Laptop Stand
I like to push my laptop to the limits with games and other applications, often leading to it overheating or slowing significantly due to poor circulation. For a while I had my laptop sitting on bottle caps with my desktop fan blowing across it, but frankly, that was just too much work. After viewing a couple of other people's solutions to this problem on instructables, I turned to what supplies I had available and came up with this design.
The body of the stand is a sawed off portion of a 3-tier file holder with cabinet liners to provide the grip. All of these supplies I found around my home but the estimated cost for this project is around $10 taking a total time of around 1-2 hours depending on how meticulous you are.
The body of the stand is a sawed off portion of a 3-tier file holder with cabinet liners to provide the grip. All of these supplies I found around my home but the estimated cost for this project is around $10 taking a total time of around 1-2 hours depending on how meticulous you are.
Materials
The materials and tools needed for this project are:
1 x 3-Tier File Holder (Can be found at OfficeMax or similar office supply store for around $10)
1 x Roll of Grip Cabinet Liner (such as Grip-It Shelf Liner)
- Hot Glue Gun
- Rotary Cutting Tool
1 x 3-Tier File Holder (Can be found at OfficeMax or similar office supply store for around $10)
1 x Roll of Grip Cabinet Liner (such as Grip-It Shelf Liner)
- Hot Glue Gun
- Rotary Cutting Tool
Shorten the Stand
I only need the stand to be one level high, so I used my new rotary cutting tool that I got for Christmas to cut the stand down to size. It is easier to cut the top half off with about a 1/4 inch remaining as room for error, cleaning up the section with a finishing pass. Also, it is good to use a file or sanding attachment to smooth out the sharp edges you made while cutting.
Grip Strips
I decided to place gripping pads around all four edges on the top of the stand and around 3 of the bottom edges. These are to protect the laptop, as well as the user, from being scratched by the stand as well as keeping the laptop from sliding around on the stand and the stand stationary on the desk.
I cut 4 wider strips of the cabinet liner for the top side so I could wrap the strips around the edges. 3 narrower strips were used on the bottom so they would be less noticeable.
I cut 4 wider strips of the cabinet liner for the top side so I could wrap the strips around the edges. 3 narrower strips were used on the bottom so they would be less noticeable.
Glue the Strips On
The grip strips may be attached to the stand by any means necessary and available, but I found hot glue to work very well. It takes a bit more time and you have to work quickly because the metal stand draws the heat out of the glue very quickly leading to fast cooling times.
Your simple laptop stand is finished!
The top and bottoms will look similar to the pictures below.
In the future, I may add PC cooling fans in between the mesh layers so I cut a hole in the back of the stand to allow for additions to be made to this project.
Your simple laptop stand is finished!
The top and bottoms will look similar to the pictures below.
In the future, I may add PC cooling fans in between the mesh layers so I cut a hole in the back of the stand to allow for additions to be made to this project.