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Greg's Tinker Town

1,778 orders since Jan 06, 2019

Ottawa, ON, Canada

Ships from Canada.

Custom Work Available

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Overall Rating:

Review Breakdown

5
59 4
46 3
4 2
0 1
0

Average Ratings

Product: (4.93)

Documentation: (4.59)

Shipping: (4.72)

Communication: (4.85)

All Reviews

Moritz | April 20, 2022

Works as promised, well documented installation

For Megadesk

I have a BEKANT, the control module said 2020-22 Rec.: C and it worked well. I was a little surprised how much scraping was necessary to remove the lid of the box but it worked out well after a lot of prying.
Shipping to Germany was very fast taking 9 days from the day of ordering.

June | April 15, 2022

Best possible addon for an IKEA sit/stand desk you can get!

For Megadesk

Easy install, awesome functionality. Absolutely cannot have an IKEA desk without one. This totally transformed my desk into a workplace that I enjoy instead of fight with.

Michael | April 3, 2022

Simple but very effective!!

For alarmbuddy

I wanted something to replace the 35 year old alarm system in my house with. Not so much for the alarms, but to get alerts to Home Assistant when doors or windows are opened in my house.

I purchased on 2022-03-24 and received on NJ, USA on 2022-04-02

In a single afternoon I was able to solder on the included caps, mount the PCB in a printed enclosure, flash it with ESPHome, and get it integrated with Home Assistant. I powered the PCB off of my alarm system's included 19VAC power supply and wired up my inputs without the EOL resistors that used to be used.

There are a few things I needed to figure out from the source. If you need to do the same, make sure you check which version PCB you get. (mine was v3, but latest in the repo was v5.)

- Mounting holes are 71 mm x 49 mm
- Negative on the caps are on the right side.
- The programming port is FTDI standard with GND closest to the bottom.
- DTR pin (5th from bottom) is connected to GPIO0 in case you need to short to GND to flash firmware.

Greg's YAML file for ESPhome works perfectly. Just dropped in my SSID and password and it flashed and appeared in Home Assistant. My house only has 4 zones, but I've already added a few other sensors to some of the unused pins, so I appreciate the versatility of this PCB.

Artem | March 22, 2022

It just works!

For Megadesk

My first purchase on tindie. The Megadesk is the definition of a drop-in replacement. No issues installing whatsoever (aside from initial struggle with opening of factory control box, but that's nothing to do with Megadesk. F* you IKEA!), and operates like a clock!

After installing the Megadesk my Bekant table finally reaches its intended purpose and full potential. IT SHOULD'VE BEEN LIKE THIS FROM THE FACTORY!

True power and spirit of libre culture and grassroots approach to owning you furniture, bravo Greg!

Jimmy | March 15, 2022

It Works really well

For Megadesk

It took 3 Weeks to Receive with mail letter shipping. I recommend the tracking option. I installed it in 5 min after Watching the video.

I forgot to turn off the Power. It was making 3 continuos bip sound. Everything came back to normal after the Power reset.

I puchased that for my wife. I Made her Day.

Brian | Feb. 26, 2022

Excellent upgrade for my 2015 IKEA Bekant

For Megadesk

Case removal was difficult, the rest was easy. It didn't work on the first try, and when the Troubleshooting asked if I had inserted the safety key I had to laugh, that was the issue.

The review that suggested drilling out all the corners was the only way I got the cover removed. I had previously tried a dremel cutting wheel deeply around the edges and could only bend down the sides trying to pry it off. After drilling the holes, I used the shank of the bit as the pry bar in the holes. Mine was so securely glued on the ridges down the center from the control surface it bent and discolored before giving up.

Martin | Feb. 8, 2022

Works like a charm.

For Megadesk

During the installation, the opening of the plastic button housing of the IKEA desk is arguably a bit tricky, but the instruction videos on youtube really do help a lot.

Denis | Jan. 27, 2022

Works fine!

For Megadesk

Absolutely love my Megadesk!

