11 ms·
Megadesk
- StavrosK 6y agoI just realized that I have a problem, where I think "why would I pay $50 for a PCB that I can design and make myself?" and then conclude "therefore nobody would pay". Maybe I should start selling some of the PCBs I made.
- WrtCdEvrydy 6y agoadafruit has made money on it. There's money on providing easy to use hardware.
- tyingq 6y agoThe seller provides all the Gerber files, BOM, etc. https://github.com/gcormier/megadesk https://github.com/gcormier/megadesk But it's pretty clear many are buying the pre-assembled kit. Hand soldering SMD components is pretty tedious.
- kevarh 6y agoI bought one of the kits and assembled it myself (although it looks like kits aren't currently for sale.) The only hiccup I had during assembly is the random board profile I found in the Arduino IDE had the chip layout reversed which took me a few minutes to figure out based on the source.
- tyingq 6y agoThe pin spacing on J2 looks like it would need a pretty steady hand to me. Though it appears only 3 of the pins matter.
- kevarh 6y agoI have access to a SMD oven (just a toaster oven with a fancy controller.) Manually applied solder paste, placed the parts and they flowed just fine. Same process with a hot air gun should work but will be a little more finicky.
- tyingq 6y agoI'll have to try that out. I suspect I'd still have trouble like accidentally shaking the components off center while putting them in the oven.
- gcormier 6y agoYeah there was an issue a while ago with the ATTiny library and they switched the pin definitions. Was indeed a frustrating time to figure that out initially when the library switched it and all of a sudden everything stopped working!
- learc83 6y agoLow temp solder paste, a laser cut stencil, and a hotplate makes it pretty easy.
- gcormier 6y agoYes, please feel free to build it yourself ;) Initially I offered kits as well - buy the PCB and all the parts to build it yourself. I think I've sold about 6 kits total in more than a year since the last time it frontpage'd HN. It just wasn't worth keeping track of them and then effectively being a middle man for digikey. A lot of people want plug and play.
- bryanrasmussen 6y agoit's a general problem for developers to pay x money for something they could build themselves for y hours where y hours are worth x*10 money, even if you will not use y hours to build it yourself. But since the world has lots of people in it if even 10% of the people who can build something decide to pay for it that can be a profitable business.
- gcormier 6y agoThis is why I made it open source. For those who have the time or drive, or enjoy it, they can get everything they need to do so themselves!
- marcinzm 6y agoTime is golden, just because I could do something myself doesn't mean spending all that time on it is worth it.
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- StavrosK 6y agoAh, but I enjoy building.
- wl 6y agoI enjoy building, too. But there are so many things for me to build that I don't mind paying for shortcuts so I can use my limited time to build things I want to be building.
- marcinzm 6y agoPersonally, there's many things I enjoy but I try to focus on the ones I enjoy most. Which for me is generally things I haven't done before. Spending money rather than time is one means to enable that.
- ianhorn 6y agoEven if your audience is other people who enjoy building, it can work because they might build on top of your thing. Think about an arduino. It's open source, and so maybe you could build it yourself, but there's all sorts of other fun stuff that you can build when you can just throw money at that part. It unlocks projects.
- phasetransition 6y agoFWIW, I would say that knowing how to design boards makes me MORE willing to buy other people's boards. Coming from a more mechanical background, I don't look forward to the tedium of reviewing and modifying all the footprints of "standard" sized SMD parts. I like making music effects for friends, and branching out to things related to motor control, LEDs, sensors, etc. I prefer to have them pick and placed for me. Since an injury a few years ago, I battle vertigo when doing extended fine detail work. I would be interested in seeing some of the designs, you've always been an interesting person to read from here on HN. Tindie makes that easy.
- StavrosK 6y agoYour comment made me realize that I only enjoy building things when they have a component of learning, or when it's something I haven't done before. I have a similar problem where my vision goes blurry at the center if I focus near for long, but I've found that magnifying glasses help with that because they change the focal length. > I would be interested in seeing some of the designs, you've always been an interesting person to read from here on HN. Tindie makes that easy. Thanks for the tip and the compliment! My latest design is a flight controller I made for a remote controlled paper airplane, it's nothing fancy but has some good caveat solutions that might be worth posting. I'll look into Tindie and possibly upload there, thanks again!
