troydenton.ca

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Thinkpad stand

Jan 26, 2025

I designed a stand for my thinkpad. There are lots of existing laptop stand models out there, but surprisingly, not many are designed to keep the screen "up".

You can find the FreeCAD file and stl up at my github.

The design process was pretty straightforward. I based the key measurements of this stand on the dimensions of a thinkpad T14's palmrests. The gap in the middle is wide enough to not obstruct the trackpad, and the depth of the laptop slot is just large enough that it doesn't obstruct any part of the keyboard. I've also tried putting my thinkpad T490 in it, and it fits exactly the same. I expect many T series models will fit the same.

Random design specs:

For this design, I used the 'sketch' constraint solver functionality. It let's you specify the coordinates/sizes of key constraints in a 2D slice, and FreeCAD works backwards from there to come to a solution. Here you can see the side profile, which I extruded to define the body:

Beyond the main extrusion, the rest of the details are done by taking a difference with basic shapes, and applying chamfers and rounded edges. The rounded edges just make it look "nice" - but the chamfer applied on the inside of the laptop slot will, in theory, make for an easier time inserting the laptop: