Building A Adjustable Desk For Your Home Office with Tips & Instructions
What Tools Will You Need?
Building a height adjustable desk is easier than you think and only requires basic tools. Keep in mind though, if you are planning a more complex project, you may need a few extra tools.
The basic tools you will need are:
- Tape Measure
- Coping Saw
- Handsaw
- Drill
- Screw Driver Set
Using Power Tools
Building a height adjustable desk is a relatively simple task, which can be completed by most competent DIY’ers with basic tools. If you’re a little more confident, you can get a better finish quicker by using some power tools.
With this project, consider using a jigsaw; it makes cutting your desk much easier and gives you the opportunity to produce a more interesting desktop shape.
We would also recommend an electric mitre or ‘chop’ saw if you are adding drawers, this allows for quick cuts to length.
What Parts Will You Need?
With this project, we’re adding drawers too, which means you will need a few more materials, but you’ll end up with your own bespoke solution. To build your own basic height adjustable desk, you will need the following parts and materials:
Height Adjustable Desk Frame
Our height adjustable desk frames are suitable for desktops between 1200-1800mm and come with either push button or crank handles, making them easy to adjust. An ultra-quiet, single motor means you can adjust the height for standing or sitting - no more office back pain!
As our height adjustable desk frames are heavy duty, they can easily accommodate extra weight, making them ideal for additional drawers.
Light & Medium Duty Slides
Adding drawers to your desk project will make it far more useful, keeping important papers to hand.
Light duty slides will suffice for paperwork and general stationary with medium duty slides offering a stronger option. Consider soft close slides for added quality.
Modesty Blocks
Modesty blocks will make build your under-desk drawer much easier and give a cleaner finish without any screw holes. Remember to use small enough screws so they don’t penetrate the alternate side of your wood.
Handles
Perfect your style with our range of handles, ranging from traditional classics to ultra modern rod handles. They are all simple to fit and require minimal work. We also have handles in a range of finishes, so you can match your storage to any design scheme.
Building Your height adjustable desk; Step by Step:
- Before you start, ensure there are no potential hazards such as electrical cable or plumbing in the area where you will be working.
- If you want to keep your project simple a rectangular desktop will save time. However, a tear-drop or kidney shape makes for a much more interesting and ergonomic desk. Draw the shape of your desk out on your MDF or plywood top, taking care to ensure there is enough space for your height adjustable desk frame legs when the shape is cut! Consider placing the upturned frame onto your sheet material to avoid any issues.
- If you are incorporating a straight edge onto your desktop design, place this on the edge of your sheet material to save time.
- Shade out your waste area using a marker pen to avoid confusion and make several straight cuts from the edge of your sheet timber to the start of your shape; this will allow waste wood to fall in smaller sections, creating a cleaner and safer cut. If you skip this step, when cutting, the waste material will remain in one heavy piece; risking breaking the entire sheet or dropping on your foot!
- Once cut, sand the edges of your shape to remove any splinters and rough edges.
- It’s time to mark your adjustable legs; place them (upturned) back on the underside of your desktop and draw around the edges, this will act as a guide for your drawer placement.
- Measure out the sides, back and front of your drawers. The easiest way to do this is cut one length at the depth you want your drawer (leaving enough room for both modesty blocks and drawer runners), then simply chop this piece into its respective two sides, back and front (marking the increments on the full length). Tip: Sit your handsaw handle on the straight edge of your wood and use the top of the saw for a perfect right angle and straight line.
- Attach the drawer runners to the lengths of your drawer box. Please be aware that our heavy duty drawer slides do not disconnect due to their load rating, unlike our light and medium duty slides.
- Using modesty blocks, piece your drawer carcass together. We recommend using one in corner at the back, don’t forget to add two on the edge of each side in preparation for connecting your drawer box to the underside of your desk.
- Repeat the process with reduced measurements to construct your inner drawer box, attaching the other half of the drawer runners on the outside.
- Attach the drawer box to the underside of the desk and insert the drawer.
- Attach your adjustable height frame. As this is an all in one piece, this is as simple as screwing it to the desktop. Make sure your screws are long enough to secure the top, without piercing the top side!
Common Problems When Building an Adjustable Desk
Incorrect Measuring
This is particularly important when measuring your drawers; both sides need to be equal, otherwise you could end up with a misshapen and unstable drawer box.
Incorrect Angles
If you fail to incorporate your adjustable desk frame into your desktop shape when drawing it out, you could end up wasting an expensive piece of wood that is too small for your base! Ensure your desktop space is big enough.
Unbalanced Top & Too Heavy Load Rating
Although our height adjustable desk frames are extremely sturdy, we do recommend centering your frame as much as possible, to avoid it being heavier on one side and ‘leaning’. Its also important to consider the weight of your top as well as the weight of any equipment you will have placed as the load rating for our height adjustable desk frames is 80kg and more than this and the motor will not function correctly