- phasetransition 6y agoIt is also the learning aspect for me. And doing projects for friends helps to force good design decisions, and to mind BOM cost. I ended up with "cervicogenic dizziness." I was forced onto team standing desk a couple years back. And I'm only 40. SMH... Anyways, I think my 6 year old would love to play with paper airplanes that also could be flown remotely.
- StavrosK 6y agoAh, that's too bad about the dizziness... We're getting old, alas! The controller works fine, but I still need to do some work on the aerodynamics of the body to make it fly well. I'll post the controller so you can try your own aircraft designs, though. EDIT: I've also recently started live-streaming my design sessions (of whatever I happen to be designing at the time) here: https://www.youtube.com/c/StavrosKorokithakis https://www.youtube.com/c/StavrosKorokithakis
- A4ET8a8uTh0 6y agoI envy you. When it comes to this, I am severely challenged. There is a market for people who want to play, but have no affinity for building hardware. I don't know how big it is, but if you have something interesting, I would share it.
- StavrosK 6y agoHey, I started a few years ago with an Arduino and have dabbled on and off, I haven't really spent much time. I'm not great at hardware, but I know enough to have fun with it. I would really recommend grabbing an Arduino and just making stuff, I think you'll love it and it's really not hard. They've done a great job making it beginner-friendly.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 6y agoa) You can design and make it; I can't. I have basic electronics knowledge and that is definitely more advanced than anything I'd get done in a reasonable time. b) Speaking of reasonable time, it'd probably take even you more than $50 in time, material and parts (mostly time) to make this. This doesn't look like the kind of PCB that you'd hand-solder either, bringing us to... c) Making 1000 of something tends to be cheaper per item than making 1 of something, and I'll gladly take an option that's not only cheaper than anything I could make myself, but also ready to use. You definitely should share your PCBs by producing them at scale if you're willing to do that.
- StavrosK 6y agoMaking a PCB is pretty cheap, even making 10 PCBs costs around $15 nowadays. I usually panel my PCBs so I fit 40-100 in a batch, depending on size (and then only use one). I usually share my designs, the ones I've uploaded have links to the manufacturer where you can order them, though I haven't really done assembly on any, yet. I might, if any design has people interested, though.
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- gcormier 6y agoPart of the costs is that I do assemble these by hand! My right arm is the pick and place machine. I try to do batches of 25 at once, as any more and I want to smash something. I have an SMT stencil for all the SMT parts, and then put them in the oven. The pin header is through-hole (will be stronger then SMT header) so it's done by hand. Then going over everything with a loupe to look for solder paste that hasn't flowed or other issues, programming each one, and then verifying the functionality of each one on my own desk (see the video of the testing process). All in all, quite a bit of my time, and not yet factored in is the entire logistics (storefront, shipping, customer support) Unfortunately as it's a small operation, I also can't afford to buy these parts in what would be considered a big quantity - so I'm still paying fairly high costs. The jellybean capacitors and resistors I can order in real bulk (500), but the IC's and voltage regulators are name brand from DigiKey.
- koonsolo 6y agoDefinitely! - First of all, a PCB that I design and make myself would cost me way more than $50, counting my time - $50 is nothing for a person with a fulltime job - I have a family and busy life. Would love to make my own, but just don't have the time for all of that.
- yjftsjthsd-h 6y agoI think this must be true of software, too; I have thought, from time to time, "that'd be neat, but there's no way I could sell it", or even just "that'd be neat, but nobody else would want to contribute" (for FOSS). But... the same logic would imply that a lot of things shouldn't exist that do. Why do any of the BSDs exist, why does redox exist, why are there so many programming languages, why are there so many package managers, ... maybe, if I think it's neat enough to build, other people would want to use it. Maybe, if I would pay for it (if only someone would sell it), others would, too.
