Share your HOME WORKING workstation environment - pics

[ZesPak]

TameRacingDriver said:

I have thought about doing that in the past, but always led to believe unless it had a support in the middle it would end up sagging. I still really like the idea though to be fair.

Depending on a lot of factors of course.
Thickness of the tablet, length and depth.

Assuming you fix it on 3 sides (as per the picture).
If it's only 60cm deep, a 3cm top won't flex much.

Mine now is 3.3m wide, 80cm deep but only 3cm thick and it needed extra reinforcement (steel bar across).

As for the "doing it cheap", again, depending on the length you need, neigbour of mine was giving this away recently. Made a very nice top for my SiL, remove the legs, cut it down to size and sand it down. Absolutely solid and free except for our own labour.

beambeam1 said:

In with cut to size kitchen worktop. Joiner out with the right size hole saw bits tomorrow for some cable management but really pleased so far. Doesn’t half utilise the dead space that was left either side of the old desk.

Very much a work in progress still.

That looks great!
Couple of things I would advise: mount the monitors, you'd be amazed how much space that frees up. Also, there are these 60mm cable hole mounts with usb hub integrated, wish I've gone for those. I now have 80mm holes and can't find the USB-hub ones to match.

Edited by ZesPak on Tuesday 28th November 07:55

[RizzoTheRat]

ZesPak said:

Also, there are these 60mm cable hole mounts with usb hub integrated, wish I've gone for those. I now have 80mm holes and can't find the USB-hub ones to match.

I would definitely recommend desk grommet usb hubs. I have one with 4 usb ports and a mains socket (plus headphone/mic sockets but I don't use those) and it's really useful, my headphones, SD card reader, and anything else I don't want always plugged in connect in there, and it's useful to have an easily accessible socket to plug occasional additional stuff in to. If you can't fit a grommit you can get ones that clamp to the back of the desk, or wou can get 80-60mm adaptor collars.

[redrabbit29]

I'm tempted to get a new monitor - an LG 40" (https://www.lg.com/uk/monitors/ultrawide/40wp95c-w/). The cost is eye watering though.

At the moment I use 2x27" which is fine. I do a lot of technical cybersecurity work which involves looking at numbers, data, etc, plus general outlook/report writing etc.

I WFH so it would get used 40+ hours a week.

[ZesPak]

My advice:
Get a good 34" 21x9 display to replace one of your current 27" monitors:

1. loads of choice and a damn sight cheaper
2. you still have multiple displays, even when running something full screen on the ultrawide
3. a 34" 21x9 is the same height than a 27" 16x9, so they fit next to each other really nicely
4. That combination will give you almost 30% more screen real estate than a single 40" ultrawide

Edited by ZesPak on Tuesday 28th November 09:29

[deckster]

As above, I've been using a 34" 21x9 screen for years in my home office. It's a really good form factor for productivity, not so big that you're losing things or having to move your head around, but at the same time you can easily get two windows side-by-side on the screen. Significantly cheaper than the bigger screens but I don't think you lose much practicality; I also have a 43" 4K monitor that I only use for gaming now, I just couldn't get on with it for productivity as it was simply too big and was the wrong shape for the way I work.

[redrabbit29]

Thank you both - that's really good advice. I was concerned about 40 just being way too big and the cost was just too much to justify. Looking into the 34" now.

[beambeam1]

ZesPak said:

That looks great!
Couple of things I would advise: mount the monitors, you'd be amazed how much space that frees up.

Edited by ZesPak on Tuesday 28th November 07:55

Absolutely. I am still to order some to mount them flush to the wall but the first thing I did was measure how much real estate the wife was actually using with the old desk and a 600mm depth for the new one was absolutely fine even if the monitors weren't mounted. Will be great once they are.

RizzoTheRat said:

ZesPak said:

Also, there are these 60mm cable hole mounts with usb hub integrated, wish I've gone for those. I now have 80mm holes and can't find the USB-hub ones to match.

I would definitely recommend desk grommet usb hubs. I have one with 4 usb ports and a mains socket (plus headphone/mic sockets but I don't use those) and it's really useful, my headphones, SD card reader, and anything else I don't want always plugged in connect in there, and it's useful to have an easily accessible socket to plug occasional additional stuff in to. If you can't fit a grommit you can get ones that clamp to the back of the desk, or wou can get 80-60mm adaptor collars.

Wow, hadn't even thought of these! I haven't any holes cut yet so have just ordered one that has 1 x power socket, 1 x USB-A and 1 x USB-C charging sockets for phones/cameras and another of the USB hubs to run from the PC underneath the desk. Brilliant suggestions, thanks.

[maccas99]

Hey All - I have a corner "L" shaped desk in my office and I don't want to replace the entire thing if I can avoid it.

Has anyone invested in one of those sit/stand risers so you can, you know, sit and stand

Something like: https://yo-yodesk.co.uk/products/flytta-riser-larg...

Appreciate any thoughts or advice...

