3D printing my laptop ergonomic setup

Have you tried using "traditional" modelling tools?

I've been trying to learn how to model using Fusion 360. It's not clicking for me. Probably lack of practice. Wondering if OpenSCAD would be a better solution. Goal is to be able to design useful things for 3d printing..

I don't think this was limited to Thinkpads, where I worked heavily used laptops that had similar features but were Dell laptops.

The laptops had connections at the bottom that clicked into the docks/stands, which you could connect external screens/peripherals.

I saw plenty in corporate environments but I think people mostly wanted to use a larger and better screen than what was available on a laptop at the time.

What I never saw in the wild but which was neat was the Powerbook Duo dock that pulled in the laptop like a front loading VCR tape, peak Sculley-period pointless complexity. It totally enclosed the laptop in a closed configuration, the idea being that you would put a monitor on top of the dock.

Now we just plug in a USB C or two into any manufacturer’s laptop or phone.

I like this way better. Despite the docks feeling cool as hell.

There are several monitors with aspect ratios close to square. I can't tell that exact monitor from the photo but there are several options on the market.

This LG model is popular: https://www.lg.com/us/monitors/lg-28mq780-b-dualup-monitor

Benq announced a new 3:2 monitor today: https://www.benq.com/en-us/monitor/programming/rd280u.html

This might be it: https://www.eizo.com/products/flexscan/ev2730q/

it's the LG DualUp

Could be an Eizo EV2730Q? Only square screen I know of.

To be fair, that's something you learn as soon as you start 3d printing. Anything that experiences repeated stress and have any chance of getting over room temperature during summer should not be printed in PLA. And near a computer heating up, it sure looks like it's going to be higher than room temperature. Also pictures in a train exposed to sunlight via glasses are another reason for concern.

Compared to PLA, PETG has higher temperature resistance (by about 20°C), isn't quite as susceptible to stress, doesn't cost more and isn't any harder to print on modern printers.

Some people in the 3d printing community have totally ditched PLA and use PETG as a baseline because of that.

> is the regular PLA limit of ~55 degrees Celsius not okay for a desktop accessory?

Not the author, but PLA has a glass transition temperature of around 60 degrees, which in layman's terms is when it starts to melt. However, depending on the quality of the printing process, layers start separating/the print is pliable significantly lower, at around 35-40 degrees. This means that in countries where you get 30+ degree summers, PLA is not really suitable for anything which experiences any kind of stress. I would hazard a guess that the standing laptop can cause quite a bit of stress when the train starts/stops.

I used ASA for something I intended to keep in my garage, I live in Florida so summer gets hot. ASA is way more heat resistant than both. My water boiler uses the heat within the garage as part of how it warms water so my garage doesnt get too hot but it can still feel pretty bad in there.

Glass transition temperatures are a little bit misleading, but from personal experience even leaving a PLA print in direct sunlight under even a little tension will cause it to warp in as little as 30 minutes if you aren't careful.

It becomes pretty weak even on a hot day in the sun and in a hot car can melt (not into a puddle but into al dente pasta).

In addition to heat resistance, I find that PETG handles stress and resists stretching out way more than PLA

why not both

both is good

I believe there‘s likely less wear in that position than any other angle you might use it at.

Getting computer work done inside a vehicle is not easy if comfort is a requirement. Driving posture is not generalisable.

The ergonomy of most laptops (and keyboards in general) is poor. The modern laptop that is most ergonomic is the "2 in 1" design, which can be folded and used as a tablet.

For a programmer, an ergonomic keyboard with a trackball, connected to a 2-in-1 portable in tablet mode, might be easiest to assemble from common components for working during travel.

> I have a "car desk", which is just a little expandable contraption you hang on the steering wheel, then you can place your laptop on it.

I remember one of those on Amazon with like a thousand reviews that were all meme reviews about using it whilst driving. Cant find the exact one, but it was one of those many Amazon products full of joke reviews.

Hp has a lot of "convertible" laptops that open the full 360 if you want, usually with a touchsreen and two cameras so they can optionally be used as a tablet.

