created by: Mark Kleback and Amik Ahmad
Over the past few months, we've been designing adjustable standing desks that are lightweight, cheap, and easy to fabricate using a CNC machine and minimal extra parts.
Our first design used two pieces of wood held together by three threaded bolts. The idea was that a shelf could slide up and down using the notches cut into the wood.
One of the problems with this design was the width of the notch and the instability of the sides. It was also difficult to assemble with the threaded bolts.
Although this design ultimately failed, it works well as a desk for my stationary bike.
For our second desk, we decided to forgo the bolts and assemble the entire thing using only wood. We cut notches into the legs that the shelf could slide into, and attached the legs at a 45-degree angle to create a more stable base.
Ultimately, this desk is also very unstable because there is only one point of attachment for the shelf.
For future designs, we'll need to make a hybrid between these two desks that has a stable base, adjustable notches, and can be assembled easily.