- StavrosK 6y agoOddly, I don't have that problem with software at all. I think it's the hassle of shipping that makes me think that, whereas software is deliverable immediately.
- luxurytent 6y agoHah! I am in the market for a standing desk and am 95% sold on the IKEA Bekant. Just waiting to move to commit to the purchase. I wasn't keen on the crank but I figured I could live with it. This is a nice and fun addition :)
- robert_foss 6y agoI have one and it is pretty good, at least considering the price. It is a little bit less stable feeling than I'd have liked, but overall ok.
- thaway757383884 6y agoThe autonomous desk is sturdier, cheaper, bigger and actually has built in position memory settings etc. It’s served me amazingly over the past few months WFH. Definitely worth a look.
- luxurytent 6y agoTo be clear, you're talking about the BEKANT yeah?
- 0898 6y agoI've just ordered these, so I'd be interested in any opinions. (Ideally ones that validate my decision to purchase, let's be honest.)
- 6y ago
- basejumping 6y agoI suggest they also program a child lock for the buttons. My son caught his fingers between a chair under the desk and the desk itself while pressing the down button, luckily I jumped in time to help. I've since then moved the controls on top of the desk and at the back.
- marcinzm 6y agoThe IKEA standing desk seems to have a safety key that needs to be plugged in for the desk to move.
- gcormier 6y agoCorrect, the desk will not move without the key inserted, even with megadesk.
- klausjensen 6y agoSo THAT is what that is for... I have had some of these Bekant tables, never understood the reason that thing needed to be plugged in.
- zython 6y agoCan this be used to prank certain tall, beet farming, mustard yellow shirt wearing co workers at a midsized paper company ?
- mbreese 6y agoI have one of these. It makes the IKEA desk much nicer. Being able to adjust to pre-defined heights is something that should have been supported from the start. The only real complaint that I have is how difficult it was to swap the original board for this one. But changing boards was probably not high on the IKEA priority list.
- gcormier 6y agoWe can call it the "BEKANT Tatoo" when you stab yourself with a spudger trying to open that damned case.
- sdfx 6y agoI guess this makes mostly sense if you plan on extending the firmware. A stupid idea I was thinking about is a table that moves once a day into the standing position. I used to work at a standing desk and after a wile almost never used the feature. Maybe a warning-beep would make sense... edit: mixed up the price, removed my first sentence
- gcormier 6y agoThere's an open feature request to allow this type of functionality. Someone else wanted it to randomly move during working hours (a few times a day) to force them to alternate their position.
- lifeformed 6y agoFYI, these motorized desks can be dangerous, so be careful. My friend had a desk in a high position, and lowered it, not knowing a chair was off to the side slightly under the desk. It hit the chair and kept going, and tilted the desk and his monitor and desktop tower fell off the table. I've also had the arm rests of my desk get caught under them. There's lots of things that can happen, like catching an open door's handle. A child can hit the button and get hurt. IMO they should have some sort of sensor thing that detects a change in resistance or something.
- Chris2048 6y ago> and desktop tower fell off the table I think having the tower insecurely affixed to a moving desk was asking for trouble
- xyzzy_plugh 6y agoMost motorized desks I've interacted with (including the one I own) do indeed have a resistance sensor and will not only stop, but back up a bit if they encounter something.
- geewee 6y agoNone of the desks I've interacted with had this feature. I've almost crushed things a couple of times on a variety of different desks.
- jabroni_salad 6y agoMy Jarvis will stop and reverse a few inches if it hits something. I have triggered it just setting my coffee cup down while it was raising.
- timcederman 6y agoInteresting, my Jarvis doesn't and it's 18 months old. I've had the same scenario happen that OP described.
- aosaigh 6y agoHa, I just built something like this with a Raspberry Pi for fun. My standing desk (a Conset) only had a up/down button so I used a RPi + relay hat + distance sensor + screen/buttons to allow height presets as well as control via Homebridge: https://imgur.com/a/9YF7FuP https://imgur.com/a/9YF7FuP Not exactly cost effective, but it was a fun way to learn about relays.
