Portable Laptop Stand Made From Business Cards and a Sheet of Paper

My back and neck started hurting from using my laptop so I decided to design a laptop stand to eliminate some of the stress. My requirements: inexpensive and portable.

My solution? Make a stand from a sheet of paper and business cards.

- Laptop Stand base template printed on copy paper (see below).

- 8 business cards or other material cut into 3.5" x 2" rectangles

- Glue

- Scissors

- A heavy book (not shown) to use as a press

Optional

- A ruler to draw the base template if you don’t have access to a printer.

1. Separate the business cards into 4 stacks of 2 cards each.
2. Glue the two cards together into a stack.
3. Repeat until all 4 stacks are glued.
4. Use the heavy book to press and flatten the business card stacks.
5. Let glue dry. See the glue instructions for how long the glue should set before moving on to the next step.

1. Cut out the base templates and pre-crease at the designated fold marks.
   If you are making your own base templates, use the dimensions shown in base.pdf.
   Make sure you include (draw) the fold line locations so you know where to fold.
2. Glue the business card stacks made in the previous step to the base templates as shown.
3. Use the heavy book again to press the base template with the glued on business cards. This time, allow the glue to set up for a full strength bond.

1. Bend the assembly into a triangle.
2. Unfold and apply glue to the base template tab and glue the tab ends together. Use your fingers to press the tabs together while the glue sets up.
3. Wait a few more minutes to let the glue dry a bit.

To use the laptop stand, place each base, as shown, in front of the laptop’s rear feet and rest the laptop on top of the stands. This might take a little practice.

The stands might bend a bit. If they bend too much, just add another layer of business cards.

(Optional) If you want to keep the bases together while resting your laptop on top of them, roll up piece of paper lengthwise into a tube that is small enough to fit inside the laptop stands, place the tube inside both of the stands at the same time, then release. The rolled up paper tube will keep the stands aligned.

When you are finished using the laptop stands, just fold them up and put them in your laptop case.