Laptop Stand

I am a Highschool Jr attending Spokane Valley Tech, I started this project in order to find a way to reduce the noise my laptop would make when I was using intensive apps. The best fix I could think of was increasing the amount of fresh air that the laptops intake fans could access. The solution I came up with was having a long angled bar that ran across the underside of the laptop. But I ran into a challenge, my 3-D Printer was not big enough to make the stand I wanted. The way I solved this as you can see in the pictures is I added a key to the design. This would allow me to print each half individually allowing me to print the stand on my current printer. Then after a series of test prints in order to find a good fitment for my lock I found the perfect fit. I printed my design and it was a massive success, the fans almost never get super loud anymore and the temps are under control. Unfortunately this design may not work for everyone but I hope it can help you if this design works for your laptop.

Laptop Stand Needed Materials

• 3-D Printer
• 3-D Printer Filament
• Measuring Device
• A Compatible Laptop
• A CAD Program

To Start, you are going to need to take some measurements and do a little math (Don't worry, it's not that complicated)

Because each laptop is going to be different, you are going to need to take a few key measurements for your design

1. / M1, Take a ruler or preferably calipers if you have them and measure the height of your back rubber feet - (This measurement will be used to create a slot for the feet to sit in so the stand doesn't slip out)
2. / M2, Measure the width of your laptop
3. / M3, Measure the distance from the leading edge of the laptop feet to the point where the laptop would touch the ground if you tilted the laptop up from the back
4. / M4, Measure the distance from the feet to the intake vents on the underside of your laptop

Now we get to the (in my opinion) fun part, the CAD.

To start make a sketch in the top plane, then make a rectangle. Using the measurements you took in the last step set the width to M2 (if your printer is not big enough to accommodate this measurement you will need to set the width to half of M2, then make two different parts and make a joint to join them) , then set its height to M4. Then extrude to however tall you would like the stand to be (I set mine to be 1 Inch) Now you should have a 3D Rectangle

Next we are going to do the math I mentioned in the beginning. You can either use the formula or use the calculator I have linked below, now the formula will be (sin^-1 times Height of stand divided by M3)

Now what you are going to do is create a sketch on the either of the small sides of the rectangle. using the line tool, make a line from either of the bottom corners and drag to an opposing edge, now use your dimension tool to click the line you just made and the bottom edge, then set that value to the number you got from using the calculator or the formula. Then close the triangle by drawing a line to the other bottom corner from your original corner and the top of the line you just made. Now you are going to exit your sketch and perform a cut extrude that goes through the entire rectangle using the triangle you just made.

(input a = height of the stand, and C = M3.) https://www.omnicalculator.com/math/right-triangle-side-angle (Angle a is the angle you want)

For this next step we will make the channel for your laptop's feet. Make a new sketch on either end of the rectangle. You will need to make a rectangle in the top corner of the part and set the height to M1 and the width to two times M1 just to give the feet some extra clearance. Now exit the sketch and preform a cut extrude the goes through the whole part.

This Step will only be needed if your printer is not large enough to accommodate the width of of your laptop stand. Now you will need to come up with a locking mechanism to hold the 2 or more parts together. For my stand i chose to use a slot design but you can really come up with whatever mechanism you want. Or if you don't want to, you could just have the two pieces sitting next to each other its up to you.

If you want to copy my socket design this is what you will need to do,

Make a new sketch on the top of the part, then create a rectangle by clicking on the edge of the stand and dragging i set my rectangle to be .3in wide by .2 in tall, you will also have to use either sketch relations or the dimension tool to ensure that the rectangle is centered onto the stand. Now make a new rectangle on the opposite end of the rectangle you just made and make its dimensions .4in tall and .2 in wide, then use the trim tool to cut the line that separates the two rectangles. Now you can exit the sketch and use an extrude cut on the sketch you just made and set is to through all. Now you have made the female end of the slot

Now to make the male end you will follow the same steps as you did to make the female end but flip the side on witch you create the sketch. Once you have made the sketch you will need to do a few things different, first you need to use a boss extrude instead of an extrude cut. Then make sure that the extrusion is in the correct direction and extrude the sketch to the angled underside of the sketch (to do this click extent type then to object). Now you have made both male and female ends.

These steps are optional as it only affects the looks/Print time and not the function of the part itself.

Another thing that you can do for your part to simply make it look better is to add fillets to edges I chose to make my fillet's .025in in radius but you can make yours whatever size you want as long as they don't break the part.

Then as a time saving method for your final part you can hollow out the center of the stand by either doing a shell or a cut extrude, this will allow you to not print as much material making the print faster.

Although every printer and program will be different in how you print parts, i will give a basic overview for how to do it in fusion.

Start by clicking the design button in the top left of fusion then switch to the manufacture workspace, then click on setup.

Once you are in the setup menu change the operation type to Additive, then click machine there should already some 3d printers already loaded onto fusion but if your specific printer is not listed then find the closest printer to yours then change the setting to match. Then you can click ok, and the part should appear in the middle of a printing area.

Now you will need to configure how the part prints on your print bed. I would recommend you print the stand with the angled side down on the bed, you can do this by turning the part so the angled side is down then rotate the part by the number you got using the equation/formula . The angled side should now be parallel to the bed now you can click place part onto platform, and now the part should be properly configured.

Next you need to generate the code that your printer will use to print the part. To do this first click generate, this might take a second. Once finished you should be able to then press generate additive tool path, once that is finished you should have a preview of the print and you can press post process. Then you can name the part and export the file to your computer.

You can now take your code and export it to a flash drive and plug it into your printer and print off your part.

Now not to crush your spirits too much but this is the worst part of this whole process but bare with it, the results are worth it.

As you may know every 3-D printer is different. So they are all going to have different printing tolerances, and you will have to do slight changes to your design and keep printing until you get a good fit for the socket/lock (if you needed to), as well as a proper fit for the part into the laptop's rubber feet. In order to speed up the testing process make a copy of your models and isolate the slots by cutting away the rest of the part, then only print the end that is left and make changes to the original part once you find a fit that works for your printer.

With your test prints finished, you can now print your final stand (YAAAY!!)

Now you can finally enjoy all your work and have a great noise and temp reducing laptop stand.