vernacular built ergonomic correct workstation component help
I do have two kinds of arthritis already, gave up my large bore pistol hobby years ago because my wrists hurt for too long after matches, that kind of thing.
What I am looking at, already started prototyping, is vernacular built (like in Chris Schwarz' _The Anachist's Design Book) office furniture. It should be realtively cheap to make, and fit one person, the buyer or recipient - perfectly.
The problem with mass produced office equipment is it is cheaply made, expensive to buy and doesn't actually fit anyone correctly. For my current corporate cubicle I started by buying a plastic floor mat, a chair mat, so I could roll my chair around without putting too much stress on my knees and ankles. Then I installed a $50 keyboard drawer to the bottom of my desk that probably cost $2.50 to make, it is junk. Then I had to adjust my desk height so the keyboard was at the right height relative to my body, then build a monitor stand to get the monitor at the right height. Thankfully I had to raise, rather than lower my desk top to adjust the final keyboard height.
I get that a lot of folks who aren't recreational wood workers are stuck buying crappy adjustable stuff. We, registered user's here, can just make something that works perfectly for one person, and using vernacular techniques we(I) can make them inexpensively.
The thing is, once someone hits 18, 20, 25 years old the growth plates in their bones are going to close up and that person will need their chair seat height and keyboard tray height and lumbar support height and armrest height and monitor height the same year after year after year until the discs in their spine start compressing. Which started about age 27 for me I guess. smiley.
I am working on keyboard trays/ keyboard tables and I feel pretty good about it. Typically for most people who can buy clothes that fit off the rack, the tops of the keys on the keyboard should be 1-2 inches above the tops of the thighs. With a keyboard on the tray there isn't room left for 8/4 stock to be used as the tray surface, but Chris' staked work table ( chapter ten in the expanded edition as above) should fit the bill.
I am starting with the tallest clinician in my department, the bottom of his patella is 22" above the floor anteriorly, his popiliteal pulse is 23" above the floor posteriorly, both measurements to the nearest quarter inch bilaterally. He is well over 6 feet, I think about 6' 5". I don't think he is tall enough for me to get away with using 2x8 or 2x10 contruction lumber for the table top, but I am going to try on the prototype. The other thing is going to be to locate the feet of the legs under the corners of the table at the mouse side, and then pull the feet back away from the end maybe 1-2 inches on the side without the mouse - that way if the overall width needs to be shortened to fit a new cubicle, there is a place to take some width from.
I do like that this method allows me to build a nice table at an aesthically pleasing proportion, use it as a desk with a separate stand alone keyboard table at my perfect height, with a monitor stand on it, and then hand down the pleasing table to a grandchild or etcetera that they can use as a table, or make their own keyboard table and monitor stand and use it as a desk themselves, unbesmirched for handoff to the next generation.
I got some questions about office chairs I don't expect to build one in 2021, just thinking ahead. The main thing that bugs me is called the "seat tilt" in Chris' book referenced above. When I internet search on "ergonomic workstation" I see the same skeleton over and over with different clothes on it. Ergonomicists call for an angle between the spine and femur of 90-120 degrees for an ergonomically correct workstation. So the seat is either level, or lower at the front that at the rear. Chris likes a seat angle the other way, a bit lower at the back than at the front for keyboarding. In text he states this helps his body slide back to reach the lumbar support. I note he is very skinny and likely quite tall, I think he said something like 6'2" in the workbench book when he was talking about bench height, but I am not going to go to my library to find the book and then look it up. I think he is tall and I know from youtube videos he doesn't eat enough BBQ pork.
Does anyone own _Human Dimension and Interior Space_ by Julis Panero and Martin Zalnek? Is there anything in there about seat tilt? I would like to get those of my colleagues that want them set up with ergonomicaly correct tables for keyboarding and mousing, and build one for me and one for my wife (she is a bit under five feet) and get around to chair making before my current overpriced plastic monstrosity office chair wears out.
Monitor stands are easy. If they are tall enough you can put cubby holes in the front. Use birdseye maple if you want.
Looking forward to all y'all's input.
