Keyboard Tray for Expedit Desk

Materials: Expedit desk, Billy Shelf, Keyboard Tray Slides, screws included with the slides, drill, drill bit, screw driver, hand saw, masking tape, stud finder

Description: They said it couldnt be done but I did it!

What:
I wanted to put a keyboard tray on my expedit desk but every forum I read said it couldnt be done due to the desk being built with a cardboard honeycomb core. Turns out there are two wood runners in the desk that can be drilled into. they are somewhere around 8in from the edge.

Why:
Using a keyboard on top of the Expedit desk was causing issues with my wrist after an 8hr work day. Its not very ergonomic. So I needed my keyboard to be lower.

How:
1. Use a stud finder on the bottom of the desk to find the wood (particleboard) runners. They are about 25.5in apart. Mark their edges.

2. Use the center points of these two runners to determine the width of your desk. Mine was 25.5in.

3. Next you will need to cut the Billy Shelf to this width. Tape your billy shelf where you are going to cut it to prevent it from chipping the laminate edges. Mark a line on the tape where you will cut. Then cut the shelf to width. (This is the shelf I used)
*Note: make sure you are cutting the shelf through the tape. I used a pull saw but any hand saw should work.

4. Mount the shelf to the keyboard tray rails with the included screws. I recommend pre-drilling the holes with a bit smaller than the screws to keep the shelf from splitting. Make sure your keyboard tray slides are under mounts and not side mounts.

(I found some rails at Lowes simular to this)

5. Mark and pre-drill your holes under the desk to mount the tray to. Don't drill to deep or to big of a hole or your screws will rip out.

(I drilled and mounted my two front mounts then after I had the tray mounted up there, I did the back two so I made sure they where in the right spot)

6. Enjoy!

~ Robert, United States