Wave Laptop Stand (Making 3D Shapes in Illustrator)

I wanted a nicer laptop stand. I wanted to to make something with a beautiful, organic form. And I work at Instructables, so I have access to an awesome Epilog laser cutter.

The shape that you see in the images below is the result. I'm pretty happy with it; it's really pleasing to the eye, and is a very stable platform for my Macbook (though it should work for most laptops 12" or wider.)

The third picture on this step is my old laptop stand, which will give you an idea of why I wanted to make a nicer one (yes, it's a piece of plywood on four coffee tins.) The new stand has a number of benefits. It:

• Raises the screen up higher, closer to an ideal height for my eyes (and putting the webcam at a more natural angle.)
• Tilts the body down, for easier touchpad and keyboard use, for the occasional times when I type on the laptop in its stand.
• Makes the desk feel less cluttered.
• Mirrors the form of my ergonomic keyboard.

This instructable has details on how this particular laptop stand was designed and constructed, but I've also included some useful information on how to design a 3D, slot-fit object in general. My approach was slow, since I opted to use a 2D vector drawing tool to design the whole thing. I'm very interested to see if any readers know how something like this might be created in a 3D CAD program.

Step 1 Brainstorming and Initial Design

I had a vague idea of what I wanted. Waves, maybe; the intersection of two waves travelling perpendicularly. The result might be a saddle shape of some sort.

The first step was to break out a pencil and start sketching. I played with a couple of ideas before settling on the one at the bottom of the page. The basic idea was a distorted plane, with three points touching the desk surface and three points hitting the bottom of the laptop. The side view (on the right) shows how the whole thing should be squeezed to angle the laptop.

Comments

[Chasingthesun73]

Did Pokono's node manual get deleted? I'm curious if / how you can make nodes with a laser?

[nagutron]

There's a link to it here: http://blog.ponoko.com/2008/11/03/how-to-create-better-nodes/

[MRedu]

Very very nice. This would even look nice as an ornament in the living room!

[80$man]

B E A U T I F U L

Very nice! I would have to build one!

[flyingpuppy]

Could this be done with a sheet of plastic thin enough to use a scissors or box cutter on? You know, like the pendant lamps on this site that use plastic pieces? What I mean is, if you don't have a lazer cutter, could this still be done at home?

[nagutron]

I don't think so, unfortunately. The slot joints between the pieces need to be fairly strong, and that comes from the material having some thickness.

Without a laser cutter, you could try foamcore (which will still be quite weak) or using traditional woodworking tools like a scroll saw to cut wood.

[80$man]

I would recommend using thin plywood (3~5mm) and either a band saw or band saw. Your thoughts nagutron?

[playful-geometer]

Wow, this is really neat, I love how it opens up a whole field of interesting craft possibilities ! I've been working on a slightly different take to the whole 2D to 3D concept with The Playful Geometer's Cosmic SpaceCrafts for years now and I just entered the Epilog challenge with my Quasicrystal Star Lantern.  I would love to be able to build slatted 3D objects like this with a laser cutter...adding some nice etching designs into the wood would make it look even cooler !  I bet it would be possible to create a python script in Blender to output 2D discetions of a 3D object at regular intervals... maybe if I win the contest I'll see if I can throw something together.

[jamilks]

Nagutron, aloha from the Big Island~ What a beautiful thing! Originally, in the intro picture, I thought that the shape was so that it would fit on your lap with the narrow end being near your knees, but I see now that it is a desktop set-up...Seems that with a little bit more contouring, it could conform to the shape of the thighs and provide a stable, ventilated base for a laptop...on your lap...
Thanks for sharing, and how fortunate you are indeed to work at Instructables~ I am envious....heh heh...but maybe when I move to the Bay area I'll apply....

[nagutron]

Interesting idea! I hadn't considered that use and can imagine some tweaks to the design that might allow it to work both as a desktop and laptop stand.

In any case, I moved on from Instructables a long time ago, but still remember my years there fondly. And I still use this stand every day :)

[nautileaks]

niceee!!!!

[pingaling]

Very rad indeed!! How do you find it for stability?

[notingkool]

¿como es el proceso para "cortar" las secciones? es decir ¿como generaste las secciones que forman la figura en 3d? Porque yo quiero dibujar una pieza en 3d y luego extraer las secciones de esa pieza a ciertos intervalos para despues armar un prototipo de laminas de carton, parecido a lo que hiciste vos. la pieza en un ala semi eliptica, a la cual hay que sacarle secciones a 45º del eje, para formar las costillas.

[ziga321]

wow, great design!

[sherwinsevilla]

wow nice

[leugim]

I'm an ID student at Buenos Aires (UBA) and this shapes are fairly easy to produce just with rhino -and if you like more control- adding grasshopper. My morphology class teachers are incredibly good at this class and I think the gallery link of our models (we have to actually build the models the end of cuatrimester with our hands) would be usefull for inspirational purposes. http://plm.com.ar/academico/general/indgal.html The more complex shapes are in the advanced "Morfologia Especial 2" course. Have fun!

[nagutron]

I got around to looking at the works produced in your course. Inspiring shapes and methodology! Here's a more-direct link for anyone who's interested.

Thanks for this, leugim.

[notingkool]

Sos de Buenos Aires? mira vos, yo soy de La Plata, estoy en ingenieria aeronautica, y necesitaba hacer algo parecido para el ala de un avion, no me explicarias como hacerlo, si se puede con inventor? o con CATIA? si no consigo el Rhino y el grasshoper.

[Mashara]

Rhino con T-Splines es lo mejor. Todo lo organico que antes no podias hacer con Rhino lo haces enseguida agregandole T-Splines.