- vaughnegut 6y agoOut of curiosity, why did you go with height instead of timing? Wouldn't you get equivalent results without the use of the sensor by activating the motor for a set period of time?
- nl 6y agoGenerally things like weight and wear affect timing so it's better practice to measure.
- aosaigh 6y agoYeah I tried timing first but it was hard to get right. The weight of the desk affects it and it also goes down quicker then it goes up (not sure if that’s common with all desks - I would assume so). You also can’t use the regular up/down adjustments if you rely on timing as it would be out of sync (I have buttons to raise and lower regularly as well as moving to presets)
- battery423 6y agosomehow it looks useless and over the top and before you downvote: I really like this with the hal sensors and that display. Nicely done :-)
- ponker 6y agoThis is plainly not safe. A desk with memory needs to require a continuous button press to keep advancing the desk, so that if the operator or someone gets caught in the desk and can’t push the stop button, it stops as soon as pressure is released.
- pbhjpbhj 6y agoFall-safe buttons would probably be ideal too - recessed/covered to minimise accidental contact. You don't want to collapse against your desk and have it crush your legs (though the motor/gearbox probably isn't that strong).
- ponker 6y agoThe motor could easily be that strong, depending on how many pounds loading the desk is rated for. My standing desk is an expensive model but it's rated for 600 pounds.
- ta576248_743568 6y agoIt would probably be better to just implement continuous current (proportional to torque which is proportional to force up/down) limiting on the motor, that would prevent the desk from pushing up or down at a force that could injure someone. Not sure if this is directly controlling the motor or just communicating with the actual motor controller. If the motor controller is separate it may already do this.
- hellofunk 6y agoMy IKEA standing desk died after only one year, the crank jammed in the weirdest way and it cannot rise anymore.
- verelo 6y agoCrazy that this is here, this is the product of a friend of mine! I will admit, my reaction to the price was that its not cheap either, but i also really did want my ikea desk to have this functionality and its pretty easy to justify given how much use my desk at home gets now. The solution he's made is very solid, never let me down, and was easy enough to install (Although Ikea make it hard by plastic welding the box shut).
- soygul 6y agoIKEA has a new standup desk called IDÅSEN: https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/idasen-desk-sit-stand-black-dark-gray-s79280998/ https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/idasen-desk-sit-stand-black-dar... It can be controlled via Bluetooth with an app on your mobile. It is a much better option in comparison to Bekant in my opinion. The tabletop on IDÅSEN is much thicker too, making monitor mounts safer to install. If you are on the market for a standup desk with good value, pay $100 more and buy IDÅSEN instead of the Berkant desk mentioned in the Tindie campaign.
- gcormier 6y agoI had a feature request to support IDASEN and came to the same conclusion. However, for myself (and I suspect others), I don't need yet another app to do something. I want to push a button and be finished in 1 second for something like a desk. Cognitive load on this should be zero.
- the_pwner224 6y agoGenerally these devices use Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) for control, which has a well-defined 'schema' where devices expose 'services' which contain a number of read/write/notify 'characteristics' that are used for control. It's pretty easy to reverse engineer this stuff, I spent around two hours doing it with a sleep number adjustable bed base. Once you have the protocol of course you can just write a program to connect to the MAC address and send the commands. Another response to the parent shows that this has already been done. On Android the free (as in money) NRF Connect application lets you browse the services/characteristics, tells you which ones are read/write/notify, and snoop+send data. I also had to use the 'Bluetooth Snoop Log' setting in Developer Options and open the log in Wireshark to sniff some of the packets that the app sent. The log contains timestamps so you can wait 10 seconds between operations to make it really easy to identify what does what. All you need in Wireshark is a filter like 'btatt.uuid128 == ff...:ff' to filter to just the characteristic you want to sniff.
- nl 6y agoThey do have a button as well.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 6y agoI'm amazed at the tiny part size and part count/density "hobbyist-made" boards have achieved.
