Teaching Station: Sit/Stand Desk

Sit/Stand desks for remote instruction have different needs to desks used for software development. I didn’t find a suitable one that I could buy so I made my own.

COVID-19 forced remote teaching to be my only means of delivery. I teach best while standing, so I needed a standing solution. Being fortunate to have both the space and the tools, I quickly created the Mk I early in COVID-19. Although it was capable of converting into a sitting position, this was not easy, so it stayed a standing station. I taught standing all day, and despite being tiring, it appeared to be working fine.

I augmented the Mk I with a standing chair (I never knew they existed) to help with fatigue. I bought a LeanRite Elite from Ergo impact. It’s not cheap – it was possibly the most expensive single purchase I made for the teaching station. Expensive, but I think worth it. I tend to lean on it when listening to questions and sometimes sit on it during lab time.

There were a couple of problems with a standing only approach though. I developed a disturbing clicking and loose feeling in both knees (now gone (the feeling, not the knee)). I think it was likely because my legs would get bored and move into a ‘tree pose’ like position where the foot of one leg pressed against the other inside knee. The other problem was how much more tiring it is to stand when someone else is teaching. Until then, I had been the only instructor, but when a new contract had me teaching as part of a team I really wanted to sit down.

Sit/stand desks and converters already exist, of course, but my searches failed to one that met the criteria of extension, maximum load, and speed of changing between sit and stand.

The extension needs to be long enough so that a camera set to see my face in a seated position is also in the right place when the sit/stand desk is in the standing position. Most sit/stand desks won’t go high enough.

The sit/stand desk must be able to support plenty of weight. There is potentially more equipment on the shelf that lifts than there would be as a developer. My shelf has two regular monitors, two small panel monitors, the teleprompter, a stream deck, and a Wacom tablet on its own pull out tray. That doesn’t sound too bad, does it? Ahhh, now add in zero wobble. The main camera is on that shelf - it’s not permitted to vibrate. No vibration eliminates designs that involve scissor hinges. A rail is probably the only option, but it will need to be a really wide rail (or two separate rails).

Lastly, I may need to move from seated to standing, or vice versa, while teaching, or during a short break. Although a linear actuator is cool, it’s too slow. Hand lift is the quickest option here.

Using the slotted metal angle allowed some wiggle room for adjustments. If you build your own, then it should be relatively easy to find at a DIY store. The rails were harder to find. I initially bought 600mm long rails. They turned out to be too short, and I ordered some new 750mm long rails. The 600mm is shown in these photos, but, again, get the longer one. There are different thicknesses, so I went for the larger 20mm. I’m not sure that is necessary - the rails do not normally bear any weight.

The bottom of the riser will be fixed to a board that sits on top of the desk. That’s not shown here because I waited until I could position it on the actual desk.

Also, note the angle that isn’t part of the structure, running flush with the wood’s edge. You’ll see later how this is used to fix the shelf in a raised position.

The shelf will be attached to the carriage shown. At this stage, I just wanted to attach the carriage, getting the rails straight. Drilling holes in the correct place is a challenge because the rails must be perfectly parallel, and the bearings must be mounted in the proper place. Don’t drill holes ahead of time - find where things ‘sit’, and then drill with the rails in place. For the bearings I cheated a little. They are made to accept a metric bolt, and I tried to find it in the local DIY store, but I live in America. Instead, I went for a thinner bolt and used a washer and nut. This turned out to be a good move - it has some wiggle room. The rail can force the bearing’s position, and then the nut can be tightened, fixing the bearing in the right location. I don’t remember the details, but there were many small stages in getting everything in the right place. Once done, it is absolutely rock solid.

The rails help guide the shelf up and down. The Mk I didn’t have rails, and I could move the shelf by lifting it and then slotting it into a different location. That was the plan, but moving the shelf was practically unsafe, not because of the weight but because of the leverage of the monitors with all their weight attached to the back edge. The rails are necessary to restrict the motion of the shelf to linear.

The photo above also shows that the angle is now attached to a bottom piece of plywood. This plywood will get clamped to the desk (visible in a later photo).

You can also see the bolt used to fix the shelf in place. This is what the pieces of angle are for along the sides of the riser. Beware! The holes need to match up horizontally, and I found out that angle often has breaks in the pattern. Make sure you cut these two pieces of angle to have the same pattern at least at the top.

The position of the bolts is deliberate. Should you build one of these - think carefully where the bolts go. When lifting or lowering the shelf, your arms reach under the shelf and support it. You need to be able to pull and push the bolts while holding the weight of the shelf. These are in a natural position.

There are three other things to note on this photo. I added a bolt that serves as a stop once the station has been raised to the maximum level for me. It’s a nice side effect of the angle that you don’t have to calculate this before use. You can see the clamps from this side holding the bottom board securely to the desk. Lastly, you can see reflective cloth hanging from the shelf. Without this, a rather unflattering light illuminates the instructor from beneath on a sunny day! This screen reflects that light back, making it useful.

Make sure you buy cables that are long enough. 6 Foot cables are NOT long enough, go for 9 Foot, 10 Foot, or 3 Metre cables at least. You might also have spotted that I have my computer sitting on a shelf built onto the side of the desk.

Time

Building the sit/stand converter requires substantial time. The bulk of the work took a couple of days, although that included some experimentation not described here. There have been refinements over time as well. If you need it for teaching, I would give yourself at least a week, assuming you have the parts available.

Costs

I’ll try to summarize the costs here, but if you have the tools for the work, there is a good chance you will have some of this material available already.

Summary

If you have the time, space, and tools, you can build a sit/stand converter that better meets instructional needs. Given the time it takes, I would only recommend it if you strongly believe it will make a difference in your teaching.