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Greg's Tinker Town

1,772 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

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Average Ratings

Product: (4.93)

Documentation: (4.59)

Shipping: (4.72)

Communication: (4.85)

All Reviews

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.
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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.

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 🥳

Tobias | Feb. 9, 2021

I love it

For Megadesk

I was tinkering automated table movement myself but it was always very hacky. Now I've replaced my own tinkering with Megadesk and it's fantastic. Once serial control is in place (https://github.com/gcormier/megadesk/issues/12) I'm looking forward to connect an ESP32 to it and control the desk over the network, e.g. with MQTT.

Oliver | Jan. 23, 2021

Great enhancement of the IKEA Bekant, quick shipping

For Megadesk

The Megadesk is awesome. Disassembling the original controller is the hardest part. I had to switch to the alternative mode to make it work, but also that was no issue given the nice FAQ.

Shipping to Germany was a breeze: ordered on the 10th, received on the 22nd. Thanks!

Martin | Jan. 20, 2021

Outstanding

For Megadesk

At first, I had an issue, but it was my own fault I didn't see that the white piece that sits under the safety pin fell off while I disassembled my controller, so my desk wouldn't move.

But after figuring that out, it just worked!

Communication with Greg is great and fast, thanks again for your help in troubleshooting my mistake :)

Make sure to check out his GitHub, if you're good in electronics please help Greg make a USB version so that I can make an app :D

I'm concluding with the most difficult part which is - a surprise to no-one that is reading - the disassembly of the controller, I think I would suggest starting aside the black wire (the back) cutting diagonally with a exacto. Of course follow the video, but after that with a small flat screwdriver build a hole on each side of the black wire on the back. Once I got a hole in I was able to pry out, but it's a slow process. After all, remember that it'll stay under the desk. Unless you use your desk by being under it, it poses no issue to me!

As I told Greg, a great and useful plug-and-play-mostly-other-than-disassembly product :)

Frédéric | Jan. 10, 2021

Works perfectly, fits like OEM. Simple to use!

For Megadesk

Fits perfectly into original unit once opened. Easy to configure. Read the whole documentation online as there is some special mode that you may require. I had a question and was answered very quickly.

This is such a nice upgrade to this desk!

thanks again!

Filippo | Dec. 29, 2020

Love it!

For Megadesk

I am greatly enjoying Megadesk. Video instructions are super clear, both in terms of what to do and what not to do. I struggled a bit while opening the case the first time but after that it was smooth sailing. Happy to have bought Megadesk and support open source hardware.

Michal | Sept. 28, 2020

Wish I bought it sooner

For Megadesk

Truly great product and it took only thirteen days from placing order to get here (Canada to Ireland)

Nina | Sept. 7, 2020

Saved my desk

For Megadesk

Ikea controller was busted ( still could do the calibration but would stop working after 10 seconds or so ). this saved my desk

excellent docs on github. 99% of documentation was directly relevant to troubleshooting

entire thing took about an hour or so. half an hour just getting the housing open.

Benjamin | Aug. 11, 2020

Great product, glad I bought it

For Megadesk

Trivial to install (used a butter knife and a Phillips head and that’s it). Worked perfectly with my Bekant. Shipped quickly. Thanks a lot :)

Vladimir | July 26, 2020

Good product, excellent support

For Megadesk

I had a difficult relationship with my Ikea Bekant sit-stand. It acted on me until it stopped working upwards. I blamed the control board and ordered Megadesk replacement since there is seemingly no other alternative and it also has memory features. The setup is straightforward but did not fix the problem initially. I replaced the main power supply through a manufacturer's recall program but that still did not revive the table. Then Greg suggested trying motor reset (something I could not find on my own, by he shared for free). That fixed the problem and now I have Ikea Bekant with position memory buttons. I would not have solved the issue if I did not buy the Megadesk board and then received the seller's support.

Jack | May 24, 2020

Great product now I have a memory sit/standing desk

For Megadesk

Works out of the box. Documentation can be found on the product buy page.
Arrived with a power cable that could be connected to the board and desk.

Love this product and the open source about it.

I'm not that good with a soldering iron. The seller has done a great job, looks clean and solid.

John | May 2, 2020

Great product

For Megadesk

[Edit] I was mistaken below, the Megadesk DOES recall stored memory positions after losing power. I can only assume there was some kind of glitch that caused mine to lose its settings. The problem hasn't recurred. My original review is below, sorry for the incorrect assumption on my part!


This product has made my Bekant desk way more useful. Shipping was quick and the seller is super nice and communicative. My only problem with the product is it appears that if the desk loses power, all memory settings are lost. I shut off the power to my home office to replace a light fixture, and once power was back on, the desk wouldn't recall any settings - it just played a series of tones after pressing the button the normal number of times. Its easy enough to redo the settings, but was a little disappointing. I still highly recommend this product though as it makes the Bekant desk what it should have been from the factory.

