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geekhack Community => Ergonomics => Topic started by: Lain1911 on Sun, 15 February 2015, 22:49:11
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(Please move if created in the wrong area)
When gaming or typing a lot of times my keyboard tray will slowing move forward making me pull it back more often than I'd like. I even find myself holding my knee up in the back so it doesn't push forward. Does this happen to anyone else? Any solutions or locking systems?
Thanks
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Hi,
For what it is worth, I have a (1) rail keyboard tray system and essentially leave it in the position where it is permanently - not sliding it under the desk - and use a piece of rubber to just block the tray from sliding in the rail. Holds up pretty good and is a non-evasive solution - just take off the piece of rubber when you need to slide it again.
Also, of-course, nothing that duct tape can't solve :p
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Not sure what your keyboard tray looks like, but on mine there are unused holes that I could have used during mounting to the bottom of my desk. If you have the same thing and one of the holes lines up you could put in a screw but leave it sticking out a bit. That way it could stop your tray from moving back under your desk. Like pnutster said, using something that is easily removable sounds like the best situation though.
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Year old thread, rise from your grave.
I have the same issue with my desk. It has a fairly wide tray (~29") mounted to slides which attach to the bottom of the desk, and there's no way to latch them. I could replace the slides, but I can't find anywhere local that stocks them, and they're expensive to ship.
Cheap solution: Buy two metal bulldog clips (under $1 at an office supply store - measure the thickness of your tray to determine what size you'll want), and clip them onto the tray immediately in front of the fixed part of the slide.
(http://img7.pixhost.org/images/67/31683591_kb-tray-lock.jpg)
If you want something better, I believe the installation of spring-locks (aka spring-latches) onto the slides would be the best solution. Of course this would require disassembling each slide and drilling holes for the mounting screws and the pin. These ones from Ganter-Griff.de (http://"https://www.ganter-griff.de/en/products/2.1-Indexing-plungers-Locking-pins-Spring-plungers/GN-722.2-Spring-latches-with-flange-for-surface-mounting") look slick, feature full retraction into the housing, and have latches to keep them in the opened and closed positions. I haven't priced them and I don't know whether they'll ship them internationally, if there's a minimum order quantity, etc. but if anyone looks into that let me know.
(http://img7.pixhost.org/images/67/31683593_34-23102012-093820l-1.gif)
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Don't use trays. They're the worst.
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Don't use trays. They're the worst.
this.
but if you must, i'd get ones with some kind of notched system. either a manual system or an automatic one.
as in it clicks into place or you have to lock/unlock it manually.
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I think the key here is solidity: fix / change / replace a wobbly, bouncy tray that amplifies typing sounds.
Let's not forget why you might want a tray of some sort: ergonomics.
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It really depends on the kind of tray. The plastic bucket types are not a very good experience, and while the "arm" style is infinitely more adjustable they're not usually that solid. The one on my desk is a slab made of the same material as the other desk surfaces. It's quite stable, but when you're vigorous with the mouse it tends to slide back under the desk.
Unfortunately there aren't many commonly available keyboard slides; the cheap ones have locks but lack strength, while the reliable ones are sturdy but have no lock or use a "friction lock", which doesn't really solve the problem either.