A Table Extention Board That Allows Convenient Work With a Computer Mouse

This project started as an attempt to solve a problem to our friend Omri. Omri has ALS and he uses a wheelchair, his mobility is limited because his muscles are barely functioning. Computer is his primary work tool, through which he works, learns and communicates with the world, but he had no way to work on it. We built for him a device that can connect to any table and supports him in the arm so that he can move a computer mouse comfortably and work on the computer for a long time. It turns out that this device not only solves Omri's problem, but it makes working on a computer far more convenient for everyone!

•This is a fixperts project! It was made at HIT- Holon Institute of Technology in Israel.

soon we'll upload a short film about the project... stay tuned.

Step 1:

For this project you'll need:

- 60X30 cm Birch Plywood 12 mm

- A small clamp -15 cm

- Thick, strechy scuba or neoprene fabric

- 8X5 cm metal piece 1.5 mm

- Access to bandsaw

- Access to blowtorch

- Access to Sewing Machine

- Glue Stick

- Pen

- Sewing pins

Step 2:

1. Let's start from the wood: Print the attached file and glue it to the surface with a glue stick. There is no need for much glue. Then mark the stroke with a pen on the wood and remove the paper.

wood surface.pdf
Download

Step 3:

2. Cut the wood with a band saw and sand the edges with a sandpaper to remove the sharp edges.

Step 4:

3.The clamp: remove the top of the clamp with a saw. Cut a Slot in the metal disc that equals to the length of the rod. Put the disc on the top of the clamp, make sure they are vertical and then Weld the two parts together. Make sure that the Welding is strong. * we made few more changes in the clamp- you can see it in the picture, those extra changes are optional, the clamp will work perfectly fine without them.

Step 5:

4. When the clamp is ready attach it on the wood surface with three screws. The clamp's position is based on what is most convenient for you, make an attempt and mark the preferred place before attaching. *we added cork so the table won't be damaged.

Step 6:

5. Make the padding: print the attached file of the sewing pattern and attach it to the fabric with sewing pins, mark the shape on the fabric and cut the shape with extra 5 mm on each side.

sewing patterns.pdf
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Step 7:

6. Connect the two pieces together with pins so that the smaller piece is placed over the large one and stitch them together. After sewing turn over the small piece inside out. At this point you can sew the edges of the padding- make a small fold inward and sew it.

Step 8:

7. You can now dress the padding on the surface! Optional: before stitching the two pieces together, you can do a decorative stitch like we did, you can see it in the picture.