Turn Old Laptop and Monitor Into an All-in-One PC

I had an old Lenovo gaming laptop whose screen didn't work and a monitor, so I decided to turn it into an All-In-One PC by making a new case for the laptop motherboard and attaching the monitor directly to the case using a 3D printed mount.

Materials :

• 12mm Plywood
• Wood Glue
• Wood Screw
• 1 M8 x 9cm bolt for attaching vesa mount to adaptor
• M8 washers and nut
• 4 M4 x 2cm screw for attaching vesa mount to monitor
• 4 M4 x 2.5cm bolt for attaching tilt adaptor to the case
• M4 washers and nut
• PLA or ABS Filament
• Super Glue
• Paint

Tools:

• 3D Printer
• Drill and drill bits of various sizes
• Screwdriver

Mainboard Disassembly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xMIjXVzF18

I mainly used this video as a reference to disassembled my laptop and removed all the parts.

The screen (Screen Disassembly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rONYvNA0qDI), speakers, keyboard were removed before because they had stopped working, but I didn't throw the parts away and now I used the front acrylic panel of the screen to make a back panel for this PC.

I also saved most of the screws so that I can use them later.

I used SketchUp to roughly model the PC, the used Fusion360 to make (mostly) accurate parts for 3D printing.

First I took 2 pieces of plywood and joined them in 'L' shape. This will be the main structure that will hold the 3D printed parts together and hold the weight of the monitor. The width of the plywood is a few centimeters larger than the laptop motherboard. The height is height of the motherboard plus height of the SSD and some.

Then I marked the positions of the screw that will hold the motherboard, onto the plywood and drilled them. I 3D printed some 20mm standoff to raise the motherboard. Then glued the standoff to the plywood using super glue. Placed the motherboard on the standoffs, drilled and screwed it in.

Now I can start to make more accurate measurement for the 3D printed parts. I needed 3 main parts for the laptop:

1. Top cover with cutouts for all the I/O ports, heat exhaust and power port.
2. A side cover that can hold the audio and Usb board.
3. Holder for Power button.

Then I modeled the vesa mount and the tilt adapter in Fusion360.

I used my Voxelab Aquila X2 to print all the parts in PLA using a 0.6mm nozzle. It would be better to print using ABS but I didn't have any.

For the vesa mount and the adapter I used 7 perimeters, 4 top and bottom layers, 20% Rectilinear infill on the bottom portion and 40% Gyroid infill on the top.(Modifiers in Prusa Slicers)

The covers are only 2.5mm thick so they were printed solid with 3 perimeters, and octagram spiral bottom layer pattern.

In all it took about 18 hours to print everything.

To remove the old monitor stand I had to remove the whole back panel, just to remove 2 screws. After removing the stand and reattaching the back panel, I screwed in the vesa mount with M4 screws and some washers.

I decided to use the acrylic panel of the screen as back panel for this PC. I modeled some holders and then 3D printed them. Then glued everything together using super glue.

While waiting for the printing to finish, I sanded and painted the plywood part.

Marked the location for the tilt adapter then drilled holes and attached it using M4 screws and nuts.

Reattached the motherboard to the standoffs and also connected the SSD using 3D printed standoffs and screwed in the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth antennas to the plywood directly.

Then I mounted all the sideboard to the 3D printed parts.

Glued on the power board holder to the plywood such that its connector can reach its port and I can reach the button on the side.

Fitted all the side and top covers (no glue just press fitted to the plywood). Slide in the Back panel in its place.

Joined the monitor with vesa mount to the adapter with a M8 bolt and nut.

And its DONE!!

If you have any questions feel free to ask, and thank you for reading.