Fro business owner: would be even better if you put a twice long wire in the set, so it can feet wider desks. I have a custom 180X110cm table, so I made an extension to the wire.

Gunther | Jan. 3, 2022

Excellent product

For Megadesk

Greg was very helpful both before my purchase and when the first shipping attempt failed. The device works exactly as described, and I seem to be one of the lucks ones as the lid of the controller box is only held on by one plastic piece that can be slightly bent to open, so the whole exchange took less than 5 minutes. Naturally I initially forgot to re-insert the "key" and panicked that it wasn't working, but with the human problem out of the way, it's all perfect.

Christopher | Dec. 31, 2021

I am in love

For Megadesk

Works perfect! Took about 20 minutes to get up and running, 17 of those dealing with the infamous case. I was being pretty careful and I still sliced through half my ribbon cable. Almost had a heart attack, thankfully it was the side without leads!

I thought about doing this myself, but as other reviewers pointed out, this was 1000x easier and a far better final product than anything I could do. Thanks for making this! Hello from Toronto!

Patrick | Dec. 13, 2021

Awesome!

For Megadesk

I recently bought the Megadesk because I was too cheap to get the more expensiv table that has build in height storage.
Shipping was considerably fast to Germany and about a week. Product looks well made and parts fit well in the case.

Opening the Controller though was a bit of a pain even with the help of the how to.
I ended up ripping of some parts at the back to pry it open. The lid or plate I'd rather call it is really thick, about 2-3 mm and you need to scorch pretty deep around the controller (not the front where the buttons are!) to get good leverage.

So far the controller does everything pretty well although I sometime struggle to get him to recognize my commands to raise/lower to desired stored position (might be only me with too fast/slow tapping of buttons).

Gavin | Nov. 26, 2021

One small change one major upgrade

For Megadesk

The item arrived quickly and was easy to install and works really well! Its amazing how much easier it has made the transitions from sitting to standing

Andreas | Nov. 23, 2021

A normal desk became a beautiful Megadesk!

For Megadesk

With the instruction video, it was very easy to install the board. I've been using it for a couple of weeks and it just works!

Alexey | Nov. 21, 2021

Works as intended

For Megadesk

It was kind of hard to open the plastic box to swap internals but it took me 10 minutes, also damaged the plastic box while opening but that doesn't matter and Ikeas fault :)

Delivery to Russia was 40 days.

Joey | Oct. 26, 2021

Great upgrade for a Bekant Sit/Stand Desk

For Megadesk

It was fairly quick and easy to modify the original controller to install this — the video guide was very helpful.

Harrison | Oct. 18, 2021

Amazing + quick install

For Megadesk

This is amazing! It took me 5 mins to get installed and working, with me messing up on the wire direction. Thankfully you built in that error checking. I turned the wire around and all works perfectly. I was going to build one of these myself until I found this, you saved me a lot of valuable time! Great work! I know a lot of people have benefited greatly.

Lars | Oct. 4, 2021

Great product and awesome customer service

For Megadesk

I purchased the module, because I was just to lazy to use my desk. Therefore I bought the module. The first one got lost while shipping. But Greg easily replaced it and sent me another one. Thanks Greg! 👍. It arrived after 7 business days in Germany.
The module it self works flawlessly. Opening the original IKEA module was a bit time consuming - drilling two holes in the backplate helps.

Thanks for this great invention Greg!
Avatar
Response from Greg's Tinker Town | Oct. 5, 2021
Thanks Lars! Tracked shipping is indeed a much faster and safer option these days. Glad you are enjoying it!

Kevin | Sept. 13, 2021

Works perfectly, easy to install

For Megadesk

Does what it says on the tin, which is great!

I guess I need 100 characters.. does this get me to it?

