Final

Special features

Extra high positions with an extra board:


Staircase-like holes for easy height adjustment:


(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yITovyzYV4)

Unremovable bolts:

Design improvements

Design improvements:

• L-shape profile part to ensure flatness of the surface & general strength
  A L-shaped part is glued to both sides of the surface
  
• Cedar plugs replaced by steel bolts and a cedar cap for concealing the metal
  The head of a 8cm bolt, with 2,5cm of thread, was removed. A matching nut was installed. The threaded part of the bolt was forced & glued into a small cedar cube. This whole was installed into the top board, with the nut glued & sunk into the L-shaped profile. This makes sure that the bolt can never be removed, on side is bound by the end of the thread, the other side by the cedar cap.
  
• Staircase-like holes for easy height adjustments
  The top hole is the deepest of all, the one beneath a little less deep, and so on. That way, unscrewing the bolts by turning the wooden cubes, will lower the stand step by step(1,5cm each). No more searching for the right hole!
• No front board
  The front board was removed to simplify the design
• Inclination angle & back board angle
  Both angles were adjusted to prevent the stand to fall forward and to make it stay upright on the back board as well (so that the user surface of the stand is positioned almost vertically)
  

Further possible improvement:

• Two small ridges to hold documents better
• Holes all over the surface for better laptop ventilation
• Rubber feet for more grip on smooth surfaces
  

Photoshoot final version

Ergonomic considerations

What advantages could this product provide?

• When working behind a computer screen, the top of the screen should be at the same height as the eyes. Otherwise stress is put on the neck by looking upwards.
  
• Reading a document or typing on a flat surface requires leaning forward. The inclination angle of the stand prevents this. Stress, that would reside on the back, is lifted.
• Typing on a slightly inclined keyboard causes less tension.

Information and references to these statements can be found here:
Dinbelg & Ergonomiesite

Ergonomic calculations:
(These calculations are made based on data from Dinbelg)

• The average table is 72cm high
• 99% of (belgian) adults are over 107,4cm high (eye-height while sitting)
  
• 99% of (belgian) adults are less than 148,2cm high (eye-height while sitting)
• The average laptop is about 30cm high

This shows that the top of a laptop screen is commonly at 102cm. For 98% of the people, this would be 5,4 to 46,2cm too low. The final version will adjustable up to 42cm. Practically everybody would gain from using this stand, though for some it won't be sufficient, but still already a huge improvement!

Prototype

First prototype of the laptop stand:






Design issues:

• Connections between the different parts with cedar plugs are too weak.
• The surface of the stand is not flat, because the three boards hang.
• Finding the hole to insert the plugs makes it hard to alter the height.
  

Reading / Laptop stand 3D model

Reading / Laptop stand simple sketch

Reading / Laptop stand inspiration 1

• Chill pads
  
• Smart feet
• Wikipedia