DIY Standing Desk

This Desk Moves !!!
I am a fan of exposed plywood, so i decided that my next project should be made from 1 sheet of plywood, and have an exposed plywood look
I wanted the desk to be as strong as it can be to hold my ultra wide 29" monitor and whatever i throw on.
I chose plywood, since it will be easy for you to make, with accessible tools, unlike having to go throught jointers, planners... you can have the plywood sheet cut at most lumber yard on the CNC. just take the cutlist with you when getting the plywood sheet.

Build Video:

Free Fusion 360 3D model:

https://a360.co/2yqtrmt

Supplies

Supplies:
- 1 sheet of plywood
- 2 linear actuators with 40 cm stroke, Link : https://www.banggood.com/custlink/KG3mBKeera , But checkout this version , it has a remote control and relays : https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_d9dJ0dp

- glue
- Brad nails
- 4 dowels
- varnish
- laquer

total cost around 155$

Start Cutting

I started cutting the wood to lenght, here you can find the measurements:
Part : LengthxWidth (Quantity)
fixedlegs-out 60 cmx14 cm (4)
fixedlegs-between 60 cmx3 cm (8)
fixedlegs-foot 60 cmx10 cm (4)
fixedlegs-foot-between 23 cmx10 cm (16)
movinglegs-inside 68 cmx7.8 cm (4)
movinglegs-between 26.1 cmx8 cm (8)
movinglegs-upsupport 60 cmx8 cm (4)
top 120 cmx60 cm (1)
support-bw-legs 92.8 cmx20 cm (1)
support-top 96.4 cmx6 cm (1)

Glue Up

i started gluing in order to expose more of that beautifull plywood edge, after that i clamped it and leaved it to dry.
I used brad nails so the plywood parts stay flush to each other during glue up, you can use salt in case you dont have access to a brad nailer, the salt will help the glued parts to grip while you clamp them.

Dry Fit and Test Sliding Mechanism

after gluing the upper legs together, and gluing the fixed legs housing i can try to fit the upper legs in them to make sure they can move freely, in case they dont fit you need to do some sanding.

Mount the Linear Actuators

you can now mount the linear actuators and give them some power to test them mounted.

Connect the Leg Stretcher

connect the leg stretcher to join the 2 legs, use dowels to add additional strength, glue the dowels on the stretcher side only, in case you want to disassemble the desk later.

Mounting the Top

it is not recommended to connect the 2 actuators together, since they will never move with the same speed because of many factors , for example the weight difference on each side of the table... this will cause tearout in the wood.

so in our design we will take that into consideration and build around this limitation by joining the top to the legs, in a way that it allows the top to move freely when the legs are not in sync (while moving) and still be strong.

for this we will make a 6 cm dado in the legs and attach a 6 cm plywood to the bottom of the top. since the force will be going down from the table top to the legs, this will help us to make a strong joint.

Sanding and Finishing

i started sanding with my orbit sander with 80 grits , i made small radius with it for the table top corner, and i took off the sharp edges. After that i moved to 120 grits and stoped there. After that i started painting with Varnish stain , Oak color . After the 2 weeks i sprayed some laquer finish to give it extra protection.

Q&A

I made this short video to answer some of the viewers comments