Building an Adjustable Height Standing Desk [Video]

Adjustable Stand Up Desk

The Iron Yard is a very unique co-work and entrepreneurial incubation space located in the heart of Greenville, South Carolina. When cofounder Matthew Smith wanted to build some amazing desks for their new co-work area, he tapped into the power of Kee Klamp fittings to build some thoroughly adjustable standing desks.

A Standing Desk That's Adjustable

Adjustable Standing Desk

Most people don't really need to change the height of their desk (unless of course you're still growing). If you have a shared space or office environment where desks can be used by multiple people over time, then having the ability to adjust the height is pretty handy. If you're a school or a co-work space, the ability to custom fit the desk to each user is pretty important. Building with Kee Klamp fittings allows for the desk to be totally adjustable in a range of 1-2 feet. Now granted, that's a lot of adjustability, but hey, you never know!

How Did We Make the Desk Adjustable

Adjustable Mechanism

If you've looked at the pictures you've probably already figured out how the desk works. There are basically four extra pipes that act as adjustable legs for the desk. In the case of this design, the co-work folks attached legs to the outside of the structure. The desk is adjustable by tightening and loosening the set screw in the fitting (see the video if you haven't already).

What Do You Need to Build this Adjustable Standing Desk?

Parts you'll need

Additional Supplies
Note About Pipe

I've excluded length, because that will depend on your desktop size

  • 4 x adjustable legs
  • 4 x static legs
  • 2 x cross braces
  • 1 x back brace

If you're pricing out this project, each desk should cost you around $300. That's a great price for a highly adjustable desk that you can customize and build yourself.

Building Basics

If you watched the video you saw that construction was pretty straight forward. You need to attach the Kee Klamp flanges to the desktop. Then you need to cut the pipes and attach them to the fittings. Tightening down the fittings can be done with a simple Allen key. Using a drill makes things go faster but it isn't necessary. The pipe caps go into the top and the bottom of the adjustable leg pipe. The plastic plugs go into the bottom of of the pipe to ensure that the pipes don't scratch the floor. The metal plugs go into the top of the pipes to give the pipe a finished look.

Get Ready to Stand and Work

Working Standing Up

As much as we love to stand and work, having a chair near-by is definitely important. Standing all day can cause just as many problems as sitting all day! Just ask a cook, or a store clerk, they'll tell you about foot problems! Mixing it up is definitely the way to go, and having a tall chair to back you up is always a good idea.

Be sure to use good standing desk ergonomics, here's a link to a reference chart.

Check out this diy standing desk post for more information on how to build your own standing desk as well as information about the health advantages of using a standing desk.

Working Standing Up

As you can see, the folks in Greenville are pretty pleased with their adjustable standing desk. They can adjust the desk to suit each of their users, and they saved a ton of cash by building it themselves.

More Pictures of the Standing Desk Build

Check out the pictures below for more details on Greenville Co-work's adjustable standing desk. If you need assistance, you can tap into our free project assistance. For more inspiration, check out the desk category of projects.

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