Hello guys, my name is Alex and this is my first instructables. As most of you, probably, I got addicted to this website and I want to say that it's all so great! Since the first thing I really needed was a laptop cooler (since my laptop turned into a efficient water heater!!!), I looked up some designs and made my own (if I used one of your ideas, I am sorry not to give you credit, mainly because I didn't realise it so if you want you can just comment or send me an e-mail and I will put your name in the instrctable.)
All right, now that introductions are done, lets start of with the instructables. What you will need:
- 2 x 12V, 0,2A pc fans.
- A piece of plexiglass (the size depends on your laptop size, mine is 15" by 11.5" so I needed twice that), or you can use any other piece of acrylique or lexan.
- 4 x 5mm Blue LEDs.
- 22 AWG cable.
- Hot glue gun and about 40 sticks of glue.
- a switch
- soldering iron
The total cost in my case was about 10$ becaue I already had the plexiglass and I only had to buy the leds and the fans (4$ each) but I beleive a peice of plexiglass big enough for this project goes for around 15$.
All right, now that introductions are done, lets start of with the instructables. What you will need:
- 2 x 12V, 0,2A pc fans.
- A piece of plexiglass (the size depends on your laptop size, mine is 15" by 11.5" so I needed twice that), or you can use any other piece of acrylique or lexan.
- 4 x 5mm Blue LEDs.
- 22 AWG cable.
- Hot glue gun and about 40 sticks of glue.
- a switch
- soldering iron
The total cost in my case was about 10$ becaue I already had the plexiglass and I only had to buy the leds and the fans (4$ each) but I beleive a peice of plexiglass big enough for this project goes for around 15$.
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Signing UpStep 1: Cutting the plexiglass
The part is pretty hard because no one seems to have a perfect homemade method for cutting plexiglass. To cut the rectangles (15" by 11.5"), I used the scratch and snap method. You first trace the lines you want to cut and then you use a nail or screw and scratch on that line for about 15-20 times(more is better) until you feel that the scratch is deep enough, you put the plexiglass on the corner of a table and snap it.
Once you did that, you take the fans and place them on the plexiglass (wherever you want, depends on your laptop) and trace the squares with a white board marker (so you can clean it after). You turn the plexiglass on the other side and with the fan under, you trace with you marker the round corners of the fan (as in the picture). To cut the circles, the best way I found to do this, is to use and old soldering iron and melt it. Its not a very fast technique but it helps to avoid accidents and destroy the plexiglass (which is pretty expensive). WARNING: try to do this outside somewhere or in a room with excellent ventillation because melting plexiglass smells like hell. After you cut the two holes (about 30 minutes), you use some glasspaper and smooth the edges.
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