How can I make a desk that easily raises & lowers?
I spend a *lot* of time at my desk, primarily for computer use. I'm very keen on ergonomics, and am planning on designing my own desk.
One thing I really want is a desk that I can easily raise or lower as needed. I have two chairs (a task chair and a kneeling chair), each with different heights. I'd like to be able to change the desk height easily when I change chairs, say once or twice a day. And I want to keep everything at the right height, since it does make a huge difference to my comfort (so the chair height is fixed relative to the ground, and I'd rather have an adjustable desk height than keep using foot rests).
Ideally I'd like it to be nearly as easy as the gas-cylinder height adjustment found on most office chairs. But that specific mechanism is probably not what I want in my case.
My goals:
-Very easy & quick to raise & lower the desk (take no more than 10-20 seconds)
-All four legs in sync so the top is always level
-Very quick/easy to build
-Not too expensive, but reasonable money is ok here
-Very solid, no wobble or flex
I can't use separate gas cylinders, since it would be a pain to keep them all at the same height. I don't want to use a manual screw drive (ie. like the levelers found on furniture legs), since those are typically very slow to raise & lower (by hand or with a wrench), and also are not in sync.
I could see a screw drive mechanism driven by a sync chain with a crank or motor driving it - but I can't imagine that'll be easy to build at all. I don't really have much time. (Actually, the more I think of this one I think it would be really neat. But can it be done in as a quick project? Rear bike cogs, long bike chain, simple hand crank, screws w/ nuts attached to the bike cogs...)
Separate height adjusters might be fine if there are discrete levels - all at level 2, or 3, etc. That would be easy to keep in sync.
Scissor mechanism, like piano stands. I think this would not be stable enough for me.
Any other ideas here? I have a tempered glass top from Ikea, the monitors are separately mounted on a wall mount, and I imagine I'll be making the desk stand itself out of wood of some kind (which I'm comfortable working with).
Ideally I'd find a pre-made or easily-built little widget that I can buy/make 4 of and be done. But I have a feeling I'll have to get creative here.
Thanks!
One thing I really want is a desk that I can easily raise or lower as needed. I have two chairs (a task chair and a kneeling chair), each with different heights. I'd like to be able to change the desk height easily when I change chairs, say once or twice a day. And I want to keep everything at the right height, since it does make a huge difference to my comfort (so the chair height is fixed relative to the ground, and I'd rather have an adjustable desk height than keep using foot rests).
Ideally I'd like it to be nearly as easy as the gas-cylinder height adjustment found on most office chairs. But that specific mechanism is probably not what I want in my case.
My goals:
-Very easy & quick to raise & lower the desk (take no more than 10-20 seconds)
-All four legs in sync so the top is always level
-Very quick/easy to build
-Not too expensive, but reasonable money is ok here
-Very solid, no wobble or flex
I can't use separate gas cylinders, since it would be a pain to keep them all at the same height. I don't want to use a manual screw drive (ie. like the levelers found on furniture legs), since those are typically very slow to raise & lower (by hand or with a wrench), and also are not in sync.
I could see a screw drive mechanism driven by a sync chain with a crank or motor driving it - but I can't imagine that'll be easy to build at all. I don't really have much time. (Actually, the more I think of this one I think it would be really neat. But can it be done in as a quick project? Rear bike cogs, long bike chain, simple hand crank, screws w/ nuts attached to the bike cogs...)
Separate height adjusters might be fine if there are discrete levels - all at level 2, or 3, etc. That would be easy to keep in sync.
Scissor mechanism, like piano stands. I think this would not be stable enough for me.
Any other ideas here? I have a tempered glass top from Ikea, the monitors are separately mounted on a wall mount, and I imagine I'll be making the desk stand itself out of wood of some kind (which I'm comfortable working with).
Ideally I'd find a pre-made or easily-built little widget that I can buy/make 4 of and be done. But I have a feeling I'll have to get creative here.
Thanks!
