Monday, May 16, 2011

Adjustable Height Desk Update

This is a continuation from part 1 that can be viewed here: Part One Height Adjustable Desk 


The English Elm slab arrived slightly damaged due to its lengthy trip from Massachusetts to Arizona.  The nice folks at Berkshire Products provided a generous credit to compensate for the damage.  Now the planned 5 foot desk has become a desk of 4 1/2 feet.  
I spent two days peeling off the live edge and sanding both sides using 60, 120 and 230 sandpaper. Then, I mixed the 1/3 Linseed Oil, Naptha, Polyurethane formula provided by the thewoodwhisperer.com - make-your-own-oil-varnish-blend.

Over the next 4 days I applied one coat to each side and wiped off the excess and let it dry overnight. On coats 2-4, I used 400 grit wet sandpaper during the application on the top of the desk to maximize a smooth finish. Here is the top after the first application:
I let the piece dry for another 3 days before mounting it on the adjustable base. Here is a photo at desk height:

Here the desktop is elevated to standing height:

I am pleased with the end result.  The top is smooth and I enjoy being able to stand and sit. Not a tremendous amount of workspace but it blends into the available space well and meets my needs.  The iMac is a 27' version that takes up quite a bit of real estate.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Where'd you get the adjustable desk base?
MarkNadig at deltek dot com.

Kopavi said...

Hello Mark:

Please check out part one of this project. It goes into quite a bit of detail on the various suppliers and pricing.

http://kopaviconun.blogspot.com/2011/04/height-adjustable-desk-project.html

Tony Belding said...

Great article. . . Your workspace is definitely better looking than mine. I just took delivery yesterday of a GeekDesk Max, and assembled and installed it. I have a Mac Pro, a large UPS, speakers and a few other things on my desk top, so I needed one with more space and capacity. It's working great so far, and I particularly like the memory settings.

I'm using the desk as my springboard for a full overhaul of my workspace ergonomics. I've also got a Swopper chair, IceKey keyboard and a Logitech trackball (and ControllerMate software), and I'm shopping for a higher grade (IPS panel) monitor and a monitor arm.

I've had some back pain at times from too much sitting in front of the computer. Now there are studies telling us that it's as bad for your health as smoking. So. . . Even though this will be fairly expensive when I add it all up, I think it's long overdue for me, and will be worth it.