- tokamak-teapot 6y agoFor those worrying about motorised desks and their safety, I just want to recommend Ikea’s manual desk. It works fine. I don’t know why I’d want a motor in it.
- ornornor 6y agoI went to the store to have a look at that desk. They had three on the floor including one that was assembled three days ago according to the staff there. They were all so wobbly as to be unusable. Put some pressure on where the monitors or where you’re hands would be and everything shook. Knowing how robust ikea is, I hard passed and got the stationary bekant. It still comes with legs that are quite adjustable (but only when you assemble it, I wouldn’t think it’s easy to set it with stuff on it) So yes a word of caution I guess, that desk can be rather wobbly. I didn’t go with the motorized bekant because I heard the electronics are not reliable at all and fails way too much needing warranty service. The less I go to ikea the better, and since their warranty is bring in (30kg desk)...
- tokamak-teapot 6y agoI use the manual desk at standing height most of the time. At this height, if I really bash on the keys of my mechanical keyboard then I can see a tiny movement in the monitor (which is on an arm clamped to the rear edge of the desk). Otherwise nothing. I don’t normally bash the keys like I’m trying to break them, so yes, while it’s possible to make it move artificially, in real life I don’t see any movement.
- ornornor 6y agoToo bad ikea themselves do such a poor job at assembling their own furniture in the showroom then. Because of the wobble and the pain that it is to return ikea furniture without a car, I ended up spending half as much on a fixed bekant instead which is really good enough for my purposes as I don’t ever change the height anyway.
- theincredulousk 6y agoI was actually hoping this was going to be some WFH setup where someone had pushed multiple desks together like that episode of The Office
- dbg31415 6y agoI use an Ikea Jerker desk as my main desk. I love it. You can set it to any height you want, adjust the monitor shelf height, and it's so sturdy. For my home office I got two... one for work, and one for gaming. They cost like $50 when you can find them on Craigslist. No clue why Ikea stopped making this desk, it's better than anything they have made to date. https://www.jerkersearcher.com/ https://www.jerkersearcher.com/
- sntran 6y agoI was curious so I looked it up the desk, and surprised, I did have one of those. Sure you can adjust the height, but once you have your monitor, books and what not, it is a pain to make any adjustments. It has been in "sitting" position for as long as I can remember.
- egypturnash 6y agoGet a bar chair/stool or something similar that puts your butt at a good height for standing, spend a day rearranging the desk to standing height. Now when your feet get tired standing you can just pull the stool out and sit for a while. It's a lot lower-tech than a fancy adjustable desk but it's also a lot cheaper and lower hassle.
- egypturnash 6y agoI left my Jerker behind when I did a cross-country move and I still regret it sometimes. Less so since I put together an Ikea order of some shelves and a tabletop designed to attach to them; it's not quite as solid as the Jerker was but I have SO MUCH SPACE.
- winrid 6y agoOn a related note, I recently converted my old Ikea desk to a standing desk using a kit off Amazon. Only like $150 to end up with a nice standing desk!
- oAlbe 6y agoWhat's such a kit composed of?
- winrid 6y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23684036 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23684036 Basically everything below the flat desk part. Although I suggest you have a drill to make inserting the screws much faster.
- winrid 6y agoKit: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TTVF1M5/ref=dp_cerb_2 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07TTVF1M5/ref=dp_cerb_2 The one I got isn't on sale anymore. Here's a more expensive dual motor one. Here's the setup. Ikea Desk + Vivo Stand + keyboard tray https://imgur.com/a/TlmKP1I https://imgur.com/a/TlmKP1I
- somehnguy 6y agoMore details please :)
- winrid 6y agohttps://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23684036 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23684036
- alasdair_ 6y agoI have a Jarvis standing desk right now and I'm very happy with it, but I've recently gone on a home automation bender and want to automate all the things. In particular, I'd like to be able to control the desk remotely so that I can add it to a Home Assistant script that fires via an Alexa skill. This seems a bit silly, but I have a whole configuration that I use for coding that is different to the config that I use for (say) gaming - different monitor settings, change in lighting, open/closed window shades etc. I'd like to adjust desk height similarly (I have two keyboards and mice, one positioned below the other one on a pull-out keyboard tray). So, any ideas on where to start automating this particular kind of desk? The controller is a sealed unit and my google-fu is lacking when it comes to finding the protocol used to communicate with the desk itself. EDIT: Found this: https://github.com/sarahkw/deskctrl/blob/master/schematics/reverse_engineer.jpg https://github.com/sarahkw/deskctrl/blob/master/schematics/r... not sure if my desk is a JRV1 or not yet but will find out.