Or, she could sit down and think really hard about what she needs, come up with a neat technical solution, and share her thinking with a community that loves this stuff.

Glad she didn't go shopping.

I think you mean the Matebook Fold?

Surely the other missing thing is that it only runs a proprietary OS that nobody except Chinese companies develop apps for?

Or a Lenova Yogabook 9i?

That's what I want, except it has the wrong stylus tech and the keyboard lacks a Trackpoint....

Apple is doing the opposite, locking down macOS and make it more like iOS.

Do you want to be the one to update macOS applications to work with touch screens?

I want this to happen to bad

and will help reduce e-waste

Lenovo recently showed a laptop with a screen extending upwards:

https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/laptops/thinkbook/thinkbook-p...

Sounds nice, but how do you keep it from falling over? The higher screen makes it top heavy, and the way screens are tilted back also makes it lopsided. It will want to fall backward, and it will be worse on surfaces that aren't flat and solid, like your lap.

I guess one approach is weight distribution. Make the screen as light as possible and shift as much weight forward (near the space bar) as possible. I'm just not sure if it would be enough. You could also go with outriggers (like a crane or boat), but that's ugly and doesn't help with the lap situation, which is where you need help the most.

For my home laptop I ended up going for 13" specifically to avoid off centre / number pad layouts.

I'm sure there are plenty of better options if money is no object but it was mainly for light gaming, personal projects, video editing etc.

That's basically what I'm telling folks. My MBP16 is fantastic in that regard. I use the integrated touchpad only

PETG and ABS have similar stiffness. Both are fine at the temperatures involved here.

PETG is easier to print and deal with. ABS puts out some bad fumes that require actively exhausting the printer outside if you're trying to print in the house.

ABS is harder to print. Getting good layer adhesion is hard. It's more prone to warping. You want a heated chamber, ideally.

PETG is a fine choice for this. Going to ABS wouldn't change anything.

Also FYI, most people prefer ASA over ABS for printing because it's a similar material with better properties almost across the board.

PETG is a nice option w/o the same fumes and which has less of a need to vent outside.

I've never seen ergonomics, or the subset of the field known as physical ergonomics defined this way. Can I ask where you found this interpretation?

"It just works" has become true for the top brands of consumer 3d printers in general. They are not simple devices (and neither is a 2D printer), but I don't think they are more complex than they need to be. It's just that they have been iterated enough that they are now mature. But a 3d printer that can print a complete backup of itself is not going to happen in our lifetimes. They are the price they are because of high volumes, off-the-shelf components, injection moulded parts, etc. You cannot make a good 3d printer yourself for anywhere close to low cost of buying a complete one, even if you 3d print as many parts as possible yourself.

Just in the last year or so you can get a $600 printer with a heated print chamber and heated material box that keeps the material from absorbing moisture. This takes them to an extra level of "just working".

There's a small learning curve, and things like lifted prints occasionally happen, but in this post that is literally one sentence describing the problem and another sentence describing the solution. There's good community support.

Plastics not only dominate, metallic 3d printing is not close to being ready for home consumer use, it's $50k for an entry level machine and it still arguably requires a basic machine shop for finishing to be very useful.

But there is still a wall many people hit with 3d printing. When it comes time to design something and not merely print an available file, it's hard to know where to start if you don't already have hands-on experience using CAD or at least an introduction to carpentry or something similar. But this is true of most tools, be it woodworking tools, or visual studio. It takes experience to go from an idea in your head to a series of parts that will assemble together. There will be times, especially in the early days of tweaking dimensions and reprinting things.

In summary, if you want to design things yourself and count this as tinkering that you don't want to do, it's probably not going to be an enjoyable hobby. If you just want to print things like curtain rings and brackets to hold your screwdrivers on an ikea pegboard, it's virtually tinker-free these days.

Huh? 3D printers haven been cheap and reliable for a while now. You can get an Bambulab A1 mini for $200 USD and it’s a work horse. If things break, get a new part online from them and it’s usually plug and play. I’m north of a thousand hours on my P1S and it’s still going strong.