Liftable / Stand-up / Rising - Desk / Table

Intro: Liftable / Stand-up / Rising - Desk / Table

Machanical solution that can be mounted on almost any table & can lift easily high load.

Total costs of this project were cost of table itself + about 150$ in components.

Necessary components:
1. Any cheap bearings x 24
2. Any kind of thick plywood (about 2cm thick)
3. Any Furniture wheels x 4
5. Bolts with flat heads & nuts x 12
6. Mechanical winch x 1
7. Small Construction wheels for cables x 2
8. Cable mounts/clamps x 4
9. Cable x 1 (came with winch)
10. Small construction hooks x 2
11. Strengthening elements like metal corners on top of table base x 4
12. Strengthening elements on bottom part of table sides, 90* metal corners x 4, wooden pins or other imporvisations
13. Screws (various 1cm - 3.5cm)
14. 90* metal corners for top of table x 2

Necessary tools:
1. Drill in a diameter of bearings
2. Drill in a diameter of bolts
3. Small drill for screws
4. Electrical drilling machine
5. Screwdrivers
6. Saw
7. Measuring tools - pencils, angles, rulers, tape measurer, leveling tool 
8. Wire cutter or something you can use for it
9. Pliers 


Demos:

If you consider such project you should know that it is very importnat to lower construction on both sides of table to make it work, otherwise because of too small angles of the crosses you will brake construction when you will try to lift it. (I will post previous experiments where we broke the table). The larger initial angle of cross will be the easier it will be to rise the table top. In our case our Oak table top weighs about 40kg! 

Another  important thing to remember is to use construction wheels to reduce friction on cable in the corners ( do not use simple hooks if your table top weighs a lot).

You should also choose thick cable, to avoid stretching of cable in longer shoulder (if you use thin cable longer cable will stretch more & it will rise faster).

It is also important to strengthen base of table as much as you can, because forces on corners will try to bend it (our construction is solid without deformations for 2 months now )

Comments

[ScarlettKitsune]

You said you were going to do an electric version of this desk, did you ever get around to it? Also curious about how the mechanism is holding up after all this time?

[evalds]

Hey, I have not yet done electric version, unfortunately, but nowadays you can get for ~100EUR/USD electric raising desk from IKEA :)

The mechanical one is still working fine at my old office :)

[pourio]

This is pretty awesome. I downloaded the PDF but couldn't find any step-by-step instruction for this. It'd be great if that could be posted, or at least a schematic for me to look and duplicate. Thanks!

[coretj]

Do you have step by step instructions for this?

[evalds]

I am planning to build another one with electric motor on April & then I will add step-by-step instructions.

[PinkCrusader]

It is April. Will you still be making another one with step by step? If so I will be waiting!

[bendotcc]

Very nice.  I use the Humanscale Float desk at work but for home this is much more practical.

Can you please elaborate on the 24 cheap bearings?  What's the purpose for them (I'm guessing to make the scissor motion smoother, less friction)?  Where can you find them?  What size are they?  What's the diameter of the holes?  How do you insert or pack the bearings in?

Kind regards.

[evalds]

Table top is made from oak tree and is very heavy so bearings makes motion a lot easier. I used skateboard size bearings but you can use any cheapest bearings you can find in bearings store. I used drill in the same diameter as bearing and made holes from both sides just enough deep to sink bearings with wooden blank and hammer (do not hit them directly with hammer). Also make sure you do not drill hole from both sides all the way trough, because then it would make structure unstable. Before drilling big holes for bearings first drill small holes all the way trough for bolts

[sckoobs]

Hey evalds, nice work on the table! Just wondering, would you be able to comment on where you got the various bits and pieces? E.g. the mechanical winch is a bit of a specialty item, where did you come by it?

[evalds]

You can get mechanical winches in almost all large hardware/home & garden stores. Before this project I was not aware they have them :)

[nzrules]

bloody brilliant!

bit ugly, but brilliant :-)

Richard

[CobyUnger]

This is really nice. Would work perfectly with the Wobble Seat I uploaded instructions for a few days ago.

[evalds]

Your invention is really cool.

[LynxSys]

This is a great project! I'm trying to imagine a mechanism that would allow tipping the top surface to use it as a drafting table, but I haven't quite figured it out yet. The best I can imagine is mounting a tilt-able drafting board to the existing tabletop. Does anyone have any better suggestions?

[aebe]

I ruined my back years ago,and this is the simplest solution to a problem I have been trying to solve for quite a while.Great work.

[MrNickBarker]

This is the exact idea I've been toying around with for the last two months, but you've managed to make it much less complicated and easier to make.

Also I should mention that the table is a bit too low for you. Your elbows should be at almast 90 degrees in standing position and the top of the screen should be at eye level.

[evalds]

Good comment, If you want I can post photo of 90* angle for elbows - this construction is stable enough to elevate it quite high (I just set up height I was comfortable at that moment :) )

[MrNickBarker]

Thanks, no need to bother :) But I do have one more question.

Since the back part of the top is resting on wheels is it possible that if you lean on the table that the back lifts and everything slides towards you?

My proposed solution was to use a slider, but I don't know if it's necessary.

[evalds]

Another great question. From our experience it does not rise up at all when you lean on it. Our angles are not great that's why it looks not that even in picture, but anyways pencils do not roll down from it & the next one will have more precise angles.

[evalds]

Our table top is very heay as well (about 40kg)