In my last post, I provided information about the quality components of the RightAngle Bonita ET to give you a technical understanding of why the Bonita stands out among its other low-cost competitors. However, there's still an important unanswered question; how long does the RightAngle Bonita ET last? We tested it to find out!
In this article, we'll describe the RightAngle testing process and show how well the Bonita performed.
How was the Bonita ET Tested?
The Bonita ET has gone through testing specific to industry standards, plus and the standards set explicitly by RightAngle Products.
Let's look at each test.
Industry Standard Testing
Approved American National Standard/ Business + Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (ANSI/BIFMA) has set standards within the office furniture industry. Although the successful completion of their testing is not required to sell office furniture, passing these tests indicates a higher level of quality. Their testing puts a height adjustable table through 4,000 cycles with 100 pounds on the work surface.
Discussing this regarding cycles is a little tricky to relate to, so let's put it another way. On average, an individual with a height adjustable workstation cycles their table three times a day.
A cycle means the table travels from sitting height to standing height and back down again a total of three times.
Now, let's assume that same person does that every workday, which is about 260 days per year. That equates to the table going through 780 cycles per year.
How many years of use is the industry standard testing for? At a total 4,000 testing cycles with 780 cycles completed each year, ANSI/BIFMA is testing to ensure the table lasts 5.1 years.
Three cycles per day × 260 working days = 780 cycles per year
4,000 cycles ÷ 780 cycles per year = 5.1 years
Testing on RightAngle Height Adjustable Tables
All RA products meet the ANSI/BIFMA requirements, but we want our products to go above and beyond industry standards. At RightAngle, we cycle and load test all our electric height adjustable tables ensuring we are making and providing the best quality Sit to Stand furniture. We don't just want to meet industry standards; we want to exceed them.
During RA cycle testing, the table runs at least 20,000 cycles (five times more than BIFMA) with 90 pounds on top of the work surface. Our cycle testing is conducted to make sure that the product is used for an extended period without failure.
Continuing with the approximation of a table enduring 780 cycles per year, all the tested RA Sit to Stand desks lasts a total of 25.6 years.
20,000 cycles ÷ 780 cycles per year = 25.6 years
I had said that RA also places 90 pounds on the work surface during the cycle tests. Numerous standing desks on the market work just fine without any weight on the work surface. That doesn't exactly help the customer. The weight test is important to know, especially for the desks that have not gone through ANSI/BIFMA testing.
It's standard for people to add about 30 to 40 pounds to the top of their desk. That total comes from a variety of things such as monitors, keyboard trays, phone, and general office supplies. It's necessary to have a desk that's durable enough to lift all those things. We test more than 40 pounds because as a manufacturer, we can't always predict how a customer utilizes the desk.
Testing the Bonita ET
An RA Bonita ET Desk completed a cycle and load testing at our manufacturing facility in Schofield, Wisconsin. Like our other products, it was tested through at least 20,000 cycles with 90 pounds on the work surface.
The Bonita ET exceeded the 20,000 cycles we were originally testing, reaching 21,375 cycles by the end of our test! If we continue with the estimate of 780 cycles per year, the Bonita ET lasts a total of 27.4 years.
21,375 cycles ÷ 780 cycles per year = 27.4 yrs.
Once the Bonita completed 21,375 cycles, we stopped cycle testing to examine the desk and its components. Before taking the table apart to look at the individual pieces, we raised the table to its highest position of 47 inches to check for the amount of wobble in the legs. Watch the video below as Bill Knighton, President of RightAngle tests the table stability at the maximum height, the mid-point height, and the lowest height of 27 inches. There is only slight movement, showing that the desk is still quite solid.
For a final test, Knighton and his 215 pounds sat on the table for its last cycle, also shown in the video below. Even on that final cycle, the table quickly and easily moved Knighton from the lowest position to its highest, and then back down again. There are faint noises from the movement of the hex rod as the Bonita is moving during this section, but the table is still moving smoothly.
NOTE: There are background noises that are coming from the manufacturing plant. We shot the video during a workday.
