Have you wanted to buy a laptop stand but they are either too expensive of don'y fit the style you want? This instructable will show you how to make a cheap laptop stand out of aluminum for less than $20 in materials.

Oh, I'm not responsible if you royally screw this up. You are!

Step 1: Step 1: Materials

You should be able to buy your materials at any hardware store. I purchased everything at Lowes. You will need:

1x 48"x1"x1/8" Aluminum Stock $8
1x Carpet No-slip Adhesive Pads $8

I'm sure you can shop around and find the no-slip pads for a lot cheaper. I thought $8 was a rip off since I only needed a 2"x7" strip. If you can find something cheaper, go with it. It it's not adhesive, use some superglue or spray adhesive from 3M and it should work just fine.
Now onto the fun stuff!

Step 2: Step 2: We Need a Bender!

Since the aluminum is 48 inches long, we are going to cut:

2x 18" sections
2x 6" sections

Mark a dot at 7 inches on the 18 inch piece, and make another mark at 13 inches. These will be the bend points. The seven inch length will the side the computer sits on and the six inch side will be the base. The two six inch sections will be the cross bars.

Start bending the 18 inch section. You will have to eyeball it most of the time taking measurements as you go. I wanted the rear of the computer to be five inches above the desk and the front to be two inches above the desk. So I just bent at the two marks made earlier and once I got it in the general shape I used a tape measure to see how tall the front and back were and bents the bar accordingly. Keep repeating that process until you get the correct shape as seen below.

Step 3: Step 3: If It Looks Like a Stand and Smells Like a Stand....

Tada You're almost there!

All that's left to do is join everything together. You can put the cross braces anywhere, but I recommend one on top and one on bottom. I placed mine 2 5/16" from the edge just because I'm an engineer and wanted to be technical about it. All you need to do is make sure everything is square and you should be fine.

Step 4: Step 4: Strip It to Non-slip It

I know you're in a rush to use your new stand, but if you sat your computer on it now it would more than likely slide off and put scratches on your laptop. You don't want that do you?

Grab your no-slip pad and measure cut strips the following sizes:

2x 3/4"x6"
2x 3/4"x7"

If it's not completely obvious, the six inch strip will go on the six inch length of aluminum (the base), and the seven inch strip will go on the seven inch length aluminum (the part the computer sits on).

Step 5: Your Computer Does What?!?!

Now you can sprint (or walk calmly---yeah right) back to your dest and put the stand in place. I hope you can handle this step by yourself. If you do need help, you can always hire a computer technician and I'm sure they will help you out for a small fee.

Anyway, hope you enjoy your new laptop stand and newly found desk space.