Creating a Custom Desk Fan / Laptop Cooler!

Welcome to my first Instructable.  I've had this idea for quite some time but finally got the motivation to put my idea in to production. 

First let me give a little back story / problem.   I have a Dell XPS laptop that gets hot,  Really hot.  I first bought a belkin laptop stand for 20 bucks and the thing still works well its just that it elevates the laptop an inch and a half in the front and almost 3 inches in the back so for extended usage really kills my wrists.

I decided that I could figure out a way to build a fan in to my desk and power it by USB just like my laptop stand and never have to worry about the heat or the bad angle again.

I tried to be as thorough as possible in my instructable but its actually a pretty simple concept that anybody with a few tools could see exactly how I did it with just the pictures and recreate it rather easily.

I hope you enjoy the instructions and if you have any questions please feel free to email me or comment.

ITEMS NEEDED :
1 Rocketfish 120mm case fan (Best Buy, $14)
1 Spare USB cable that you can cut.
1 Desk with enough room underneath to mount.
1 Scrab 1by4 Piece of Wood
4 Wood screws,  Length varies by the thickness of your desk.  Mine were an Inch and half long.


TOOLS NEEDED :
1 Pair of Wire Snips
1 Router or Heavy duty Dremel
1 Table saw of some variety.
1 Drill and Wood Screw
Electrical Tape
Wire Connectors of some sort.  I used this plastic material you cover the wires over and melt down to make a a nice seal.


A few odds and ends, Marker, Piece of Cardboard, Scissors...etc etc.

First thing First.

We will need to cut the cords on both the USB and the Fan.   To leave myself plenty of room for mistakes I cut both wires about an inch after the connectors.

Peel back the coatings and each cord contains 4 wires.

Fan :
Red - Power lead
Black - Ground
Blue - Extra you dont need.
Yellow - Extra you dont need.

USB Cord :
Red - Power lead.
Black - Ground
Green - Extra you Dont need.
White - Extra you dont need.

This step is as easy as connecting the red wires and the black wires accordingly.

Once you have connected both wires and secured them in whichever faction you see best its just a matter of making the wire look as 'neat' as you see fit.

On to the physical work of this whole project

Cutting the whole in your desk and creating the holders for the fan.

The first thing I did was create a cardboard copy of the fan so I could position it correctly on the desk and create an outline to cut out.  In hindsight this was probably a waste of time but oh well,  It made me feel more comfortable about the situation while I was doing it.

Once I figured out the correct position I drew an outline on the desk and got the Router (The one in the picture ended up being super dull so I had to get a real big Router out and use it.)

Cut Out the hole in the desk.

Next we need to create the 2 Mounts for the fan.

First thing to do is use a router to shave away part of a 1 by 4

Make 2 grooves so you can just cut out the second one at the start of the second groove.

Once you have both mounts cut out, Drill 2 holes in each mount to drive the screws through.

Apply some wood glue and screw the mounts in to the bottom of the desk.

Congratulations your done,  Now all you have to do is insert the fan from top and run the cord behind the desk to the computer.

I hope this helped you in anyway and would love to hear any feedback.