Prehistoric Laptop Cooler - Above
is a photo of a caveman applying the finishing touches to his
homemade laptop cooler.
How to make a homemade laptop cooler
It is a known fact that
laptop
computers get really hot. I think they are first
cousins to the "electric
hot plate" (you know those things with
two heat plates that you plug into the wall to heat up your ramen
soup when you're a poor college student). On the subject
of cooking, I wonder if you can use a laptop to heat up food? That
may be the subject of a future homemade project. I heard that the
Army used to have a Jeep that was configured to warm up food. They
would pop the hood and place a special metal contraption to harness
the excess heat from the engine. Maybe a
coffee
warmer attachment for a laptop would be a good
idea. I love my coffee. It's the only reason I get out of bed in the
morning, but I have to have it with flavored with
"liquid
coffee creamer". I prefer either the
vanilla or the nut flavors. If I run out of coffee creamer, then I
don't drink any coffee. Now back to the laptop. If you had a coffee
warmer on your laptop, you would have to be careful not to spill
coffee on the laptop. The liquid
could short circuit the motherboard or any of the electronics
located inside the laptop. When the coffee dries it can make your
keyboard sticky or short it out altogether. I guess my point is that
a laptop cooler is a really good idea and sometimes necessary for a
laptop computer and that's why someone would want to either buy or
make a laptop cooler.
PROJECT: HOMEMADE LAPTOP COOLER Ok, on to our Laptop Cooler project. This week we are
going to create a cardboard laptop cooler to help your laptop run
cooler. The only real costs will be that of the
box and the fans. You can always get a free box by recycling an old
box. If you're looking for a cheap laptop cooler than this might be
the perfect solution for you.
STEP 1: GATHER YOUR
TOOLS AND MATERIALS Ok, on to our Laptop Cooler project. This week we are
going to create a cardboard laptop cooler to help your laptop run
cooler. The only real costs will be that of the
box and the fans. You can always get a free box by recycling an old
box. Looking at the photo you will see that you need a box, a
straight edge, fine point marker, utility knife, packing tape, and
fans. You don't really need the scissors seen in the photo.
STEP 2: CHOOSE YOUR
BOX The box is the heart and structure of your new laptop cooler.
The better the box the more durable your laptop cooler will be. For
our project we choose a sturdy box with a 65 lbs rating. Look that
box was made in Albuquerque, New Mexico! When your laptop cooler is
complete you can claim it was "MADE IN THE USA" since most of the
parts come from the United States and since it was assembled in the
United States.
STEP 3: FOLD AND TAPE
YOUR BOX Ok, now we need to form our box. Unfold the box like shown in
the photo.
Here's another view of the box
FOLD THE FLAPS
- Ok, you want to fold the smaller flaps first as shown in the above
photo.
STEP 4: TAPE YOUR BOX
TOGETHER Now with the flaps folded down you want to tape it with your
packing tape as shown in the above photo.
STEP 5: SELECT YOUR
FANS We selected a high quality fan with brushless design for less
noise and longer life. Since this is just a cardboard laptop cooler,
just about any computer fan will work.
STEP 6: FIGURE OUT AN
AIR FLOW STRATEGY The first thing you need to figure out is which way you want the
air to flow. Most manufactured laptop coolers like the "QuadCooler"
(QuadCooler.com)
draw the air down and away from the laptop. This works best for most
applications and this is how we will design our homemade laptop
cooler. Please notice from the photo that each fan is marked with
arrows that indicate both the direction of the rotating fan and the
direction of the air flow.
STEP 7: MARK THE
FOOTPRINT OF YOUR LAPTOP Set your laptop on the box and mark the footprint with a marker.
Since I had a little extra room on my box, I decided to set the
laptop back to allow the front of the box to function as a wrist
rest.
Measure and make a note of the location of the
CPU fan located on the bottom of the laptop. I decided to make a
hole in my cooler directly below this fan to allow it to push the
hot air down and into the laptop cooler. I will later make side
vents to dissipate the warm air.
STEP 8: MARK THE
LOCATION OF ALL YOUR HOLES This laptop design calls for 3 holes. You will need 2 holes for
the cooler fans and a third hold to allow the laptop's fan to blow
hot air into the laptop cooler. The fans will be mounted facing down
to draw the warm air down into the laptop cooler. There will be side
vents cut into the side of the box.
STEP 9: CUT THE HOLES Now it's time to cut the holes out with your utility knife. The
holes are circular, so you have to cut them a little bit at a time
working the blade in and out.
STEP 10: TRIM THE
HOLES I decided to place extra tape to make the box a little stronger.
I then had to trim the excess tape from around my holes.
STEP 11: MOUNT THE
FANS Now you will need to flip the box upside down and mount the fans
with screws.
STEP 12: INSTALL BATTERY PACK Now you will need to install a battery pack
on the inside of the laptop cooler and wire it to the fans.
STEP 13: CUT THE SIDE VENTS You are going to need side vents to allow the
warm air to escape from the cardboard box and out into the
atmosphere. Cut a long rectangular hole on either side of the box.
You want to make your side vent large enough to stick your hand
inside, so that you can change the batteries on your battery pack.
STEP 14: TEST YOUR LAPTOP COOLER Now it's time to test your little cardboard
creation. Place batteries into the battery pack and the fans should
start turning. If they do not turn, then it's time to troubleshoot
your fan/battery pack system.
STEP 15: TAPE THE BOTTOM This is basically the final step the Homemade
Laptop Cooler project. If everything is working, it's time to seal
up the bottom of the laptop cooler. Fold in the shorter pair of box
flaps first and then fold the longer pair of box flaps and then tape
them with packing tape just like you did in STEP 3.
The project is complete. Now you have an
awkward, but functional cardboard laptop cooler to keep your laptop
running cooler. However, don't try packing it into your laptop
carrying case, because it's not going to fit. We don't recommend you
take it to school, because cardboard isn't exactly what you call
stylish. However, it's fine for hanging out around the house where
you can slip into your pajamas and cuddle next to your laptop and
your new cardboard laptop cooler and do whatever it is that you do
with your laptop computer.
Dollar Art?
Breaking News: We have a brand new section
dedicated to
Dollar Art that you can use with your blogs, news reports,
websites, etc.
Insane Laptop Cooler
From Video Description:
Got tired of buying those crappy usb powered coolers, so I made my
own.
So powerful it cools the room down.... No kidding
Features Two 88MM fans /blue LEDS
Two 45MM fans
200 WATT PowerSuppy
Power on/off - Lights on/off
All Fan speeds are adjustable.
A few light bars for effect.
Currently working on Version 2 of this with more power.
Above is a picture of a new
concept vehicle that combines the strength and toughness of a heavy
duty truck with the gas stingy fuel economy of an economy car.
4x4 Laptop Cooler - The market
place is filled with many types of laptop coolers, but I bet you've
never seen one like this!
Help me make a robot -
A world
wide community effort to construct a robot - Above is the rough
sketch of how I want my robot to look. Please help me design him
using reall world technology.
Click here to help me.
Can a laptop cooler that was designed to cool a laptop computer be
used to cool an Xbox 360? Watch video and find out.
What is a Rolee Polee? When
we were kids, we used to pick up those little rolee polee bugs and
watch them curl up as we touched them. Now there's a new type of
computer mouse called the Rolee Polee trackball mouse. Learn more
about the Rolee Polee handheld trackball computer mouse - It might
help reduce wrist pain because it allows you to place your hand in a
comfortable position. Learn more about the
Rolee Polee bug
-
Learn how a trackball works -
Rolee
Polee Blog -
Rolee Polee Daily Photo
