DIY Plans for Adjustable Desk

In 2019 I built a wall mounted adjustable desk for my art studio inspired by the Frey Desk. I wanted to be able to switch between sitting and standing, and have it at an angle or level with the floor, so this desk seemed perfect for my needs. You can find photos of my original build on imgur and some more comments and suggestions from other people on r/DIY and r/woodworking. I also made a copy of my post as a PDF you can download here.

I finally put together some DIY plans with a few changes and improvements on my original build. The plans include graphics and photos of the new design along with step my step instructions. I also included 3D files for anyone who wants to modify the design in 3D software.

This desk can be built from a single sheet of 3/4 inch x 4 ft x 8 ft plywood and two to three wood dowels, along with glue and screws.

You can buy the plans on Etsy or Gumroad. If you’re not sure you want to build this desk and want to take a look at the plans for free, you can pay what you want on Gumroad for as little as $0.

My desk I built back in 2019

Physics Simulations for Desk Notch Design

I was curious about a different notch design for my art desk, since my current design is flawed, so I tried it out in a physics simulation in Blender. Here are the results.

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My original design for my art desk has 45 degree notches. The problem for this is when the desk is in the position with the desktop parallel to the ground, if you push on the front of the desk then the back dowel pops right out. I fixed this by added some pegs to tie into, but it makes changing the angle of the desk a hassle.

One way to keep the back dowel from popping out is to make the notch angle 60 degrees instead of 45. It still popped out in the simulation, but not as fast as the 45 degree slot. With the added friction of the wood and if the dowel is fitted to the notch tight enough, this design might work just fine and only pop out with sudden and heavy pressure on the front of the desk.

The most effect design was to lower the end of the notch by a distance of the radius of the round end. The dowel won’t pop out because it’s essentially encountering a vertical notch (at least at one small point) perpendicular to the direction of the force being applied to it.

If I built another desk I think I’d use this notch design.