Custom built motorized sit/stand desk

Kodi Crescent

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Aug 6, 2010
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Has anyone custom built a motorized sit/stand desk for a home office application? 

I see you can buy kits with the mechanisms.  I also saw some videos where you can use linear actuators and some other parts and build one.  Has anyone tackled this issue with a custom solution that looks good?
 
I've considered using the kits sold for raising a coffee table surface.  Since the mechanism extends the table surface forward, you will have plenty of room when standing.

The negative is the height when sitting might not work out to be a typical desk height.  A chair for an art desk or draftsman's table might work though.
http://www.leevalley.com/us/hardware/page.aspx?p=74446&cat=3,43586,43594
 
I have the autonomous business DIY both at home and work. I love it. I can send pics when I get home if you'd like.
 
RustE said:
I've considered using the kits sold for raising a coffee table surface.  Since the mechanism extends the table surface forward, you will have plenty of room when standing.

The negative is the height when sitting might not work out to be a typical desk height.  A chair for an art desk or draftsman's table might work though.
http://www.leevalley.com/us/hardware/page.aspx?p=74446&cat=3,43586,43594

Our store bought coffee table has a similar lift mechanism (no gas lifts though).  We use the coffee table as basically our daily dinner table.  The height of the lifted coffee table top is ~28" which is just a tiny bit higher than desirable for the ~15.5" couch seat height.
 
There are some videos on Youtube on how to use linear actuators for this.  I figure I can rig something up using some of those.
 
Is this for your use?  If so, I'd offer that I have been working at a standing desk for a few years and did so in an office setting for a number of years with others who also had standing desks.  Thing that I noticed in my own use and as I watched others is that the mechanisms, no matter what they are, or how they work, aren't instantaneous.  That seems to mean that folks end up not using them past the first few weeks they have them.  Once the novelty wears off, you put it down one day and sit and it is a long time before your natural human interia towards laziness is overcome again.  I'd say 80 percent of the folks in the office who got them, stopped using them after a few months.  It's an expensive thing to not use.  So, what I did last year was to build a desk at a fixed standing height and to get a Humanscale leaning chair.  I have found that I am standing way more now since getting to that position only requires coming out of a lean instead of a somewhat tedious process of lifting an entire desk.  It seems like a small operation, the desk lifting, until you actually try to integrate it into your day.  Anyway, 2 cents you didn't ask for, but there it is.
 
Dane said:
Is this for your use?  If so, I'd offer that I have been working at a standing desk for a few years and did so in an office setting for a number of years with others who also had standing desks.  Thing that I noticed in my own use and as I watched others is that the mechanisms, no matter what they are, or how they work, aren't instantaneous.  That seems to mean that folks end up not using them past the first few weeks they have them.  Once the novelty wears off, you put it down one day and sit and it is a long time before your natural human interia towards laziness is overcome again.  I'd say 80 percent of the folks in the office who got them, stopped using them after a few months.  It's an expensive thing to not use.  So, what I did last year was to build a desk at a fixed standing height and to get a Humanscale leaning chair.  I have found that I am standing way more now since getting to that position only requires coming out of a lean instead of a somewhat tedious process of lifting an entire desk.  It seems like a small operation, the desk lifting, until you actually try to integrate it into your day.  Anyway, 2 cents you didn't ask for, but there it is.

Yes, for my own use at home.  Having had a career in ergonomics, I'm well aware of the folks that want these sorts of things, use them for a short time, and then discontinue usage.  That being said, a variety of issues are leading me in this direction in an effort to prevent or at least stave off potential injury.
 
PaulH99 said:
I bought the Uplift 900 frame and put a reclaimed wood top on it. The model I have did not come with the full frame, only the legs which are bolted into the top. The manufacturer must have modified the design in the past six months or so.
https://www.upliftdesk.com/uplift-900-four-leg-adjustable-height-standing-desk-frame/

View attachment 1

Just this weekend my wife and I went to IKEA and bought a motorized sit stand desk with a top for $410. You could buy the motorized legs for $330 and make your own top too. It adjust from 22" to 48" and has a 10 year warranty
 
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