Keeping the laptop cool without spending big bucks.

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Intro: This project came about because of the laptop that I got. When using it on my lap, it would start getting hot and burning my legs. With this, I said, "There has got to be a better way". I started looking through all my good stuff (My Junk) for the parts that I might use. You will be able to see from the pictures just what I came up with.

Step 1: Tool List and Material List.

Give a general description of the StepSafety tips. When working with any kind of metal, be really careful. Plus wear safety glasses when using skill saws or drills.

Tool list.and material list
1. Skill saw if you have one. A handsaw will work.
2. Drill to drill the holes.
3. Bits to drill the right size hole for the screws.
4. Camera is nice for taking pictures.
5. Lumber or other materials to make the computer rests.
6. A few screws to hold the computer rest down.
7. Hot glue or a clamp of some sort to hold the rests and computer stop down.
8. Straight wire or some other way of finding the angle that you need for the rests.
9. Metal plate or other types of material will work just as well.
10.Fan. These are usually not too hard to find.
11. A power supply to run the fan.
12. Some sort of soldering iron to solder the wires.
13. Little circuit board with a power receptacle for the power supply.
14.Duct tape
15. Foam rubber for installation.
16 Safety glasses.
17. Gloves

Step 2: For Your Information.

Give a general description of the Steps. You may want to skip to Step # 2 and look at the pictures of the project, then if you want to build you own, you can look through Step #1 for some real good information that will be helpful to you. Thanks you for looking.

If you want to check out some of the other links, click on the links below.

https://www.instructables.com/id/Work_saver_and_car_window_cover/
https://www.instructables.com/id/20x20_fan_with_air_filter/
https://www.instructables.com/id/Intro_The_fan_the_filter_together_again/

Step 3: Information Needed to Build Laptop Cooler.

Step #1 Starting the project.

Ok, I am ready now. If you take a look at this picture you will be able to see what I had in mind. First to lay this out, I started running masking tape around the outside edge. Without the tape, there would be a chance of me or someone else getting cut on the metal.

The next thing I did, was to put the round wooden piece close to the bottom as you can see in the picture. This gave me a place at the bottom of the laptop cooler plate for the computer to rest against.

Next thing was to set the fan at the top so that I would know what height I needed. With those two items in place, I was able to start working on the angle that I needed for the two pieces of wood that you see on either side. I got this angle by running two pieces of straight wire on both sides of the fan.

The other end of the wires, I ran to the bottom where the wooden stick was. They went to both ends of the stick. By the way, the stick I found looked about the right size for the project that I was starting. Before I put the stick on the metal plate, I covered it with masking tape. This was for looks and also to protect the computer.

The wire went to where the stick meets the metal plate on both ends. I put the two pieces of wooden sides in place where I wanted them. I did this, one side at a time. Looking across the two pieces of wire, I could see just where the line should go. This gave me the angle I needed for the sides. This had everything lined out except for one thing. I needed a way to hold the fan in place. As you can see by most of the pictures, I notched the ends of the side boards so that the fan would be held down.

Everything is all laid out and I am ready to start the work. I wanted the wooden side pieces to go all the way to the edge of the metal. Once I had everything laid out the way that I wanted it, I took a marker and drew around all the pieces. This gave me an outline so that I could drill the holes in the metal.

I took the board off the metal and drilled down through the metal. I kept the holes in the middle where the boards go. I did the same with the round piece of wood. I had it held down with a couple of clamps so it was easy to line up. After the holes were drilled, I took some hot glue and glued all the boards down. This way, I was able to turn the plate over.

I was able to drill smaller holes through the metal plate. I was able to put the screws in so that they wouldn't split the wood. After this, as you can see by the picture, I covered the wooden sides with a thin piece of foam rubber. Next I covered that with more masking tape. I used hot glue to glue down the strips. Everything is looking good.

Like everything else, I had to hunt for the parts that I needed for the project. I found a little fan that I used, plus an old monitor that had a few good parts. The Motherboard had the plug I needed for the fan. As you can see in the pictures, this made it real nice when I got ready to set up the computer and also when I got ready to put it away.

This is basically the layout part. Now for the pictures, I will call it a step and then talk about the picture. I think that you will get the idea of what I have in mind.

Step 4: Step #2. Looking at a Few Pictures.

I guess that I will start out with the backside of the laptop cooler plate. If you take a look, you will be able to see the screws that I put in to hold the 2 sides and the round computer stop.

Step 5: Step #3. Check on My Fan.

These pictures didn't come out too good but I hope you will be able to understand what you are looking at. In some of these pictures, you will see a plug. Part of the board that it is on is covered with duct tape. That board, I got it out of an old music instrument. I cut the traces on the board and soldered the leads of the fan to it. This way, I could plug in the transformer to run the fan.

Step 6: Step #4. Computer on Laptop Cooler.

This first picture, we will look at the left side on the computer. You can see the power supply and some of the wires.

Step 7: Step #5. Front of Computer

The next picture is of the front of the computer. You can't really see too much of the laptop cooler plate. In these pictures you can see on both sides where the air comes out.

Step 8: Step #6. Right Side of Computer.

Here is the right side of the computer. Not much happening here. You can see that the computer itself is an oldie but goodie. It runs on linux puppy and it is really fast. It also has Windows 2000. That is one slow puppy.

Step 9: Step #7. Looking at the Back of the Computer.

Here we are now at the back of the computer. Here you might get a pretty good look at the pluggins for the fan and the power supply.

Step 10: Step #8. the Best Picture.

This picture, I was going to use it as a intro picture but it didn't really show too much of my laptop cooler plate.

Step 11: Step #9. the Next Modification.

I found another picture that I wanted to use. This picture shows what I would change if I were to do the laptop cooler again. I would be putting the fan on the bottom and blocking up the laptop with rubber block a half inch or so. I feel doing this would let the air cool the whole computer a lot better.

Step 12: Step #10. the Closing Picture.

This last picture is with the computer closed. In fact, I think this is a pretty good place for me to close this Instructable.

Check out some of my other Instructables. Thanks you for any comments on this Instructables, good or bad.

Chuck