I didn't have too much trouble opening the factory board enclosure. As others suggested, I (very carefully) tried cutting around the top cover, and then pried it open with a couple of metal spudgers from iFixit. Opened right up with minimal damage.
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Response from Greg's Tinker Town | May 3, 2020
Thanks for the kind words John! Sorry to hear about the memory problems - can you try doing a firmware reset by holding DOWN while powering on the unit? That will wipe the EEPROM. Otherwise, send me a a message if you want to troubleshoot further, I'd be curious why it's not saving - it does write those positions to EEPROM when saved so it will persist with power off.

Arne | Jan. 12, 2020

Great device that should be part of the original desk

For Megadesk

I can absolutely recommend this device. It makes it way easier to change between sitting and standing while working at your desk. I can not believe that IKEA did not built something like this for their product.

Shipping to Germany took about 5 weeks.

Cornelius | Dec. 18, 2019

Awesome! The missing part for IKEA Bekant desks!

For Megadesk

Thank you very much for this wonderful piece!

Opening the plastic enclosure of the desk was really, really a huuuge pain. That was only possible with a lot of force. Sure—since it was not intended to be opened by customers. The top of the enclosure (that is not visible when it is mounted underneath the table) has been destroyed during this act. However, the comments of the others were helpful for this.

The controller didn't work at the first go. I heard the sound when powering the desk but the buttons didn't work. I played around with toggling the firmware by pushing 16 times UP, removing the controller while the desk has power etc. and finally it works. I could not say what the solution was actually but now it works like a charm! (Small desk from IKEA Germany)

Thanks again!

Henrik | Dec. 7, 2019

Works just like advertised!

For Megadesk

Took a lot of prying to get the enclosure open but that's on IKEA.

When I got it installed it took a while to figure out that I had to change to the Memory 16 thing but after that it works like a charm. Thank you Greg!

He answers questions really quick too so that's a big plus.

Jack | Oct. 18, 2019

Fantastic add-on to Bekant desk

For Megadesk

The board arrived quickly, worked immediately, and was easy to install. Cracking open the case on the desk controls itself was a huge pain, but that's not this board's fault. Once I got the case open it was very easy to figure out how to hook everything up and the controls worked immediately and respond quickly. Worth every penny.

Michael | Sept. 14, 2019

Works as promised

For Megadesk

I work from home a lot and this was the only feature of the BEKANT that was missing for me.
Shipping from Canada to Germany took about 12 days.
It was easier than I predicted to open the plastic enclosure. Small advise: if you don't want the enclosure to have any visible damage after the change, use the area around the screw holes (where you attach the enclosure to the table) to pry the plastic apart.
The change was done in less than 10 minutes and it just works - I'm really happy with the change - this completes my work setup @home.
Thanks to Greg for an awesome piece of Ikea hack ;)

cheers,
mike
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Response from Greg's Tinker Town | Sept. 16, 2019
Very welcome! Glad you enjoy it! :)

Knut | Aug. 24, 2019

Great mod for the Bekant table!

For Megadesk

When I got myself a Bekant stand-up desk I instantly thought "How can I make it to remember the positions I'm using and recall them without me pressing the button the whole time?", then stumbled upon some video showing the debugging of the protocol behind that controller (how could I be so naive to think it would be just normal switches closing a circuit…) and fell into despair.

After finding this project I was amazed someone took over the whole development of an alternate controller which does exactly what I was thinking about. It took a good while for all the different postal services to get the controller to Germany but it arrived in one piece.

Getting open the old controller enclosure was quite a challenge (hint: If using force is not the solution, it wasn't enough force!) and I needed to switch to the alternative mode for the bigger version (looks like they are using that version also on normal sized ones in Germany) but afterwards it works like a charm!

Thank you for creating this! You saved me a lot of headache…

Tim | June 11, 2019

Thank you. This provided the missing feature of my desk.

For Megadesk

Outstanding product. I purchased the assembled board and cable. The hardest part was getting the back off of the control panel. It took me 10mintues to unscrew the control panel pry off the cover and then install and cable the megadesk board. I have a few colleagues that also use the Bekant Sit/Stand desk and I will be recommending this to them wholeheartedly.

Nader | May 2, 2019

Combined it with mechanical switches!

For Megadesk

Instead of using the original case, I built my own, with mechanical keyboard switches (I hated the original switches). Now I'm really happy with my desk :)
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Response from Greg's Tinker Town | May 2, 2019
WOW! If you can send me any information I can link to, I'll put it on here or on GitHub! Pictures perhaps?

Brandon | April 25, 2019

works unbelievably good!

For Megadesk

Shipped in one day, worked upon arrival. Hardest part was getting the plastic casing off but it wasn't impossible. Took my cheap sitting/standing to the next level. Was about to pay $1,000 for a new desk with the same functionality. The issue was that the desk was totally fine, I just wanted memory function. Can't thank you enough for making these!
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