DI Sara (UBA) ;)

[notingkool]

gracias por el dato. se puede cortar asi la pieza? es decir para hacer secciones?

[Mashara]

Podes hacer el volumen de como queres que quede el ala, y despues tenes una funcion Contour, que te permite generar las curvas como si la cortaras con planos paralelos en el eje que vos le definas con la separacion que vos quieras. A eso despues le dibujas las que apoyan perpendicularmente para armar el armazon.
El T-Splines te permite hacer la forma que vos quieras al ala, el Rhino solo es duro para lo organico.

Sara.

[notingkool]

gracias, despues lo voy a probar

[zsu_the_creator]

Whit this idea you could be a millionaire! Or you are that right now?

[nagutron]

An idea seldom makes anyone a millionaire, my friend. Hard work and a good idea and bunch of luck sometimes does. And in this case, I'm not willing to put in any hard work to make any money off this, which is why the plans are free for anyone else to try!

[skazochniza]

it's incredible!

[czarnian]

I just have a common A4-letter printer, so, how is the scaling for getting the pieces in the right proportion?

Great design!!!

[sethhepler]

 i joined this website just for this one comment:

Sorry to say this, but i am in disbelief that this is generating as much feedback as it is. check out the work over at www.grasshopper3d.com
this kind of stand can be made by any architecture student in there sleep if they are familiar with rhino and grasshopper. not faulting you, but you have crossed into a realm of parametric modelling where this would not be taken seriously seeing as how it was created with anything adobe. In a scripting sense this form would be extremely basic to create. I think you should invest a couple hours into learning grasshopper (free plugin) for rhino (not free, just crack). You can change density of the grid, extrusion distances, attractions, and material thickness with simple sliders.

[spooninbrian]

But the fact is they haven't, and he did.

[eyerobot]

You have to keep in mind, that the people that come to this site are the average person on the street. Not groups of students from some tech school, And if someone takes the time to learn how to do something like this in their spare time, With practically no help, Then they are to be congratulated, Because true invention, Is creating an idea that you yourself didn't know yesterday, Even if it's only a wheel.

Aside from that, I do love high tech designs.

I was wondering if it's possible to create a stand that actually conforms to the shape of a human lap, Or even if one can be made that can be used wether your sitting indian style, Or with your legs straight out. Just a thought, cause thats why my laptop sits on my desk all the time.

But I love the design, Because of the overall amount of airflow promoted in this project.

[Mashara]

I'm a Industrial designer, and i do come here a lot, because I am usually amazed with how people get around to do things by themselves. Sometimes, it's true, you think "man, look how much work this took, and you could have done it in a much easier way by doing this and that" but i still come because many times I find very simple and direct ways to do things, that my degree didn't teach me.

[sethhepler]

 you can see examples where students and practicing architects have built there stuff out of grasshopper. i have written a definition where the ribs generated by the surface automatically notch themselves, flatten out into line drawings, number themselves (for large installations), and line up ready to be exported. extremely practical.

[nagutron]

Hey, thanks for the link. Yeah, I would definitely have preferred to have designed this in 3d, but like you say it was a simple shape so I used the tools I knew.

Grasshopper looks pretty easy to use. I code, though, so I'll probably script in Rhino directly when I decide to pick it up. Thanks for the suggestion.

Of course, if you model this or something like it, we'd all welcome some screenshots here or a whole instructable of your own!

[pixelpartner]

Nice work! I also spend much time for my design in the SVG app Inkscape. There is a (fresh) free Java application doing exactly your type of work in minutes : http://gregsaul.co.nz/SketchChair/

[bigjeff5]

Just an update, but SketchChair is still not yet available.

It has been fully funded via Kickstarter since May '11, but the software has yet to be released.

I'm really looking forward to it when they do, though, because it looks slick!

[nagutron]

pixelpartner says: Nice work! I also spend much time for my design in the SVG app Inkscape. There is a (fresh) free Java application doing exactly your type of work in minutes : http://gregsaul.co.nz/SketchChair/
 

Thanks! SketchChair looks seriously awesome. I loved the demo video. Let me know when you have Linux/OSX binaries available.

[GenericBadness]

Don't have the time to read your complete post right now, but on the outro I must make the effort to say that one quick glance tells me this is some seriously cool s8it!! I found 'instructables' by mere chance, and it is like my new baby. A good-looking one. Not one of the type that people consider giving up for adoption. Coo-coo...

[incorrect]

One possible addition to this would be to cover the whole thing with a fabric such as Polyfiber or MonoKote, which are used for aircraft and model aircraft, respectively. Although covering it like a wing would make the inside unseeable (can't be seen, couldn't think of the right word), I think that it would bring out the shape more. My personal choice would be MonoKote, as it is cheaper, simpler, and comes in many colors. Also, I suppose if you wished to view the inside as well as have a more defined shape, you could use clear colored MonoKote.

[tosteen509]

I work at a machine shop where we use a Haas V4-500 Coherent Laser. I use aluminum pins to support the material I am cutting and function as a heat sink. However, the pins are constantly getting butchered from repeated use and have to be replaced. In your photos above, it looks as if you are using some sort of grate to do the same thing. Is that true? If so, how is it designed and does it work well? 

Thanks in advance!

[nagutron]

 You must have a much more powerful laser than we do. Ours doesn't affect metal at all, really. When we laser-etch laptops, it's actually burning off the anodized finish, but the base metal is completely unaffected. So, I guess we just don't have your problem.

A mesh could help you out, though. The profile it presents to the laser is much narrower, and there's more of it distributed around. Perhaps it would last longer than a few pins. 

[ilikepieinmyshoe]

The old stand is classic!