At my work I have a height adjustable desk, this made me want one at home as well. Being a bit more of the DIY type (and not wanting to shell out $1000) I decided to build my own. My goal was to spend as little money as possible but not sacrificing quality. My total for building this desk came out at around $350.
I had a bit of additional motiviation for this project because of my Oculus Rift where I usually stand playing. This makes it so I don't have to be constantly bending over if I want to grab the mouse or press a few buttons on my keyboard.
I have used this desk almost everyday since I have built it, and I would say it is in the standing position 75% of the time. I have found that I work more attentively while standing and have even started gaming in the standing position. I am writing this very blog post while standing at this desk!
1. Buy Actuators
So the first step was to buy a set of linear actuators. I bought my set from Ebay for $162.11 (includes shipping) and it came with a controller which was pretty nice! Mine have a max distance of 18 inches and can each support 330 lbs, this range is larger than I personally need but its great in case anyone taller would like to use it!
To throw this out there right away I knew pretty much nothing about wiring/electricity before this project so it was a lot of learning as I went. Bought the wrong type of power source initially and had to figure out wtf I actually needed for it to work! Turned out it needed a 12V and 10amp power source... bought on Amazon for $17.99
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| This is the controller that came with my linear actators, also had a wireless remote |
This is my first test (with the correct type of power) after I got them wired up! Only to find out that while they both rise at the same speed, one lowers faster than another.... by around 1 cm (damn it). Cant really solve this problem by lowering the voltage sent to one of the actuators since the problem in only on the down and not the up. To completely avoid this problem you would need to buy more expensive actuators that can actively track their height in relation to each other. But since i'm not trying to spend that much $$$ Ill put up with these. (I ended up using some door hinges to solve the angle problem.)
While not deterred from continuing, I made a few drafts of what I wanted to make also did a bit of 3D modeling to get a feel of what I was looking for.
2 quick and messy drafts trying to figure out my design and measured out the dimensions of the actuators. Surprisingly I didn't drift too far from this idea.
2. Buy the wood!
This is probably the step I struggled with the most, I went to the hardware store one time not buying anything cause I didn't know at all what I wanted. For the legs I needed telescoping columns, and to avoid wobble I needed a pretty tight fit and wood could not be warped. But again, wood can get expensive if you need a certain grade. And like stated before, im trying to make this the cheapest way possible without sacrificing quality.
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| brought one with me to make sure everything I got measured out right. |
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| Also brought friends for company |
I was not exactly looking to buy premium wood for this project and after some (a lot) of running around Lowe's I figured out a great alternative would be to get some heavy duty drawer slides. Made for a tight and smooth connection between the inner and outer legs. Since I was using these the quality of wood did not matter as much, They could be a little warped, hard to avoid anyway. I bought a few basic planks of different sizes that I knew I needed. If anyone wants me to go into more detail of exactly everything I bought I can list it. I knew the exact cuts I needed and had the very nice people at Lowe's cut it for me!
Anyway... this pic shows a pile of many of the things I bought to do this project. I ended up spending $172.44 for everything I needed at Lowes. This included the wood, wood-glue, stainer, sealer, brush, screws, bolts, heavy duty sliders, etc... I already had the clamps and drill that are needed for assembly.
3. Construction
Because of how much I planned out the needed dimensions and cuts, assembly was not hard at all! I first built the inner legs by just using wood glue and clamps. Once those dried I attached the drawer sliders to either side along with the outer legs. After that, I wood glued the outer legs together.
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Once the outer and inner legs were completely dry and bolted one end to the outer leg and the other to the inner leg. I made it so the linear actuators fit very tightly into the inner column. They had no wiggle room.
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| base of leg with actuator inside, this end is bolted to outer leg |
Once I built both legs I attached them to the top of the desk.
4. Staining/Wiring
This part is totally optional, but after putting so much work into this desk I also wanted it to look pretty! I chose an espresso stain color and got straight to work!
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| safety first... |
I forgot to take a picture of me staining it so I guess enjoy this pic of me wearing a gas mask to avoid breathing in fumes. After I stained/sealed the wood I moved it to my room. I had to remove the legs from the top to be able to get it up the stairs. My roommates were probably relieved to not have a giant desk taking up space in our living room. Once reassembled, I started up with the wiring.
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| In this pic you can also see the door hinge I used for when the desk is lowered |
I made it so the motor was on top so I just drilled out a space that the wire fit through. I didn't bother staining the inner legs.
I bent some metal around the power box and drilled it into the desk.
Here is how the final outcome looked, zip-tied the extra wire together.
And done!
Here it is again to go full circle. Please let me know if you have any questions about this project. It was a lot of fun to do! :)
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| Height I usually have it at to work |
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| lowest position |
Here is also a quick vid sped up to show it rising and lowering. As mentioned earlier, one of the problems I faced while making this desk was the unfortunate discovery that my linear actuators did not lower in tandem. At least they rose at the same speed! Because of this, I had to Macgyver a solution which ended with me using some door hinges to attach the top to the legs. This made it so it had some give when one leg was slightly higher than the other one.
