I sketched out 20+ possible ideas for both magazine rack and laptop stand since I didn't know what I wanted to make. Some of the ideas that carried through to the final product of the laptop stand include a slot for wires (#11), a hollow area to put things under the main desk (#8) and a sink for my laptop (#4). I wasn't sure of the purpose of the magazine rack, because unlike the laptop stand, I never I used one except at the doctor's office where there are usually a dozen of last year's Highlights magazine or Vogue from 2008. 

 

I already knew from experience that 1) my laptop really liked to overheat, 2) I wanted it elevate my laptop since I'm quite tall and my table is usually too short so I have to hunch over, and 3) It should be sturdy.

 

My magazine racks all strangely look like combs.

I settled on a laptop stand. I quickly sketched out this idea in Illustrator that I thought was simple but fit my requirements. It seemed relatively easy to assemble and there were holes on the side of the main desk that I thought would be easy to lift and move around - kind of like a food tray of some sort. I looked up hinges online and created that castle grove for my supports and boxes for slots. After my low-fi prototypes of droopy slanted laptop stands, I decided against an angle. I knew this stand would just to be to support my laptop as I have an external monitor and keyboard. I just really needed to use something other than a phonebook to elevate my screen.

 

Note: This is the first time I have ever cut out a product using machines so I did not account for strict dimensions. I just eyeballed everything. Lesson learned (see next picture).

My first cardboard prototype! I was super excited to operate the laser cutter and assemble this but when I did, I quickly realized my mistakes: 1) It was way to high, almost like a standing desk and 2) because I didn't measure the slots, they were not fitting to the size of the cardboard so everything was extremeley shaky. I decided to tackle those two main points in my next iteration which is my second iteration with cardboard on a smaller scale.

Round 2. I redrew my protype in Illustrator. This time, I made sure to measure the widths of the tabs to fit with the thickness of the cardboard. I also noted from my last prototype that the corners were really sharp. I knew I would one day somehow injure myself with that corner plus it looked nicer rounded so I fixed that too.

 

I also made a tiny laptop prototype to achieve the full effect of a laptop stand.

It worked! My tabs fit perfect both on the side and did not jut out from the top. The height off of the table was much better and my mini laptop also looked like it would fit well on the stand. Everything depicted here is actually a 1/5 of the actual size (including the laptop).

Next step: Full scale prototype. I scaled everything up and also cut out it again using carboard to see if my laptop will actually fit. It did. There are no pictures of this though but this (above) is my Illustrator drawing of it.

 

The only change I made was to push back the sink for the laptop so it was flush against the cutout in the back (for the top desk). If you notice in my previous iteration, the laptop area is separated from the rectangular cutout at the top by a thin piece in the middle. I thought there was no point of doing that since the point of the cutout in the back was so my computer will not overheat and my charger cord can go through. By putting it flush against the sink, it actually served the purpose even better as there was no wood blocking ventilation. 

Even though I cut out the full scale verison on the laser cutter once already with cardboard, cutting it with the cnc router and with wood was really different. I had to take note of whether I wanted to cut outside or inside my lines and also how deep. I used a huge piece of plywood that was 3/4 thick (left) and afterwards I had to drill some parts that didn't cut all the way through and sand everything down which took another good hour or so.

Final product! After a long time just drilling and sanding it down, it was done! I assmebled it and placed my laptop on it to see if fits.

 

Overall, I really enjoyed this project even though I made many mistakes along the way. My final product isn't perfect though. One final mistake I made was that I made the slots a bit too big to account for the wood. I was really afraid the wood would not bend like cardboard so I won't be able to force it in the slots. I made all holes a few millimeters bigger but in the end, my slots were all 0.01 too big (just a paper width too big) so it was a bit shaky. However, if I just put some tape in the slots or stuffed one pice of paper in it, it won't shake anymore.

 

In the end, I decided against to glue everything together to make it not shaky because I wanted my stand to be still easy to assemble. At home, I just put a thick tape (like masking tape) and paper in the slots for a temporary solution. I guess the phrase "measure twice, cut once" is true. But, regardless, it is still useable and I am proud of my first laptop stand.

The final product! I love it :)