Just wondering if anyone on here has the Ikea Alex desk
https://www.ikea.com/au/en/p/alex-desk-white-30473559/
I would love to be able to fit a duel monitor arm system to hang my work monitors on and get them off the table but i am struggling to see how this would be possible. Has anyone on here done this or have any ideas?
have any ideas?
Yeah don't do it unless you want a broken desk or monitors.
Reasons: Particleboard is weak, Desk too thick, cable management slot on top means it even weaker where you would need to mount it.
Even lagkapten is cardboard inside. What I did was get two wood planks. Use them to sandwich the table and spread the load. Then clamp monitor arm to that.
Hard pressed to find a table that is cheap and not particle board nowadays… but if one is insisting on clamps this is the way to do it.
I've clamped monitor arm to this desk without issue https://www.ikea.com/au/en/p/lillasen-desk-bamboo-60278288/
I have the Alex desk, use it for WFH with two 27" monitors, but they are simply sat on the desk with the stock stands (they cover the cable management lid and render that useless, but that part of the desk is a bit useless anyway).
The desk is pretty sturdy with a solid metal frame, but the back where you would clamp a monitor arm is about 150mm from top of desk to bottom of frame and (if you can find a clamp that stretches that far) you would be clamping onto the lid of the cable area, probably the weakest piece.
I had a monitor arm with the grommet mount on an IKEA Malm desk. Because the desk is honeycomb cardboard inside, I had a big piece of metal on top to distribute the load, and a smaller piece underneath to provide opposing force when clamping. Had no issues with a 34" scren mounted on a NB F100A arm before moving to a different desk.
I have a small NB arm clamped to the cable storage lid on the Alex. A bit fiddly.. and obviously prevents you from opening the lid to the cable storage area.
It's just a 24" monitor, so fairly light. I wouldn't do it with a heavy setup
with most ikea desks… and this is my anedoctal experience with a lot of ikea desks .. the cheap ones are not very sturdy. The middle part tends to sag under weight over time, so even if you could, I wouldn't recommend it.
the only exception is when you are looking at the 'business' range like the LAGKAPTEN or the https://www.ikea.com/au/en/cat/desks-for-office-47069/ ranges.
personally i'm using the MELLTORP dining table to support my 3 monitor stand setup. it's the cheapest i can find that is stable. And I hate drawers, drawer corners love my knees.