That desk is a laminate top on a black steel frame: two foot bars on leveling feet, two columns, two top crossbars, a crossbeam and a cable tray. It takes about 45 minutes. The hardware comes in three bags:
- 20 hex socket bolts, M6 × 16, for the Allen key,
- 12 M6 washers,
- 12 wood screws, 4 × 16 mm, for the screwdriver.
How each tool is used:
- Allen key, 5 mm. Every frame bolt goes in hand-tight first (steps 4 to 6), so the frame can still square up. In step 9 you go round all 20 with the long arm of the key, firm but not brutal, working diagonally like the wheel nuts on a car. Leaning your full weight on it strips the threads in the steel.
- Phillips screwdriver. Eight wood screws fix the crossbars to the desktop and four hold the cable tray. Use only the 16 mm screws: a longer one comes out through the top. Pencil-mark the holes first, start every screw by hand, and stop when the head touches, or it strips the chipboard.
- Spirit level, optional. A level app on your phone works too. Check front to back and side to side, and turn the leveling foot under any corner that rocks.
- A helper. Steps 6, 7 and 10 are two-person steps: holding the legs while the crossbeam goes in, lowering the desktop onto the frame, and lifting the finished desk into place. Never drag it or pivot it on two legs.
One more thing that is not a tool: the flattened box. The desktop waits on it face down while you build the frame, because one grain of grit on bare tiles or concrete scratches the laminate.
The frame in our blueprint has no motor or control box. If yours does, its own manual adds those parts and their cables.