Live data from Hacker News

Megadesk

tindie.com

21–30 of 141 posts

Re: Megadesk

#21
post #2

I just realized that I have a problem, where I think "why would I pay $50 for a PCB that I can design and make myself?" and then conclude "therefore nobody would pay". Maybe I should start selling some of the PCBs I made.

FWIW,

I would say that knowing how to design boards makes me MORE willing to buy other people's boards. Coming from a more mechanical background, I don't look forward to the tedium of reviewing and modifying all the footprints of "standard" sized SMD parts.

I like making music effects for friends, and branching out to things related to motor control, LEDs, sensors, etc. I prefer to have them pick and placed for me. Since an injury a few years ago, I battle vertigo when doing extended fine detail work.

I would be interested in seeing some of the designs, you've always been an interesting person to read from here on HN. Tindie makes that easy.

Re: Megadesk

#22

Hah! I am in the market for a standing desk and am 95% sold on the IKEA Bekant. Just waiting to move to commit to the purchase. I wasn't keen on the crank but I figured I could live with it. This is a nice and fun addition :)

I had the ikea one and this one:

https://smile.amazon.com/VIVO-Ergonomic-Adjustable-Controlle...

The vivo one has been far better in features and reliability. I had to replace the ikea one because it started only going down and not up.

Re: Megadesk

#23

FYI, these motorized desks can be dangerous, so be careful. My friend had a desk in a high position, and lowered it, not knowing a chair was off to the side slightly under the desk. It hit the chair and kept going, and tilted the desk and his monitor and desktop tower fell off the table. I've also had the arm rests of my desk get caught under them. There's lots of things that can happen, like catching an open door's…

Most motorized desks I've interacted with (including the one I own) do indeed have a resistance sensor and will not only stop, but back up a bit if they encounter something.

Re: Megadesk

#24

Hah! I am in the market for a standing desk and am 95% sold on the IKEA Bekant. Just waiting to move to commit to the purchase. I wasn't keen on the crank but I figured I could live with it. This is a nice and fun addition :)

I've had one since 2015, and I've been quite happy with it.

The desk itself is great; sturdy, stable, and the size I prefer.

The one caveat; make _sure_ to keep your receipt. This desk has known issues with the power supply burning out. If you have your receipt, IKEA will honor their 7-year warranty and throw you as many new power supplies as you need.

Re: Megadesk

#25
post #5

Can this be used to prank certain tall, beet farming, mustard yellow shirt wearing co workers at a midsized paper company ?

I heard it also goes well with Creed and his three chairs

Re: Megadesk

#26
post #2

I just realized that I have a problem, where I think "why would I pay $50 for a PCB that I can design and make myself?" and then conclude "therefore nobody would pay". Maybe I should start selling some of the PCBs I made.

FWIW, I would say that knowing how to design boards makes me MORE willing to buy other people's boards. Coming from a more mechanical background, I don't look forward to the tedium of reviewing and modifying all the footprints of "standard" sized SMD parts. I like making music effects for friends, and branching out to things related to motor control, LEDs, sensors, etc. I prefer to have them pick and placed for me. S…

Your comment made me realize that I only enjoy building things when they have a component of learning, or when it's something I haven't done before. I have a similar problem where my vision goes blurry at the center if I focus near for long, but I've found that magnifying glasses help with that because they change the focal length.

> I would be interested in seeing some of the designs, you've always been an interesting person to read from here on HN. Tindie makes that easy.

Thanks for the tip and the compliment! My latest design is a flight controller I made for a remote controlled paper airplane, it's nothing fancy but has some good caveat solutions that might be worth posting.

I'll look into Tindie and possibly upload there, thanks again!

Re: Megadesk

#27
post #5

Can this be used to prank certain tall, beet farming, mustard yellow shirt wearing co workers at a midsized paper company ?

No, what you're describing would be called quad desk.

Re: Megadesk

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Time is golden, just because I could do something myself doesn't mean spending all that time on it is worth it.

Ah, but I enjoy building.

I enjoy building, too. But there are so many things for me to build that I don't mind paying for shortcuts so I can use my limited time to build things I want to be building.

Re: Megadesk

#29
Ha, I just built something like this with a Raspberry Pi for fun. My standing desk (a Conset) only had a up/down button so I used a RPi + relay hat + distance sensor + screen/buttons to allow height presets as well as control via Homebridge:

https://imgur.com/a/9YF7FuP

Not exactly cost effective, but it was a fun way to learn about relays.

Re: Megadesk

#30
post #2

I just realized that I have a problem, where I think "why would I pay $50 for a PCB that I can design and make myself?" and then conclude "therefore nobody would pay". Maybe I should start selling some of the PCBs I made.

I envy you. When it comes to this, I am severely challenged. There is a market for people who want to play, but have no affinity for building hardware. I don't know how big it is, but if you have something interesting, I would share it.
Post reply on HN