J.W. | Sept. 5, 2021

This is controller that should be delivered by default

For Megadesk

This replacement controller for my desk makes me using its again for its purpose: working at different heights. With the Megadesk, changing the height is simply a matter of a couple of clicks. No longer fiddling with the buttons to get to the "right" height!
The documentation is good, and easy to follow. I already had taken a look inside the desk controller before, so I didn't need to open up the housing anymore. I was surprised that the controller includes a replacement cable as well, making the installation really simple. Some additional attention in the documentation for the alignment of the cabling would be a nice addition; you now need to take a good look at the supplied photos, but a couple of lines in the documentation would be helpful.

In all, this is truly a great replacement and actually the controller that the desk should have had from the beginning.

Xavier | Aug. 12, 2021

Great service, highly recommended

For Megadesk

If I could, I would give a 7/5 stars. Very patient and solved my problem without any hassle. Awesome service!

Dara | Aug. 11, 2021

Seller was really great

For Megadesk

There was an issue with my first order but the seller was very helpful in getting it sorted out.

It was easy to install and works like it should apart from the occasional bug needing a re-plugging of the unit.

Great way to save on paying full price for the memory buttons.

Alexander | July 25, 2021

Thank you for this upgrade of the Bekant desk!

For Megadesk

For me the main challenge was to breakup the case of the control unit. As in the video I did cut along the case cover into the glue but with less success. So initially I was a little bit disappointed. But then I did drill a hole into the corner of the case cover with a rechargeable driller. When this hole was large enough to get in with a screw driver, I could beginning from this hole pry and break up the case cover along the glue joint. I was a little bit afraid to break the whole case, because some force was required, but it is quite stable and only the cover was damged. The hole in the cover or any other damages there don't matter, because they can't be seen after fixing the control unit back at the desk. Then I followed the steps in the video. Only when connecting the motor cable I was a little bit unsure which orientation is the right one to connect the small plug. To find out the right position I compared the colours of the wires with the video. Maybe the position of this conjunction is irrelevant, I don't know. But everything worked after reassembling and I was very happy.
The delivery was fast and tracking was also quite helpful.
I am very happy to have this very much desired memory function now! Thank you for inventing this!

Alexander | June 13, 2021

This is amazing!

For Megadesk

So had the idea to make something that i don't have to press and hold the buttons all the time for it to move but i had problems open the enclosure (i read that there isn't any good way to open it so i just cut it open with small milling cutter) so i searched for a how-to and i found "Megadesk" and it is amazing!

But i had one Problem but it turned out it had nothing to do with Megadesk but i'm going to describe it if someone got the same Problem:
At some Position the desk would stop whe going up, it looked like one spindle got stuck sometimes, with the oem-board the desk would stop at this position but when you pressed the up button again the desk continued moving up. But with the Megadesk-board it just stop at this point and would not move in any direction anymore. Anyway i figured out that it was an mechanical Problem, the middle segment of the telescope is mounted to some plastic plate that holds the spindel, this plate was not mounted correctly so i fixed this and now it works perfeclty.

greetings from austria! (shipping was also pretty fast)

Sebastian | May 25, 2021

It's great once you get the dang glued ikea control box open

For Megadesk

So this really is a game changer (or better a table changer) for me. I use the "standing" height much more since this great board made everything so automatic. Super awesome. But boy was opening the glued box for it a hassle. Like: I had to really "break" it apart - and yes, its still usable / attachable. Important -
its not the Megadesks fault. But be prepared to do some break-open damage and plastic carnage to it to get it to the point where you can switch the boards. And watch both videos. After that, in the end its just click - click - click - screws back on - works. And thats awesome. Ikea should hire that boards creator and let him make the real deal for everyone.

Alexander | May 25, 2021

Great gadget

For Megadesk

Got mine today, much faster than promised (it took 1 week to germany, tracked shipping). Opening the case was not easy - i broke the lid. But that doesn't matter, since you wont see it when the case is mounted. Didn't work at first, reinserted the original PCB, did a recalibration, and reinserted Megadesk - works like expected :-D

Thanks Greg

Nils | May 21, 2021

Best purchase regarding my homeoffice

For Megadesk

I love that gadget. No stress, no pushing the buttons all the time - and it remembers the needed heights (as I don't myself and always had to figure it out manually.

