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My Cintiq 13HD + Ergotron LX Setup

So I finally bit the bullet and bought a Cintiq recently after a few years using an Intuos 4 Medium and I'm happy to say that I made a decent investment. The screen was good, better than my 4 years old laptop (which I was able to sell today!), but still not as warm and vivid as my Retina Ipad. But the one thing that really was annoying were the horrible positions the Cintiq 13 stand only offered, thereby putting a lot of stress on my wrist for the next month. It was unbearable pain that I couldn't stand for another day so I opted to invest in an desk Ergotron, but since I had just invested in a new computer/monitor/tablet, my budget was very, very nil.

I did some research for "Desk Arm Cintiq 13HD" and found this website:

http://www.fantasio.info/2013/09/cintiq-13hd-and-ergotron-arm-few-month.html

It had a great idea but I wasn't entirely convinced so I kept researching. I came about a website that posted pictures of an artist drilling holes through the Cintiq stand - metal covering and the rubber stand - and attaching that to a quick release Ergotron Mount.

http://imgur.com/DeVQi7q

It was a pretty good idea, definitely more simple than the DIY easel clamp, but I definitely questioned the strength of the attachment since the entire device relies on the insert in the back of the Cintiq not designed for a vesa mount of any kind.

I saw another commenter post a similar design but rather than drilling holes, he/she used double sided adhesive to stick to the back of the Cintiq. I couldn't help but worry of the same problem the drill solution had. So I decided to go with the easel clamp solution since it felt the most secure and in the end, best resale value if I ever needed to upgrade.

Since I was on a very cheap budget, I had to settle for the minimal supplies as best I could and use what I had on hand, even though the original idea was fairly cheap to begin with. So I opted to skip the IKEA handle, rubber hose clips, and rubber stand at the bottom, mostly because I couldn't find the rubber hose clips locally and I didn't want to order it if I really didn't need it. I chose to reuse the base that the easel came with and did a little more hacking/sawing than Oliver Wetter initially did. I also took the extra wood from the remaining base and nailed in place a proper backing to the easel clamp so the Ergotron holes would fit all four corners for a more secure attachment.

I had to figure out a solution for some grip on the tablet because unlike Oliver's video when he tilted to portrait mode, mine did not stay put. After narrowing down a few solutions, I decided to either velcro strip, foam, or double-sided tape the thing. I initially wanted to velcro strip the top and bottom of the tablet on the very edge but deducted that perhaps that thin strip would not hold the 4 lb tablet in place. I would have probably needed to use all four entire strips in order to hold the equivalent weight with little real estate to work with. Tape worked, but I definitely had trouble getting the tape to stick longer than 2 seconds without falling off. Foam solution was the only sensible solution left, but since I was cheap, I decided to look for foam around the apartment I could use. I instead ran into my old DIY project supplies and felt a foamy sponge would do the trick - hence the sponge listed in my supplies list below. I can now tilt the tablet to portrait mode and paint with a little more relief.

In the end I think I spent a little less than what Oliver spent and I think it still does the job - $8 dollars compared to $19-31 that Oliver estimated, not including the desk arm.

HP Brand Ergotron LX Arm - [Amazon] $93
Mini Easel - [Dickblick] $8
2x Black Markers\Sharpie - Leftover from art class [Dickblick] $0
4x Screws - Leftover from Portrait Frames [Aaron Brothers] $0
Sponge - Leftover from previous DIY project [Walgreens] $0

Oh and I re-stuffed my mouse wrist pad with unpaired old socks so money saved again! :)