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I built a lay-down desk

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Re: I built a lay-down desk

#51

In college I had some back problems, so I improvised (an incredibly unwise) lay-down desk by putting my monitor face down on two chairs and just lying with my face underneath it. This was a heavy CRT, not a modern LCD monitor. (Did I mention this being incredibly unwise...?)

I suspended a kindle over my bed on two 2-meter rails used for reinforcing wall edges. Best reading I did while recovering from leg injuries, but risky as you mentioned.

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#52

In college I had some back problems, so I improvised (an incredibly unwise) lay-down desk by putting my monitor face down on two chairs and just lying with my face underneath it. This was a heavy CRT, not a modern LCD monitor. (Did I mention this being incredibly unwise...?)

Did it ever drop? Sounds about 20 times worse then dropping your phone on your face when laying in bed.

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#53

I've found the best lying down desk is a $300 mini-projector and a yoga mat. You project at the ceiling (so projector is above your head) and then put a wireless keyboard on your stomach, with mouse by your side. Alternate with a standing desk. Good after 10 years of jiu-jitsu and a knackered body

That sounds pretty awkward for typing more than a few sentences. Do you have something to angle the keyboard somewhat?

I do something similar. Typing isn't bad but it's sometimes tough to get your fingers at the right starting positions for touch typing. I put a few tactile stickers on the keyboard to help. Otherwise it is very comfortable.

In my experience, I've found a MS Surface and a gooseneck ipad holder is a lightweight ideal laydown desk. I clamp the gooseneck a few feet above me in bed and I can lay perfectly flat and have access to a full PC.

It also can be disassembled and stored in moments.

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#54
post #11

But where do your put your mug of tea?

This is the biggest question I have. This, to me, doesn't function as a desk because of the incline. It has the potential to be a remarkably comfortable means to use a desktop (or perhaps laptop if you built in a way to mount it), but without a way for me to sit my coffee on it, or to put a notepad somewhere and not have to worry about it sliding off. I know you can build in mounts for that stuff, but I think there's…

> You could maybe use magnets that you embed into your stuff to increase the friction enough that they don't slide.

Well, you are lucky that floppies are a thing of the past ;-).

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#55
My friend who has to keep his legs raised due to a health problem will love this.

That said, working from home i sit less in front of the computer. That's because i can read something walking around or whatever, and there 's no reason to "look busy". I also find that a simpler immobile chair with no armrests keeps me more refreshed.

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#57
post #51

In college I had some back problems, so I improvised (an incredibly unwise) lay-down desk by putting my monitor face down on two chairs and just lying with my face underneath it. This was a heavy CRT, not a modern LCD monitor. (Did I mention this being incredibly unwise...?)

I suspended a kindle over my bed on two 2-meter rails used for reinforcing wall edges. Best reading I did while recovering from leg injuries, but risky as you mentioned.

I 3d printed the rather popular clamping system from thingiverse. Worked pretty well until it broke.

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#58

I've found the best lying down desk is a $300 mini-projector and a yoga mat. You project at the ceiling (so projector is above your head) and then put a wireless keyboard on your stomach, with mouse by your side. Alternate with a standing desk. Good after 10 years of jiu-jitsu and a knackered body

This sounds uncomfortable but to each their own.

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#59
post #17

> Nobody ever says anything bad about laying down Really? Then let me be the first: IT'S "LYING DOWN", FFS! You can be laying down the law, but on a bed you are usually "lying down". This has been a public service announcement, et cetera, et cetera.

Everyone understood the comment as written, so the pedantry really doesn't matter, since the point was effectively communicated in a casual forum.

Re: I built a lay-down desk

#60
I tried this ~15 years ago, based around a Novus Zero Gravity Recliner. At the time I had been having a decade of upper back pain that just wouldn't go away. At one point it was so bad I could hardly get out of bed. At that point I went to an osteopath, on the recommendation of a physician friend of mine, and he gave me some isometric exercises for my neck, and the pain was instantly gone.

I'm not kidding, if he'd dome some slight of hand with chicken parts, I'd totally believe in that psychic surgery crap.

But before that, I created a mount for a laptop and second monitor that would clamp into my bicycle maintenance stand (Ultimate Support Classic), and I could rotate the arm around to bring the screens to a comfortable location.

The biggest problem I had was that there was very little arm support. I could rest part of my forearm on the chair's arm rests, similar but less so than what the article has. Maybe in his case that's fine, but for me it was like holding my arms out in front of me at a 45 degree angle and after maybe an hour it was pretty painful in my shoulders. I probably would have added some additional armrests to it if my back problems hadn't been solved and I decided to abandon it.

I was happily using a Thinkpad keyboard with trackpoint at the time, so the mouse issues didn't impact me. One could also imagine a counter-weighted mouse, with the weights hanging off the back, via a pulley sort of system.

I also found being entirely static for hours at a time wasn't that comfortable, and that sort of "bucket seat" really doesn't lend itself to anything but one position.

Maybe a decade after that, I tried another experiment that worked pretty well. This one I guess I'll call a "lounging desk". I got a nice leather club chair with ottoman, and a big, heavy entertainment center that I put to the side of it.

On the top of the entertainment center I had my laptop and one 30" monitor, and then a monitor arm holding another 30" monitor. This was in front of a window so I could look outside. I could swing the monitor in front of me, and the club chair allowed me to sit or recline or curl up, lots of different positions. This was actually a pretty nice setup, and if I hadn't shortly after that moved jobs to an at-the-office setup, I'd probably still be using it.

These days I find switching between sitting and standing to be very comfortable.

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