When surveying the options for laptop stands out there, they ranged from anywhere between $50 and over $100. My requirements weren't hard, I just needed to elevate my laptop to the height of my monitors (bottom of the screen ~170mm off the ground).
I decided to take a look at Bunnings (for those outside Australia, this is our hardware mega-store, The Home Depot may be an American equivalent).
Components
Here is a list of the components I purchased:
Coming to a grand total of $11.72.
Other components you will need for the process:
- A hacksaw, Bunnings also have a cheap one of those. I've heard Stanley knives could be used to cut the piping in a pinch but have not tried that myself.
- A sharp file or sandpaper to clean up the edges
Here is the components all laid out (minus the file):
Measurements for Stand
Decide on the measurements you want the pieces to be first. To raise the laptop to a similar height as mine (bottom of laptop screen raised ~170mm for a 15" Macbook) I chose the following lengths:
- Back base of stand: 200mm
- Short back lengths: 90mm
- Long lengths directly underneath laptop: 170mm
To increase the height, you would increase both the short back lengths and the long lengths to change the arch. If you just increase the short backs, it will alter the angle of the stand.
If your laptop is smaller than my laptop, you may want to consider making all the lengths smaller.
Steps
First cut all the pieces to the sizes you chose, here is my sections cut:
You will then want to sand / file the edges of them to remove any rough / loose parts:
You can then proceed to slot the pieces together, joining them with the barbed poly-pipe elbows. You will need to apply a lot of force whilst twisting them to join them together. The end result of all the pieces being joined together will look something like this:
So if you cut lengths similar to me, you should have ~280mm left of piping, which you can use to re-cut any piece if they aren't the correct length.
Here is a picture of my laptop mounted on the stand:
Results
I've been very happy with my laptop stand, I even made a second one so I can have one at work and one at home. They are also easy to transport as you can easily disassemble them.
Other things you can optionally do are:
- spray-paint the stand if you want to add a bit of flare
- build it differently (different shape, laptop holder, different material)
Good luck and happy hacking!
