Work from Home - Ergonomic Improvements

During the Covid-19 crisis, my partner and I found ourselves working from home unexpectedly. While I had my home office and workshop space set up to be comfortable enough for a few hours of tinkering on the weekends, there were still some basic improvements to be made. Unfortunately for my partner, her desk set up was not well sized for ergonomics.

Laptop Stands

The first order of business was to elevate our laptops and get them closer to eye level. In addition to the ergonomic benefits, the stand helped keep the laptops a bit cooler. While there are plenty of laptop stand designs available online, I wanted to design something of my own. The main design goals were an open back for cooling, lift angle to keep my screen vertical, and a quick print time.

Keyboard Tray

Version 1

To improve the ergonomics of my partner’s desk, I needed to lower the level of the keyboard. The first design was intended to keep a clean overall look and avoid too much additional hardware. The first design was mounted on drawer handles. While the design worked, it wasn’t particularly strong and had a tendency to rock the drawers a bit.

Version 2

To expand the space on the keyboard tray as well as make it a bit more robust, I added some 1/4” steel rod legs and changed the mounting to a clamp on the lip of the desk frame under the drawer. While this was only intended to be a second prototype (and thus the cheap wood), it has been working so well that there hasn’t been any need for further changes. Down the road I may replace the tray top, but let’s all hope that Covid-19 ends quickly and the replacement isn’t needed.

The final version quickly put to use!