Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How to hack yourself a standing desk - an illustrated guide

gregschlom.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 72 posts

Re: How to hack yourself a standing desk - an illustrated guide

#31

Post by staticshock »

unignorant wrote: post #27
jordanb wrote: post #22

I switched to a standing desk about six months ago. I started by piling a bunch of books on my desk and putting my laptop on top of them. Later I bought this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001MS70Z2/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp... It's a tolerably good desk, except that it's a bit small and, while it's veneered to look like plywood, it's actually made of pasteboard with a laminate veneer (that was a big disappointment when i…

I entirely agree with you, excepting for your comment about shoes. In most circumstances, the best way to avoid foot problems is not to "buy better footware/orthotics" but rather to strengthen your feet. If you are skeptical, look into the "minimalist" running movement. There is quite a bit of research which suggests that the human foot is itself a better support system than any external aid. The problem is that, liv…

How have you strengthened your feet?

Re: How to hack yourself a standing desk - an illustrated guide

#32

Post by jnorthrop »

unignorant wrote: post #27
jordanb wrote: post #22

I switched to a standing desk about six months ago. I started by piling a bunch of books on my desk and putting my laptop on top of them. Later I bought this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001MS70Z2/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp... It's a tolerably good desk, except that it's a bit small and, while it's veneered to look like plywood, it's actually made of pasteboard with a laminate veneer (that was a big disappointment when i…

I entirely agree with you, excepting for your comment about shoes. In most circumstances, the best way to avoid foot problems is not to "buy better footware/orthotics" but rather to strengthen your feet. If you are skeptical, look into the "minimalist" running movement. There is quite a bit of research which suggests that the human foot is itself a better support system than any external aid. The problem is that, liv…

I agree, I stand all day as well. My choice of footwear is a pair of Vivo Barefoot shoes (http://www.vivobarefoot.com).

On a side note for my standup desk I built a plywood and 2x4 surface that sits on top of my desk -- it looks a lot like a coffee table on the desk. The materials were all of $15.

Edit: Here is a pic of my desk http://imgur.com/1woBL

Re: How to hack yourself a standing desk - an illustrated guide

#33

Post by dwiel »

This is the setup I have right now:

i.imgur.com/GY4vR.jpg

It is just some boxes, but it works reasonably well. Having the screen and keyboard at different heights is key for me.

What I'd really like is a portable, ergonomic standing desk. I've been designing something that can be ratcheted between a couple of trees and provide two stable, adjustable platforms, one for the laptop and one for a keyboard.

Re: How to hack yourself a standing desk - an illustrated guide

#34

Post by lsc »

larrik wrote: post #17
llimllib wrote: post #8

I spent $8 at Home Depot for materials and 10 minutes of assembly for mine: http://i.imgur.com/Aoqpd.jpg They'll cut the wood for you, just measure before you buy.

They'll cut it to fit into your car, but they aren't going to cut it precisely to what you want it to be. At least around here.

eh, the "Lows" across the street and the "home depot" down the way both cut far more precisely than I can manage on my own. It's not going to be to micrometer precision, but when working with the mostly green wood those places sell, nothing ever is. The stuff changes shape as it ages anyhow.

It's probably better than what you can do as an amateur with cheap tools, and it's probably good enough for a project such as this. Of course, if you actually know what you are doing and have reasonably good tools, you can do better, but for those of us who just want to knock something together, my experience has been that the lumberyard cutting services are just fine.

Re: How to hack yourself a standing desk - an illustrated guide

#35

Post by jnorthrop »

staticshock wrote: post #31
unignorant wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I entirely agree with you, excepting for your comment about shoes. In most circumstances, the best way to avoid foot problems is not to "buy better footware/orthotics" but rather to strengthen your feet. If you are skeptical, look into the "minimalist" running movement. There is quite a bit of research which suggests that the human foot is itself a better support system than any external aid. The problem is that, liv…

How have you strengthened your feet?

If you wear shoes without arch support and have flexible soles (or go barefoot) your feet with strengthen themselves by having to work just to keep you upright.

Re: How to hack yourself a standing desk - an illustrated guide

#36

Post by neuroelectronic »

jtemplestein wrote: post #10

Most of these hacks (and the comments in this post) miss a crucial point about standing desks. They are supposed to be ergonomic. [1] Putting your laptop on a bunch of boxes puts a lot of strain on your arms. Of course this also doesn't work if you have a big display on your desk. I'd be interested in hacking a standing desk that is 1) ergonomic 2) offers support for both laptops and big displays 3) has a usable keyb…

That's not all. Stop sitting on your ass 8 hours a day now and you'll also receive:

48% less chance of dying of a heart attack!

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100722102039.ht...

Re: How to hack yourself a standing desk - an illustrated guide

#37

Post by unignorant »

staticshock wrote: post #31
unignorant wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I entirely agree with you, excepting for your comment about shoes. In most circumstances, the best way to avoid foot problems is not to "buy better footware/orthotics" but rather to strengthen your feet. If you are skeptical, look into the "minimalist" running movement. There is quite a bit of research which suggests that the human foot is itself a better support system than any external aid. The problem is that, liv…

How have you strengthened your feet?

I agree with jnorthrop.

Although if you want to be a bit more hardcore about it, you might try a few (short) barefoot runs each week. In this latter case, however, be careful. It's easy to do "to much too soon."

Re: How to hack yourself a standing desk - an illustrated guide

#39

Post by [deleted] »

gregschlom wrote: post #13
crasshopper wrote: post #3

One problem with this setup is that your hands are not at elbow level. You want a separate keyboard that you can put on a piece of wood or a book or whatever, so that the screen is level with your eyes (when in perfect posture) and the keyboard is level with or slightly below your elbows (when in perfect posture).

Another problem is that the chair tend to roll away as you type :) But my current setup works very well (pictured here: http://gregschlom.com/about ) I guess it's just a matter of finding the right height for your elbow.

[deleted]

Re: How to hack yourself a standing desk - an illustrated guide

#40

Post by llimllib »

larrik wrote: post #17
llimllib wrote: post #8

I spent $8 at Home Depot for materials and 10 minutes of assembly for mine: http://i.imgur.com/Aoqpd.jpg They'll cut the wood for you, just measure before you buy.

They'll cut it to fit into your car, but they aren't going to cut it precisely to what you want it to be. At least around here.

I've had Home Depot cut wood to my measurements ~6 times at 3 different Home Depots. They've done a fine job each time.

(Also, do you see the precision of that "woodworking"?)

Post reply on HN