The first Megadesk had one mistake (obviously during shipping - not Greg's fault). Greg was super nice and sent another part out - which works well.

Would always buy again - both the gadget and with Greg. Thanks for this invention and regards from Cologne Germany

Søren | April 27, 2021

Great product

For Megadesk

Very happy with the megadesk. A little challeging to break Opel the original Bekant controller casing but installation of the megadesk was painless

David | April 24, 2021

Looks great

For big p4ppa

Have not assembled the kit yet, but it looks great. High quality parts. The count is spot on. No missing parts. Overall looks like a great project.

Michael | April 21, 2021

Immensely improved usability of the BEKANT desk

For Megadesk

Soon after purchase of the desk I started thinking 'you are wasting
too much time trying to keep a steady finger while watching it winding
up or down and for micro-adjusting", which - more often than not -
kept me from doing it. II therefor began looking for a way to measure
the desired heights for sitting and standing via either two marks on
the legs/wall, or a reflection distance meter. Then, if I could "press
the buttons" using MOSFETs / analog-switches / reed relays...

Fortunately, while looking for the metering stuff on the net, I found
a hint about someone decrypting the servo protocol and finally the
link to Greg's super fine, much more professional project. It took a day
to decide, a week for delivery and half an hour to install and program
the two positions.

I use it at least 4 times each day in home office and it works
flawlessly. I often thought I should thank Greg for this work, but -
see, I care about 4 x 45s/day ;-)

Luckily there was a reminder from tindie-bot today, so:

Thank you, Greg! I now like my desk much more.
Avatar
Response from Greg's Tinker Town | April 21, 2021
You are very welcome! I am glad you enjoy it :) It has been so long I've been using megadesk, but your review reminds me of the early days and the fine tuning of height, etc.

Andrey | April 11, 2021

Greg rules!

For Megadesk

After getting past the plastic case, installation was smooth and the controller works perfectly. Delivered to Russia without a hitch, except for some delay due to the whole pandemic.

I think that memory positions for electric desk is a must, because it lowers the effort needed to stand up, and provides more incentive to do so during a busy day when every minute counts, and Bekant desk is so sloooow. Now I can stand up to do a little stretch or take a sip from a bottle, and when I'm done, the desk is up and ready.

Ikea deserves no praise for leaving out this essential feature when it would take them next to no effort to include it in their controller. I'm very grateful that awesome people like Greg do the awesome job of correcting their mistakes and help us overcome the nonsensical quirks of capitalism.

Pepijn | March 23, 2021

Works great

For Megadesk

It's awesome. I've had a standing desk for years but never change the height because I'm very picky about the desk height while sitting. Installation went smooth, the hardest part was getting the lid of the controller open.

Miloslav | March 8, 2021

Finally at home and working

For Megadesk

Shipping took 4 weeks to Czech Republic and Instalation was in plug&play way as advertised. I made a external switching of buttons by external relays to integrate it into my smarthhome. Now every mornig I have default possition of my desk and that is really priceless!

Megadesk solved my thoughts to tune up Ikea desk. Thank you!

Glenn | March 6, 2021

Worked as advertised

For Megadesk

Took some tinkering... finally figured out to calibrate with the original one, install the new one, plug it in, unplug for 30 seconds, change the mode to work with my desk, unplug it for 30 seconds, then it worked!

Gina | March 4, 2021

Just what I always wanted!

For Megadesk

Bought this a while ago, but only now got around to actually installing it. Installation was absolutely smooth with the video instructions and done less than 5min after I finally got past the lid of the stock controller (friction welding really should be outlawed). I tried to reverse engineer my desk 5 or 6 years ago when I got it, but I was unsuccessful (lack of experience 😅). Being able to simply buy a drop in replacement that does what I tried to achieve a few years later is absolutely awesome 🥳
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