
Hack a Standing Desk from IKEA - rohin
http://priceonomics.com/desks/ikea/#standing-desk
======
mrgreenfur
None of these "hacks" are adjustable height. I don't get the point of this
page. Sure you can buy a table and make it taller, that's not why the standing
desks are expensive. Can we have a hack for getting the adjustable part right?

~~~
rogerbinns
I don't understand why the height has to be adjustable. If you get a drafting
chair then you can sit at the height of the desk anyway.

~~~
weego
Standing up is much less forgiving than sitting down. A couple of centimeters
either way standing up is the difference between feeling fine and having
horrible back soreness within an hour of standing. The chances that the bits
you buy when put together will be at the perfect height for you are very low,
so being adjustable is important unless you like wedging random books under
parts of it.

~~~
Goronmon
I disagree. From my experience as long as the keyboard is at a height so that
your wrists are relatively neutral and the monitors are at a height where your
neck is relatively neutral, I've had no issues with back soreness.

I haven't experienced this need to be exactly right with measurements myself.

~~~
freehunter
Doesn't "keyboard and monitor at the right height" kind of indicate "desk at
the right height"?

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jcastro
I hacked together a standing desk mode for my ikea galant:

[http://www.jorgecastro.org/2011/12/09/the-43-ikea-galant-
sta...](http://www.jorgecastro.org/2011/12/09/the-43-ikea-galant-standing-
desk-mod)

A word of warning for those of you who are thinking about doing this. I read
all I could ahead of time about how to get the right height. At the time I
didn't realize I was slouching, so when I measured and made the desk it was
about 2cm too short.

I didn't realize until about a month later my left leg started getting numb
due to a mild Sciatica. Adjusting it for the +2cm made all the difference in
the world, so if you're going to do this make sure are standing up straight
and your are not slightly looking down, and plan for adjusting the height to
do microadjustments, it's a pain in the ass taking the thing apart because you
mismeasured.

Either way I had no idea how to stand or sit right until I went to physical
therapy and the lady showed me proper posture. Then when I went home I
realized how messed up I was standing and sitting.

I learned all this _after_ I had made my standing desk, so either way if you
make one yourself or get an adjustable talk to your doctor/PT-person/whoever
who knows this stuff and have them show you how to do it properly.

Also, monitor arms to get those panels eye level, they make a huge difference!

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jakeonthemove
I was thinking, "why not just buy a standing desk?" But then I saw the prices
:-). Well, if you have the right tools, you can build quite a great adjustable
desk, but you'll need more than IKEA. Off the top of my head, here's some
things that you could use to build a manual or electric adjustable
standing/sitting desk:

Metal tube -
[http://www.metalsdepot.com/products/alum2.phtml?page=tube...](http://www.metalsdepot.com/products/alum2.phtml?page=tube&LimAcc=%20&aident=)
;

Threaded rods - [http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-4-6-x-3-ft-ACME-Threaded-Rod-
Gener...](http://www.ebay.com/itm/3-4-6-x-3-ft-ACME-Threaded-Rod-General-
Purpose-Class-2G-/220993986391?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3374449f57)

Gas springs (several of them would hold the desk pretty firmly, and you can
adjust by pushing it down, with some locking mechanism in place) -
[http://www.ebay.com/itm/Two-USA-Made-Liftgate-Lift-
Supports-...](http://www.ebay.com/itm/Two-USA-Made-Liftgate-Lift-Supports-
Shocks-Struts-Props-Gas-
Springs-4857-4856-/130740629417?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1e70bfafa9&vxp=mtr)

Reduction motors -
[http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&...](http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_trksid=p5197.m570.l1313&_nkw=reduction+motor&_sacat=0)

OR steppers (if you go all out) -
[http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=stepper+motor&_sacat...](http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_nkw=stepper+motor&_sacat=0&_odkw=12v+motor+gear&_osacat=0)

I guess the work involved is not for everyone, but it could be a fun project
:-)...

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musashibaka
The most effective hack is to just step away from the computer for an hour or
two. Go for a walk, run, hell take up a martial art or two and meet people
outside of you usual circle of friends while being physically active. Now
that's a hack!

~~~
bryanlarsen
IIRC, there have been some studies that show that show that people who have
jobs that require them to stand all day are healthier than those who sit all
day, even if the sitters regularly exercise and the standers don't.