After completing the cycle test, we put 250 pounds on the work surface for a load test. Even with that much weight added to the table, the Bonita didn't change its level of performance. The results were equal to that of when Knighton sat on the Bonita. RightAngle sets the overload protection to max out at 250 pounds on our electric standing desks to protect the table from overload damage.
How Well the Components Withstand Cycle Testing?
I've shared with you the description of the major components in my previous post, but how well did they survive the cycle testing?
Gear System
After rigorous tests, it is typical for the gear in a standing desk to have a decent amount of wear. The gear would not be able to travel quite as smoothly as it had before the tests. You may even be able to hear a little extra noise coming from the gear. When it comes to the Bonita ET, you can tell in the picture above that more grease is present after 21,375 cycles, but that is not an indication of poor performance.
The two videos below show how the Ketterer gear traveled before the testing and after.
You can see in both videos that even after the gear had completed over 20,000 cycles, its travel was still smooth. It's obvious that by the end of the test, the gear wasn't as clean and had completed some serious work. But the 21,375 cycles couldn't stop this roll-formed spindle from high performance and easy travel.
Motor
The Bonita ET motor performed well during our testing process. It completed a total of 21,375 cycles without failure. As previously mentioned, faint noises were coming from the hex rod within the motor, but we enlarged the hex rod cover that attaches to the work surface preventing any noise from occurring in the future.
Column Glide Wear
Since the purpose of acetal glides is to maintain smooth column travel and stability within the leg columns, it's important to know the amount of wear the glides experience during use. The glide provides less wear, more stability, and lubrication. We measured brand new acetal glides used on the Bonita ET to know their thickness. The two we measured were 2.81 mm and 2.85 mm.
There is a .04 mm size difference from one glide to the other. Is that amount truly significant? To answer that question, the picture below shows the .04 mm measurement using calipers. You barely even see if the calipers are open, let alone the white paper in the background.
Calipers measuring .04 mm
To give you an even better idea, the calipers measure a regular piece of paper at .11 mm.
Calipers measuring piece of paper at .11 mm
The picture below shows what the glides on the inner leg column looked like after the table ran for 21,350 cycles. You the extra lubrication to help with sliding over raw steel and there has been some wear. Even with that being said, the amount of wear was nothing extreme.
Glides on inside column post cycle test
So, how much wear did the inner column acetal glides experience? The original, unused glides measured between 2.81 mm and 2.85 mm. After 21,350 cycles, the inner column glides measured 2.38 mm. The decrease in thickness is almost equivalent to the width of four pieces of paper.
Inner column glide post-testing (2.38 mm)
Here's are the outer column glides following the cycle testing. As mentioned before, outer column glides typically don't experience a significant amount of wear, and you can see below that the glides on the outer Bonita ET column practically look brand new.
Glides on outside column post cycle test
We measured these glides after the testing to see just how much wear occurred. Again, the unused glides measured between 2.81 mm and 2.85 mm. Post-test, the outer column glides were 2.74 mm thick. The difference between the new and used glides is about the same thickness as one piece of paper! So, it is clear that the wear on the outer column glides was minimal.
Outer column glide post-testing (2.74 mm)
It wasn't a huge surprise to see that the inner column glides experienced more wear than the ones on the outer column, but the inner column glides still held up well. After the testing, the column glides experienced a small amount of wear, resulting in the leg columns still being stable.
Glide Markings on Columns
The acetal glides located on the outer leg column slide against the painted steel of the inner leg column. As this happens, the painted steel often shows rub marks. To maintain a clean and more polished look, the fewer markings on these columns, the better. Below, you'll see the minimal rub marks after the completion of the cycle test. You can identify where the marks are, but the results are relatively insignificant given the number of cycles the table had gone through.
Wrap-Up
RightAngle's Bonita performed exceptionally well throughout our cycle test. Even after 21,375 cycles, the major components like the gear, motor, column glides, and leg columns have reasonably minimal wear and still performed at a relatively high level.
Our test concluded that the Bonita ET could last about 27.4 years without experiencing any failure.
This electric standing desk is a low-cost option that gives you continual stability and reliability.
In my posts, I try to share specific information and be entirely transparent about our products to help you to make an informed purchasing decision. My goal is to point out what makes this RightAngle desk different from its competition by providing concrete evidence of Bonita's high level of performance.
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