I've been doing a lot of rendering lately and i noticed that my laptop starts to heat excessively ,and after a proper fan cleaning i got the idea to build a cooling stand .with more thinking and ideas shuffling i decided that a colling stand may be like this one tinker bot built but with an integrated audio amp will be awesome and i got the right components for the build.

Step 1: Designing

The dimensions depends on your laptop's size ,mine have a 17,3 lcd so 450x300 mm stand is a little bigger but that okay

For look you can go wild as you like the only limitation is the weight and that what i toke in my consideration i removed as much as i could of material without loosing its strength, the shapes are 45° angles, basically what i did is just living enough space for the laptop to set right

As you can see the speakers placement in the front also the front panel are just approximative , they should be symmetrical without interfering with the other components .

I was planning to make the amp from scratch i have some TDA1822m ICs but, i found this circuit already made in one of my junk boxes so i wont making a pcb and all that stuff thank GOD!, but any way i will tray to make it for you an edit this step otherwise if you have the same IC just make a small search and you will found a lot of projects

Step 2: Material and Equipment : Woodworking

Equipment:

A Drill
Hand saw
Wood file
A hummer
Wood chisel
Stapler or some thing to hold the wires in place
10 , 8 , 4 and 2 mm drill bit (depends on your components)

Material:

Pallet wood
450x300x2mm plywood (depends on your design)
Wood glue
Nails
Sand paper
Small screws

Step 3: Material and Equipment : Electronics

Equipment:

Cutting plier
Needle nose plier
Solder iron
Philips and flat head screwdriver

Material:

Small speakers
12v power supply
12v Fan
stereo pot with an ON-OFF switch and its knob
ON-OFF switch
RCA female connectors
DC power jack
A led and a 560 ohm resistance
Some solder
Electrical tape
Wires

Step 4: Stand : Sawing

This step may look really easy all you have to do i measure twice and cut but its not ,

pallet wood need a lot of examination you have to choose which piece go to which place clean them from hiding nails , choose the straight pieces ,i spent a lot of time figuring out the right combination and this what you have to do

Cut the thicker piecer for the sides (because it will hold the top pieces)
the wider pieces for the front and the back (the prevent the laptop from falling down)
the weaker and maybe fractured pieces for the top (because they have extra support)

Don't sand yet

Step 5: Stand : Removing Material

draw your design in each piece in may case just 45° angels ,for the front side just let some space for the side and top pieces then draw you speakers hold them in place and don't forget the screws places
With a hand saw make the 45° cuts ,
Now with a chisel remove the unwanted material until you get you finale shape ,

For the speaker holes just make 3 10mm holes and relay them with a chisel do the same thing for the front panel area
And now sand all the pieces especially the joints area (i delayed the sanding just to not make an effort on something i will remove)

Step 6: Stand : Nailing & Gluing

start with the sides ,put some glue and place the top piece adjust it then hold it in place with some nail
Sand the edges for more plan joint area
Put the front side with some glue then nail it down, start by one side then the other
Now do the same thing to the back piece ,start by one side then the other you may need to the sides together so the back side sets right

Dont use thick nails like i did they tend to make cracks

Step 7: Fan Holder

Cut the 2mm plywood to your shape then mark its center
Place the fan on top of it ,tray to center it, and with a pen mark the inside shape of the fan
Now with the chisel remove the the marked piece and sand it down
Put back the fan in place and with nail mark the screws places
with the 4mm drill bit make a the 4 holes

AS you can see i forgot to make the drawing in the face down side and now i have to live with it ;D

Ok now just put the fan holder in place and screw it with for screws and don't tighten them up yet

Step 8: Front Panel

Put a piece of plywood under the front panel area mark the length and the width then cut it
Sand the edges and make the half so you can adjust it
Put that piece of plywood under the front panel again ,center it and hold it in place with screws then mark the edges so you can know where you have to drill the holes
Now mark the pot hole and the switch first then put the RCA connectors on top of it draw a circle around them
Drill all the holes with 2mm drill bit on the marked face then 4mm on the other face (the clean one) increase the diameter until you reach the right one
Sand the holes and make sure every thing fits right
Now mark where you want the DC power jack
Make a first pilot hole with the 2mm drill bit then a counter-bore with the 10mm drill bit ,enlarge the hole to get the right diameter and don't forget to sand it

Step 9: The Audio Amp

As i said in the design step , i found an amp in my junk box so i will not have to make it from scratch i just need to modified it to fit in there , but if you have the same Ic like i do and you want to build your own there is a lot of projects round this Ic out there in the web

Basically what i did is removing the unnecessary empty areas on the PCB with the cutting plier , i reconnected the tracks with some solder.

For the wiring i recommend you to use shielded wire for the input , and twist the others together don"t twist the

outputs with the inputs or with the pot's wires it will introduce a lot of noise

Step 10: Assembly & Wiring

1- First screw in place the RCA inputs then the switch and the pot ,you may notice that i added a green led in the 2- front panel i just made a hole with a small screwdriver then push the led in place

3- Put screws on the front panel , adjust it then tighten them up

4- Place the speakers in their exact placement then hold them with screws and make sure the speakers terminals are facing each other

5- Now start by soldering a current limiting resistance in one pin of the switch to the positive pin of the green LED,

then solder a ground wire from the negative pin of the LED to the grounded pins of the pot

6- Solder a small wire from the RCA inputs ground to the he grounded pins of the pot

7- Solder the pot wires, start by the center pins then the input pins, bend together the 3 pins left and solder the ground wire coming from the PCB ,make sure you don't mistake the hot pins with the grounded ones of the pot , if you do the amp will not turn off until you reach the max volume,

8- Solder the pot's switch wires in pace then the RCA inputs and th speakers

9- Screw the fan on the holder than the holder in the stand ,you may need to pace the fan under the most heated place in your laptop

10- Now solder the positive wire of your fan ,in my case its red to the center pin of the toggle switch then another wire from the pin which the resistance is solders to, to the (+) of the PCB

11- solder the negative wire of the fan an the power supply wires of the PCB to the DC power jack.