I don’t know why anybody hasn’t thought of this before! This height extension hack obviously requires some tools, maybe a drill, a grinder, a metal saw, and some metal (maybe this dude recycled the Ikea CPU Holder that nobody uses), maybe or maybe it’s just some spare metal the dude had lying around and a lick of paint – I’m not sure. But this is a technique we should all take note of for future Jerker projects, I mean just look at these pictures!
Jake Smith used to use a regular Verion 2 Jerker – but he’s dropped the legs, kept the top, and added a electrical powered sit-stand up/down system.
Here’s a brief glimpse:
It’s compelling, but I can’t see giving up the great Jerker Legs and their many, many attachment points.
A reader writes in with his own solution to cable management on the Ikea Jerker (Version 2) desks. Here are Cheruscii’s two beech beasts.
His cable management solution employs wire shelves like those used in closets attached under the desktop. This allows quick additions, modifications, and subtractions disposable zip ties.
Cheruscii also uses pipe clips on the legs to secure cables (but with only one bolt so as to make it easy to run new wires or remove old ones).
Smart!
Okay so there is no “Jerker” branded keyboard drawer – people sometimes say there is, like in the ad for the one pictured below:
Now this is an Ikea product, and it seems to fit under Jerker, but it is actually a “Summera” (product number 10035) keyboard drawer, and it was designed to fit various older Ikea desks. Some of the Summera product line is still around – as are the Signum desk accessories (which were mostly designed for GALANT and MICKE desks).
But to my mind, the question is: Is this the keyboard drawer you should use with your Jerker?
None of my Jerkers have (or have had) a keyboard tray. Do they need them?
Previous desks I’ve owned have actually had decent built in keyboard trays but they also have had room for a mouse and a mouse pad (or even a Forminco “Mouse Arena”) – I’m thinking the Summera design just looks a little too wimpy.
On the other hand, the Galant desk below looks pretty good all kitted out with a Summera keyboard tray and Summera CPU hanger.
By the way, did you notice the size of the keyboard? It’s one of those compact ones.
Have you had any experience with the Summera tray on a Jerker? Or, have you come up with one of your own or maybe built one?
I don’t think I’m actually in the market, but if I were were looking to modify my Jerkers with a Keyboard tray I’d go with something substantial, like this Ergotron design:
The the Ergotron’s mounting bracket wouldn’t automatically fit into the Jerker leg hole pattern I think a little drilling might solve that.
I’d never thought of anything I wanted to 3D print, until now.
Check out these two 3D-printed Ikea Jerker desk accessories (specially designed for the Jerker) available for anyone to 3D print or order from Thingverse:
I particularly like this headphone hanger.
You can download the plan or order HERE.
I’m not a Sony Playstation 4 owner, but check this out!
You can download the plan or order HERE.
And, there are many other accessories that get new uses out of other Ikea products – take for example this webcam mount for the ubiquitous $10 Ikea Tertial worklamp:
You can download the plan or order HERE.
You may even already have a Tertial, it looks like this:
There are dozens of 3D printed items available for the Tertial, check it out HERE.
Have you printed any of these, or anything else for your Jerker setup?
Too often these days a Jerker story starts with:
“I used to have a Jerker…. (or two Jerkers)” …. but then these stories typically trail off. Often they ending with some variation on why a wife had a husband get rid of it (or them).
Not so with James Harris’ wife! He writes in with these great pics of his double sided Jerker mod:
I’ve had the revered Jerker desk for ages now and had an idea to create a double desk as my wife had lost her work space when we had a child. When I saw an ad on Kijiji for a cheap partial Jerker desk I jumped on it. As my wife is short(5’4″) and I’m tall(6’2″) this configuration worked perfectly for us. I was able to install the second desktop below the original desktop and create a double decker work space. I installed the cross support bars from the 2 different desks back-to-back which enabled me to wedge my monitors in between them. This worked out great as I gained a ton a space by not having to put them on the shelf or on the swivel shelves. It also gave some privacy between the 2 spaces, so when we’re both working we’re not staring at each other. And as an added bonus it’s a handy spot to stick magnets. I have 2 Jerker swing arm shelves, one you can see in the picture, the other is installed underneath to get my subwoofer off the ground. For stability I installed the second set of legs the opposite direction. I purchased some 3″ bolts to then hold them all together.
In the old days you could just walk into an Ikea store and buy an extra Jerker shelf along with two metal extenders, two plastic joiners in a box and a bunch of bolts. Those days are long gone, now you have to grow your Jerker the hard way.
The leg extensions came in two sizes, 13″ or 16″, I’m not sure which size went with which Jerker version as it was before I joined the “Jerker” cult. You could say I am still drinking the Kool-Aid. The 13″ extender has 9 bolt holes, while the 16″ extender has 11 bolt holes.
Since I didn’t have any plastic joining pieces I opted to heighten my Ikea Jerker by using two sets of extenders. The downside with this method is the number of bolts, 4 bolts on each side for a total of 8.
The dark extender is 16″ tall, whilst the light extender is a mere 13″ in length. I used wing nuts to ensure the six foot high shelf can hold a lot of weight.
Note that the bolts are offset by one in a diagonal fashion, this serves to strengthen the joint, but alas, comes with a doubling up of bolt holes.