- Sodman 6y agoIf you are OK with adding more hardware, you could use a physical device to press the preset buttons. Something like this - https://www.amazon.com/SwitchBot-app-controlled-device-mechanically-rocker/dp/B07B98QQF7 https://www.amazon.com/SwitchBot-app-controlled-device-mecha...
- alasdair_ 6y agoThat’s actually kind of neat. It would probably get in the way of manual operation but it’s something I hadn’t considered - thanks!
- Sohcahtoa82 6y agoI've been considering a new desk recently, since I will be WFH for the foreseeable future, and I'm considering the Jarvis. How's the lateral stability in a Jarvis? I want to be able to mount a gaming wheel with very strong force feedback to my desk, and the Jarvis's lack of a cross bar makes me doubt it's as strong as an UpLift V2 desk which I'm also considering.
- herpderperator 6y agoI recently got myself a commercial-grade Workrite Sierra HX Electric standing corner desk to make what appears to be a pretty permanent WFH situation more pleasant. Safe to say I won't be volunteering to go back to the office anytime soon. Video: https://www.dropbox.com/s/h6ja2epcja2cwd8/standing_desk.mp4 https://www.dropbox.com/s/h6ja2epcja2cwd8/standing_desk.mp4 You can even kneel on the ground with this one, because it goes as low as 22.5" as per BIFMA G1-2013 requirements. It seems to have the same up/down interface (panel and app) as the IDÅSEN from IKEA, which is interesting. Exactly this one: https://www.linak.com/products/controls/dpg-with-reminder/ https://www.linak.com/products/controls/dpg-with-reminder/
- ajoseps 6y agoIf anyone has concerns about the reliability/safety of electric desks and are also put off by crank desks, I can recommend pneumatic standing desks. They can transition between standing and seated very quickly, faster than either crank and motor. This looks like what we have in our office: https://www.standupdeskstore.com/pneumatic-adjustable-height-standing-desk https://www.standupdeskstore.com/pneumatic-adjustable-height...
- wyclif 6y agoI don't mind electric desks but I prefer crank operated ones, like the Adler Desk which totally slays, because there is no motor to burn out and need replacement: https://work.ohiodesign.com/adler-desk.html https://work.ohiodesign.com/adler-desk.html
- vcolano 6y agoHmm, I could use this finally realize my dream of the "Squatting Desk".
- loser777 6y agoSo it's called the "Megadesk," but it has an ATtiny...
- FullyFunctional 6y agoAm I the only one dismayed by the interface as described? User interface a few decades old were far simpler and IMO more functional -- dedicated buttons for everything (cheaper than micro controllers back then). I'd suggest UP DOWN M1 M2 M3 with the only non-trivial function being a long-press on an M button to store position. Simple!
- robin_reala 6y agoThe idea is that this is a board retrofit into the existing housing / control setup. The BEKANT only has two buttons available, so this controller has two buttons to play with. Of course, you could build a new controller and housing with whatever input buttons you want, but the cost then would go up considerably.
- gcormier 6y agoI initially set out to do a complete design as you described, but homemade housing/buttons will look... homemade. :)
- NoPicklez 6y agoStrange question, for anyone that has the Bekant non-motorized desk, is the desk wobbly? I noticed that the motorized version is significantly studier, where the standard version was quite wobbly.