[Monsterlime]

TameRacingDriver said:

I have thought about doing that in the past, but always led to believe unless it had a support in the middle it would end up sagging. I still really like the idea though to be fair.

When I mounted my desk to the wall, I followed this Youtube video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTxQ59GE91Q and I made the same brackets out of wood. Mine were a bit bigger, because the work top was larger and I had them slightly more centered because of the location of the stud, but otherwise its the same. It has been on the wall now for around 4 years I think, never sagged and been solid.

He has a new video that looks like a nice evolution of the idea - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHX8Px7eVnY

[QuartzDad]

ZesPak said:

Also, there are these 60mm cable hole mounts with usb hub integrated, wish I've gone for those. I now have 80mm holes and can't find the USB-hub ones to match.

Every day's a school day, didn't know these things existed. My desk has a 80mm hole with a plain blanking grommet, one of these should be arriving tomorrow

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B9S3WYPN

[RizzoTheRat]

They're great, I have one of these that has a hole for cables to pass through as well which is very useful as I have an electric height assist desk and don't want the cables scraping on the wall.



I'd like to have one with a UK plug and space to pass cables through to put the other end of the desk but so far I've not been able to find one.

[ZesPak]

QuartzDad said:

ZesPak said:

Also, there are these 60mm cable hole mounts with usb hub integrated, wish I've gone for those. I now have 80mm holes and can't find the USB-hub ones to match.

Every day's a school day, didn't know these things existed. My desk has a 80mm hole with a plain blanking grommet, one of these should be arriving tomorrow

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B9S3WYPN

I was personally looking for this exact config.

As I need cables to go through, but couldn't find it for 80mm.

I actually just zip tied an usb charging station to my Ikea pegboard. My monitor has USB ports and a hub already but I just needed a couple extra for charging a bit quicker (phone, headset).

I've just did the count on the monitor:

1. Webcam
2. External Mic
3. Gaming headset
4. work headset (bt dongle)
5. mouse/keyboard dongle

I have the top 4 connected to this.


Which quickly and safely allows me to switch input and output devices. Has done the job for years pretty flawlessly.

[stemll]

Here you go (albeit USB2 only)

https://www.dcdi.co.uk/usb-desk-grommet?model=F601...

[ZesPak]

Me "this exact config": USB3.0, 2x USB-C, 2x USB-A
Stemll: USB2.0, 3xUSB-A, SD, Microphone, Headphones

[ten200]

You can get 80mm to 60mm converters:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anello-adattatore-Delock-...

[stemll]

ZesPak said:

Me "this exact config": USB3.0, 2x USB-C, 2x USB-A
Stemll: USB2.0, 3xUSB-A, SD, Microphone, Headphones

I did caveat it with being only USB2

[DoubleSix]

Problem is, you still end up with wires on the desk with that set up…

I like my desk wire free, but accessible:

Edited by DoubleSix on Tuesday 28th November 20:00

[RizzoTheRat]

That's quite neat. For chargers, I've seen grommets with a wireless charger plate attached which is a neat idea. I just have an Ikea wireless charger next to the grommet though so the cable is quite short. It does look a little too much like a coaster though and I have to remember to put my phone on it not my coffee

I have wired mouse, keyboard and headphones though, and a wired joystick lives on my desk so I'm used to a few wires on the desk. I hate wireless mice, I can never remember where I've put them

[ZesPak]

I absolutely love the Ikea pegboard (SKÅDIS), got 4 of them scattered through the house to vertically store all sorts of small stuff. Next to my desk, I can hang my headsets from it and have small containers with cables I might need. Left bottom you can see me having zip tied a charging station to it.

[alock]

Monsterlime said:

TameRacingDriver said:

I have thought about doing that in the past, but always led to believe unless it had a support in the middle it would end up sagging. I still really like the idea though to be fair.

When I mounted my desk to the wall, I followed this Youtube video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTxQ59GE91Q and I made the same brackets out of wood. Mine were a bit bigger, because the work top was larger and I had them slightly more centered because of the location of the stud, but otherwise its the same. It has been on the wall now for around 4 years I think, never sagged and been solid.

He has a new video that looks like a nice evolution of the idea - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHX8Px7eVnY

When I did this, I didn't want that angled wooden support underneath. I knew I would always be hitting my knees into them. After a lot of searching I found these huge heavy duty shelf brackets. They're much more low-profile than anything I could make out of wood.
https://mastershelf.co.uk/shop/brackets-2/function...

I used two of them under the worktop, either side of my radiator, along with some angle iron on the side walls.





It's been up for a year now, and in use almost everyday. It's 2.6m wide, and there is no sag anywhere.

To help with cable management, a monitor stand is a great place to hide everything. I built mine with the offcut from my 4m worktop. I have a cut-out in the desk underneath this stand.

Additionally, I cut the two back corners off the desk. This serves two purposes. They're sized so I can drop a standard 3 pin-plugin through for items like the lamp in the picture above. They also allow a more snug fit against the walls because the corners of hand-plastered walls are never exactly 90º.

Edited by alock on Thursday 30th November 09:28