Adjustable Workstation

The BOSS was in need of some serious style upgrades. Klunky industrial grade push buttons and toggle switches would have no home on my mill. My mill was going to be high tech, and fully functional.

Objective

The goal of this project was to build a sturdy stand to safely mount the keyboard and LCD display to the mill. The mounting was to be manueverable so that it could be repositioned to clear large work pieces while the mill is in operation, and it was to be adjustable to allow for easy viewing and operation from a number of different angles. It also needed to look cool.

The Design

The design was partly defined my the materials on hand. An aluminum block was used as a basis of the hinge mounting to the machine base. The block was machined to accept a 7/8″ diameter bolt, and has two recessed holes foe 1/4″ cap screws, which are hidded when everything is installed.

A 1.5″ square aluminum tube was used as the support arm. I machined a bronze bushing to fit inside of the tube, and act as a spacer to prevent the bolt from crushing it as it was clamped down. The bronze also wears better in a pivot application. The bolts can be tightened to adjust the friction in each of the pivot points, which allows me to adjust everything as needed, and lock it down if necessary.

I built the display and keyboard support out of 1″ aluminium angle, which was easy to work with and kept the design looking clean. A pair of aluminium angle struts were used to support the keyboard and tie to the LCD display mounting, which means I need only loosen one pair of fasteners to adjust the keyboard and display. I used slotted holes for these fasteners, which allows me to independently adjust the keyboard and display angle to better suit my working environment.A skin of diamond plate aluminium was used as the surface for the keyboard mount mostly because it looked fantastic, but is also stiffer then flat sheet, and less likely to dent or warp during regular use.

Operation

Since I love my technology, I put together a kinematics model of the display being reposition forward, with the keyboard and display positioned seperately. The video clip shows the typical swing and adjustment motion, so I could visualize the design before it was complete. This allowed me to design the appropriate slot size to accomodate +/- 10 degree tilt of the display so that it can be seen from either a seated or standing position, and design the correct arm length to provide a decent viewing angle while standing in front of the mill.

Performance

The stand works well for my application. The bolts at each of the hinge points can be adjusted to control the friction in the arm, and if clamped properly, there is enough friction to hold the keyboard steady when operating the mill. This was fairly important, as the last thing I need when I’m cutting through a part is a keyboard that is slowly pivoting out of my reach. The 1.5″ arm is adequate to support the weight of the stand, but sags a bit unless the bolts are clamped tightly. I realized this would be a compromise, and was limited by the materials on hand, but it works well, and the overall assembly is lightweight and efficient.

I rarely adjust the tilt of the keyboard and the display. I find myself standing most of the time, and have adjusted the everything for convenient access when standing in front of the mill. I use a gyroscopic 3D mouse to operate the CNC GUI interface, which I can hold in my hand while I operate the mill. Most of the controls are completely accessed by the keyboard, so I only use the mouse when I need it. The display was originally designed as a touch screen, but it never worked properly. Now that everything is installed, I realize just how cool it would be to have the touch screen, so I may be worth swapping this display out for a working touch screen display in the future.