With Some Modifications...
By Eric
Rated 4 out of 5
Date: 2024-02-25
This monitor stand _works_, but not without some modifications. Don't dismiss the review yet; I like what I ended up with, but it took some work to get there. For the price, I'd probably do it again.
There are a few design flaws with this monitor stand.
First, the pole everything is connected to. The base of the hollow pole has a round disc welded into place, probably a 1/8 thick piece of steel. They threaded this disc in four places: three holes in an equilateral triangle configuration, and one hole in the center. The hole in the center is where you'd thread the included bolt if you were using this in a through-desk application, where you drill a hole through the desk and mount the flange under it, threading the bolt through and into the pole. I can't speak to that use case, but that's what that hole is for. The three holes are for much smaller screws that clamp the pole to the base of the stand. The base is sturdy, and an appropriately hefty piece of steel to counterbalance the monitors on the arms. There are the three holes in the base through which the aforementioned screws are to be threaded into the pole. First problem with the design is these screws are too short. I'll get to why I chose to do this in a bit, but with one screw threaded in, if you bend the pole, you can rip the screw right out of the disc in the pole and thus destroy the threads in the disc, meaning the screw can just be slid in and out without any grip remaining. The screws should be that much longer and the disc that much thicker to avoid this from being possible. Additionally, the center hole in the base is not large enough to be able to use the included bolt for additional stability. I enlarged the hole so that I could use the superior clamping force possible with the bolt, and this created a very solid, sturdy connection between the base and the pole.
So, as previously mentioned, I felt the need to bend the pole while attached to the base with a single screw. The reason for this is that I had assembled the entire thing, including my monitors, to find the right monitor a whole inch lower than the center, and the left monitor a whole inch higher than the center. In other words, all three monitors were diagonally offset vertically from each other. I used a level to ensure the base was level, and a level to ensure the monitors were attached level, thus confirming that was not the issue. It appeared that the base of the stand joined the pole in a non-perpendicular joint. I suspect this is, again, because of the way the disc was welded into the hollow pole. If that disc is off by even a tiny amount from being exactly perpendicular with the pole itself, the assembly will always lean. And so I opted to carefully bend the pole while attached to the base so that I could align it properly so the pole was standing plumb relative to the desk. There are vertical height adjustments for each of the left and right monitors, however I maxed each out attempting to correct for the tilt, so that was not a viable solution. The careful bending of the base-pole joint did resolve the issue and my monitors are now parallel to the desk and all three are level.
The last design flaw I'd like to discuss is the clamp that secures the armature assembly to the pole. The clamp is capable of enough pressure to hold it in place so the armature doesn't slide down the pole, however there is a plastic(?) washer that separates the open end of the clamp mechanism, and this prevents the clamp from exerting enough pressure. Remove the washer, it doesn't do anything useful in my opinion. Once I had removed the washer, I was able to screw the clamp adjustment tight enough that it didn't slide down the pole, even with the monitors attached.
So, if you do purchase this item, make the following modifications, and you should be fine.
1. Drill the hole in the center of the base large enough to accommodate the included bolt. Be very careful when you do this; start with just the next size up bit, and then increment one size at a time. You don't want the hole to be any bigger than is needed to firmly be able to thread the bolt through the base. You'll also want to be sure you can still thread the three screws into place; you'll still need these to help ensure the pole doesn't spin around the axis of the bolt.
2. Remove the washer that lay between the two open ends of the clamp for the armature. Its a small black washer that appears to be made of a hard plastic. The only thing that washer seems to be good at is preventing the clamp from squeezing around the pole with enough pressure to prevent slippage.
The armature is really what you'd want this monitor stand for. Its designed well. The joints appear to be solid and robust, and the microadjustments you can make to align the monitors vertically are adequate, provided you make the modifications I made so you can bend the pole so it is perpendicular to the base. I did not encounter any mechanical issues with the armature or its adjustments. The pole itself could be replaced with any metallic pole of similar diameter, and ** I consider that to be a major motivator to purchase this particular unit. ** This means that I could acquire a different pole in order to have an even taller stand; say, if I wanted to have the stand on the floor instead of on a desk. I always look for things I could replace with off-the-shelf parts and consider that a design strength so that I put less material in a landfill as things wear out. So keep that in mind that you have some versatility with this model in that regard, and again, I think that's a motivator to purchase this particular model over a model that doesn't have a straight cylindrical pole. Good luck, and enjoy. Like I said, the armature is really the important assembly you're buying here, and that assembly does appear to be designed well.
