I’m basically trying to recreate this, minus the absolutely insane pricetag. Desk mounted versions exist for literally one-twentieth the cost, but for some reason that three foot pole and wheels causes the price to explode.
So… this is for sure a DIY project. My thought is to buy a desk mounted stand, and remount the arms to a makeshift floor pole… Like the 5-wheel base of an office chair with an iron plumbing pipe shoved into the middle. Not sure if that’d give the stability I need, but that’s why I’m trying to run it by folks with a mind for this kind of thing :p
Use case: my computer desk my living room couch. Right now the monitors are on a coffee table. Keyboard goes on lap, mouse goes onto a makeshift mousepad frame to my right. Works great, except the screens are just hanging out in the middle of the room when not in use. Wife’s comfy spot is on the other side of the couch where she watches the TV on the other side of the room: when we both want to watch something on the tv, the monitors become an annoyance, so being able to easily wheel them to the side of the couch and back is the goal.
Either that or something like a swivel-arm, but the weight of two monitors would be a lot for something like that.
Any ideas?
Can you just put casters on your coffee table? You’d need something that either has a really heavy base or has a really large footprint (or both) to keep something like that from tipping over. So, why not the coffee table? If you are OK with something a little janky then I think putting wheels on an existing desk/table and mounting a cheap stand to it would be doable for pretty cheap. You could also easily add weights to a lower shelf of a coffee table for stability.
I don’t know that the base of an office chair would ever really be stable - you need some weight down as low as possible. If you don’t want the whole coffee table on wheels then maybe start with a furniture dolly. Mount your post to that with a flange (this needs to be beefy so the post can’t wobble at all or it will come apart) and then figure out the desktop/monitors. Add weight to the dolly however you can. This sounds generally unstable and likely to wobble apart but could maybe be made to work. Definitely wouldn’t make it any taller than absolutely necessary though.
If you want a custom piece of furniture that isn’t janky you will need some wood/metal working skills and tools. If you don’t have that already then honestly, 1k is probably cheaper than making your own… I tend go overboard but heavy duty casters (50-100) + steel base out of 1/2 in plate or something (idk, but probably measured in hundreds of dollars to have made) + steel post (50) + wood for a desktop (50 or higher, you could spend WAY more here depending on what you want) + monitor stands (50-100) + finishes (paint, stains, powder coating, 20 or way higher depending) + hardware (how does everything connect together, hugely variable depending on if it’s custom made VS off the shelf parts). Obviously a VERY rough outline of costs but it adds up quickly.
Edit: Another idea, use a hand truck - the two wheeled red type. Just mount the monitors to that and put something really heavy on the bottom.