Hacker News Reader

Comment by chiefalchemist | Hacker News Reader

I recently purchased an adjustable height workbench from Home Depot. I'm in the process of designing a subblememtal top so I can use it as an adjustable height desk (standing desk / regular desk).

I opted for with drawers but that might have been a mistake. I'll know soon.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-46-in-Adjustable-Height-Wo...

View on HN

These things are great. I'm using one (with a pegboard) as a baby changing table of all things. Everything you need is easily accessible with a crying child in one hand.

I have two without the drawers. They are wonderful.

I think they will have a much longer lifespan than the electronically controlled sit/stand desks.

Yup. I have no interest in electric. Sooner or later they'll breakdown. On the other hand, this thing is sturdy and well made. It will always be work bench worthy. My only issue is that at full-height it's a bit short for my taste as a standing desk. But I knew that would be the case. That's where the supplemental top comes in.

If anyone is wondering, the hand crank is easy to turn. But if I had to I could trick it out so it's longer to add leverage and make it easier to turn.

The issue with the drawers is one of leg room. I would love to be able to use them but it might not workout that way. Give me a couple days for design. Then a buildout on the weekend.

Could you take off the hand crank and fit a battery-powered drill in its place? A drill is almost a necessity to own for me, but is not something I use all that often, so if its storage place is chucked onto my desk, that would work just fine.

Con - It would have to be a drill with a lot of torque. The handle on the crank is approx 6". That's adequate for manual, but less would take significant effort. A knob would be tough (and would take too long). Of the drills I own, I'm not sure any of them could do it. But I also do not own anything super-duper top of the line.

Pro - Yes, the hand crank is removable. The socket the crank sits in is maybe a 3/8" hex (female). That is, getting the drill to interface w/ the socket should be straight forward. The concern is the drill being powerful enough.

-- What if the crank was larger? Say 12" or more, like a wheel? Would that help you? Perhaps the drill could leverage that somehow? But my recommendation would be - if you are physically able to use it - to extend the crank to 2 feet (or more). That should help.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

An impact driver could probably handle it fine, but I can't imagine the hammering action would be good for the mechanism.

Physically I would be able to use a hand crank just fine, but if it's anything like reclining the seat in my Volkswagen (a 3" knob on the seatback hinge, rather than the typical lever), I'd hate to do it more than once a day. If it's not convenient to use, I would likely just leave it in the down position permanently out of laziness. I really like the idea of a motorized adjustable desk with one-touch memory buttons, but the cost and usual implementation is not to my liking.

I had this problem with a hand cranked ikea standing desk, it was miserable to do regularly. Especially after I was moved to that from a convenient and fast spring loaded system.

It's not a knob. The crank helps. Worst case, just extend the crank if the drill can't cut it.

Ideally, once I get used to standing, I don't intend to sit, sans the weekends.

It's not the effort that would be a problem, it's the time. I like the crank seat adjustment on my VW when it comes to fine adjustability, but if I want to recline the seat back all the way it ... just ... takes ... way ... too ... long.

A longer crank handle would just make it take longer. And I don't want to stand full time. I tried that for a few weeks with a makeshift standing desk (a bunch of boxes stacked on top of my filing cabinet to the correct height) just to see if I would like it, and it was great for an hour or three, but I did not want to stand all day. Ideally, I'd be able to switch modes 2-4 times a day.

To clarify, I trying to mindful of the fact that you might have a disability of some sort.

The longer handle would make it faster because the same amount of energy would move the "dial" further.

That said, your actual question is: How many total crank rotations to get from lowest to highest?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com