Desk keeps lowering.

December 7, 2023 4:58 AM

Hi everyone; So I bought this small desk,I find it keeps "sinking"on the right side. Anyway,does anyone have a simple quick fix to prevent this? I have tightened the knobs very tight on each side,but it still "sinks"a bit over a few days. On the desk is a laptop and mouse-not to much weight there,lol. Thanks for any ideas :-)
posted by LOOKING to Computers & Internet (6 answers total)

If you can remove the desk top and its legs, you should see where the end of the tightener screw has made contact with the paint. If the end of the screw is pointed, I'd give the table top leg a bit of a dent (with hammer and a punch = big nail) at the right place. If the screw-end is flat I'd add something to increase friction. Actually a gob of Sugru might give a more-or-less permanent bond at that particular height. Or ducktape round the join: nobody will see but your knees. Calling flapdablet!
posted by BobTheScientist at 5:09 AM on December 7, 2023

Put any piece of scrap material the right length between the top edge of the bottom/square leg and the bottom of the table surface. You should go ahead and do it on both sides. You can hold it in place with a bit of tape.

The screw has probably collapsed the upper part of the leg, and tightening it further will only make it worse until it fails completely. The whole thing is probably just too weak to work as designed.
posted by fritley at 6:21 AM on December 7, 2023 [1 favorite]

If you've only recently bought it, return it or contact the retailer for a refund. It shouldn't be doing this. A desk you can't put even a small amount of weight on without it sinking isn't fit for purpose.
posted by essexjan at 6:21 AM on December 7, 2023 [9 favorites]

are there holes in the rectangular post for the screw knob to go into, or does the end of the screw just press into the post? in other words, is the height infinitely variable or are there only given positions it should lock into? You should take the top out of the base to check this. it sounds like you may be in an “in-between” position that it wasn’t designed for instead of locked into one of the holes.
posted by supercres at 7:46 AM on December 7, 2023

Assumption: the bolt on the adjustment knob is not meaningfully pushing against the inner tube and stoping it from sliding around. Sometimes the knob can slip around the metal bolt it's attached to. So first check that. If it's loose just remove the plastic part or break it off. Use pliers or an adjustable wrench to get some leverage on the exposed bolt head.

If that doesn't work take what remains of the knob out and go to a hardware store with it. Many stores will have a guide that you can use to match you knob/bolt to - you are looking for a slightly longer bolt than your current one. If they don't have a guide find a nut that fits on the knob bolt, and then use that nut to find your bolt size. There are many types of bolts, this is the easiest way to get what you need. Get a slightly longer bolt (or two), get some (3-4) washers that fit the bolt and make certain you have a wrench that can tighten this new bolt.

Reassemble the desk with the new bolts - and use the washers to provide any spacing between the bolt head and the outer frame. That means the washers go directly on the bolt before you put it into the desk and that allows you to adjust its working length in small increments. You want it not to long and not to short, it only works in a narrow range.
posted by zenon at 7:53 AM on December 7, 2023 [1 favorite]

And I will often just hand the bolt/screw/nut/hardware I need to replace over to the staff at the store if one is around - this sort of situation is very very common.
posted by zenon at 7:56 AM on December 7, 2023