Utilities

Pencil
Notebook
Ruler
Compass
Safety gear

Materials

Wooden box

L: Length, W: Width, H: Height, D: Diameter

Video instructions

Step 1 5

Decide on a design for your cable box

Sketch your design of your DIY cable box

Start your project by choosing a design. How many holes would you like your cable organiser to have? This depends on the size of your box and how many sockets will need to fit in it. If you have an extension lead with three sockets, make a cable box with three holes on one of the long sides for your three cables, and a hole on one of the short sides for the extension lead to plug into the mains. Once you have a design in mind, you can sketch it on paper. Draw the box in 3D, so you’ll have an idea of what it will look like. What kind of shape the holes will be is up to you.

Step 2 5

Measure the box

Now that you’ve drawn your design on paper, it’s time to measure the wooden box that you’ll use as your cable organiser. With a ruler, measure the long side of the box. If you’re going to make three holes as we did in this video, divide the side of the box into three parts. Determine where you want to cut out the holes and, using a pencil, mark these on the box. You’ll also need to mark up a hole on the short side of the box, for the plug of the extension lead to go through. Turn the box to the short side, measure where the middle is and mark it with a pencil.

Step 3 5

Draw your design onto the box

Start to draw the design on the cable box

Before you start cutting, draw your design onto the cable box. Use the marks you just drew as a starting point. We have chosen semicircles, but you can do whatever you like. For semicircles, draw a little straight line and use a compass to make a half circle. Repeat this step with all the marks you have made until your design is on the box. Now you’re almost ready to start cutting!

Step 4 5

Cut out the design

First, secure the box to your work bench using two clamps. Make sure the box is properly secured. To distribute the pressure on the hollow box, you can put a piece of wood between the box and the clamps. Insert the Spiral Cutting Bit Multipurpose (561) into the accessory shaft of your Dremel Multi-Tool. Screw the Cutting Guide from the Multipurpose Cutting Kit (565) onto your Multi-Tool and put on safety goggles and a dust mask. Now you can carefully cut out the shapes by following the design.

Step 5 5

Smooth the edges of your cable box

Remove the splinters and smoothen edges with Dremel Abrasive brush 120 Grit (472S)

Well done, your cable management box is nearly finished! Use the Dremel EZ SpeedClic: Detail Abrasive Brush 120 grit (472S) together with the EZ SpeedClic Mandrel (SC402) to remove any splinters. Start sanding and keep on going until the edges are smooth. Afterwards, place the cable organiser on your desk and insert the extension lead into it. Don’t forget to display your favourite books and a nice plant on the box to add a little flair to it. You have just made the perfect home office set-up.