~~~
jbattle
Were the sitters and standers otherwise performing comparable work? (such as
typing and staring at a screen) Or were they moving around a work station,
moving physical objects, etc.

~~~
mietek
Men's Health [1]:

"In a British study published in 1953, scientists examined two groups of
workers: bus drivers and trolley conductors. At first glance, the two
occupations appeared to be pretty similar. But while the bus drivers were more
likely to sit down for their entire day, the trolley conductors were running
up and down the stairs and aisles of the double-decker trolleys. As it turned
out, the bus drivers were nearly twice as likely to die of heart disease as
the conductors were.

A more recent interpretation of that study, published in 2004, found that none
of the participants ever exercised. But the two groups did sit for different
amounts of time. The analysis revealed that even after the scientists
accounted for differences in waist size—an indicator of belly fat—the bus
drivers were still more likely to die before the conductors did."

This looks like the Morris studies referenced in TRF [2] and BCMJ [3].

[1]: <http://my.menshealth.com/exclusive-content/sentenced-chair>

[2]:
[http://www.abdn.ac.uk/iprc/documents/bus_driver_wellbeing.pd...](http://www.abdn.ac.uk/iprc/documents/bus_driver_wellbeing.pdf)

[3]: [http://www.bcmj.org/article/exercise-and-heart-review-
early-...](http://www.bcmj.org/article/exercise-and-heart-review-early-
studies-memory-dr-rs-paffenbarger)

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j45
Everytime I open up a link about a do-it-yourself standing desk, I hope that
someone's found a recipe of Ikea parts and motors to make a motorized,
adjustable standing desk.

If I had enough time to spend in Ikea maybe it'd be possible. :)

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sudonim
For those of you considering building one, what's great about all of these in
the article is the difference in height between the monitor and the keyboard.
This benefit for ergonomics can't be overstated.

If you already have a desk / work in a cube, my buddy bought a Kangaroo which
is a nice way to mount your monitor at the right height:
<http://www.ergodesktop.com/content/kangaroo-0>

I use my geekdesk at home but I love the $22 standing desk from ikea for work.
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4134307>

~~~
allritenow
I went ahead and spent the money for the ergodesktop, this
one:<http://www.ergodesktop.com/content/kangaroo-elite> For those of us
working in a cubicle farm where the desks and walls are bolted together for
miles, bringing in your own desk is not an option. I started by propping
everything up on empty boxes. It was ugly as hell but the heights were
correct. I did this for over a month just to make sure I was going to like
standing as much as I did. Well, I loved it and buying the ergodesktop seemed
like the logical next step. It IS expensive. But, I can take this with me when
I leave knowing that no matter where I work I can set this baby on my desk and
stand or sit. So far I love it and find it well worth the money given that I
spend 40+ hours a week using it.

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mattlong
I also have the crank-adjustable desk mentioned and vouch for its coolness.
Very nice to be able to switch from sitting to standing on demand.

~~~
Evbn
On demand plus the 3 minutes of RSI-inducing cranking.

~~~
freehunter
I'm a fisherman by hobby, and I can spend up to 10 hours a day cranking the
reel (not to mention rowing the boat). I understand the weight difference
between the two, but I don't think 3 minutes of cranking a 20lb reel is going
to do any long term damage unless your wrists are already sounding like a
cement mixer.

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dredmorbius
Hack a standing desk from Amazon ... by buying a drafting table:
[http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-
alias%3Dap...](http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-
alias%3Daps&field-keywords=drafting+table&x=0&y=0)

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enraged_camel
I took a do-it-yourself approach and built my own stand-up desk using parts
and tools I bought from Home Depot. It cost me 52 dollars and 3 hours of
labor. I had a lot of fun and learned some basic carpentry skills in the
process!

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don_draper
Get a kitchen island. You can hack away during the day and dine at night.

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devindotcom
I appreciate repurposing things, but it seems like soon we're going to be
"hacking" our ramen noodles by adding an egg. One the word means everything,
it ceases to mean anything.

~~~
dredmorbius
Yes, but first you've got to "crack" the egg.

~~~
Evbn
You'd better have a proper license for that chicken's source code.

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NAVNi
Still cheaper off by using some basic construction material: [http://navni-
stuff.blogspot.be/2011/07/standing-desk-part-1....](http://navni-
stuff.blogspot.be/2011/07/standing-desk-part-1.html) [http://navni-
stuff.blogspot.be/2011/07/standing-desk-part-2....](http://navni-
stuff.blogspot.be/2011/07/standing-desk-part-2.html)

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jaredstenquist
After hacking together these desks in the past I bought a Geekdesk
(<http://www.geekdesk.com>).

You quickly realize the value of the $1,200 pricetag is that the desk adjusts
in seconds to the exact sit or stand height you want. I would spend the same
money on anything that keeps me healthier and decreases my back issues.

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DanielOcean
For those who sometimes work super long hours, checkout the sitting + standing
desk on Ikea Hackers:

[http://www.ikeahackers.net/2011/09/sitting-standing-desk-
com...](http://www.ikeahackers.net/2011/09/sitting-standing-desk-combo.html)

Just moved into Vegas so there's no Ikea around me :-(, but plan to make the
trip to CA just for this

~~~
Samuel_Michon
The Ikea in Covina, CA delivers to Las Vegas [1]. There are also similar,
cheaper services [2].

[1] <http://www.ikea.com/us/en/store/covina/services/>

[2] <http://modernlv.com/>

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adam-f
I didn't know the definition of "hack" included "buy some of-the-shelf parts
from Ikea and stick them on your desk".

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thepumpkin1979
I'm seeing a lot of posts about standing desks lately. Additionally to what
wikipedia says(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_desk#Advantages>), is
there another benefit of using a standing desk I'm not seeing?

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jhuckabee
I hacked a similar Utby underframe based solution [1] together a few years ago
which I'm still content with. I did end up buying a drafting chair so I can
sit at it on occasion.

[1] <http://imgur.com/6lfl3>

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lwat
I just have the standard IDEA Fredrik desk with the table mounted at standing
height, it works great for me.

[http://www.jrnielsen.com/ikea-fredrik-desk-as-standing-
works...](http://www.jrnielsen.com/ikea-fredrik-desk-as-standing-workstation/)

