My home made notebook cooler
Been having a hard time finding a suitable notebook cooler for me. I’ve gone through almost all types of coolers available on the market today. Cheapest to the premium priced, single fan to 4 fans, usb powered to adapter powered but yet none did met my standards.
I decided to go ahead and build my own notebook cooler. Played around with acrylic and other materials but what happen was I need to jack my notebook up to get the best air flow. This worked fine while on my lap but not when place on a desk.
Some hours of thinking later I decided to convert my desk into a cooler itself. Started off drilling a hole fit for a 120mm fan powered by a 12v adapter and connected through a molex connector.
2 hours later I finally found my notebook cooler. Works like a champ!!
See pictures of my home made notebook cooler below.
Planet Malaysia | February 4th, 2008 at 8:30 am #
Cool! Why not make it 2 or 4 fans? hehehe
abi | February 4th, 2008 at 9:10 am #
Nice work man!! Well done
Now you can change it up whenever you need too as well
Danny | February 4th, 2008 at 9:49 am #
PM,
Actually I was thinking of it. But the 120mm fan I’m using is really powerful so it would be a over kill. If needed I might add another 2 90mm fans in the future.
Since you like extra fans then I bet you’d love my servers. I have 2 120mm fans in fronts cooling the hdd in side. Without the fans my hdd will crash… I think Abinesh has seen and “heard” them before.
Thanks Abi
cinod | February 4th, 2008 at 12:33 pm #
Cool.. the desk is now equip with a turbine.
eL | February 4th, 2008 at 2:50 pm #
ouch this is so cool.. but should i make a hole on my ikea table
Wing Loon | February 4th, 2008 at 10:47 pm #
Awesome work but does your leg feel hot now?
Danny | February 5th, 2008 at 12:28 am #
eL, my notebook is on the table 70% of the time so it made sense to make the hole. If you are the same then it would make sense to work your table but if not you’re better off buying a retail cooler.
What’s ya thoughts?
Danny | February 5th, 2008 at 12:30 am #
WL, actually my legs cold. The fan sucks from below and blows up. Reason being my notebook’s air intake in under and blow out behind.
eL | February 5th, 2008 at 12:46 am #
Danny, true you got the whole idea. the fan that you are using is much more powerful that the retail one right? cos most of them are smaller size? i think i have an idea to get a wooden board, make a hole on it, and put 2/3 fans, which height is almost the same as the wooden board. and put it higher abit under my laptop. don’t you think its a good idea?
Danny | February 5th, 2008 at 1:44 am #
eL, The fan I use is slightly overkill actually but it looks cool
You idea of the wooden base would work just fine. The tricky part would be getting the right hight. You could alternatively look at acrylic/plexi glass too. Available at shops doing adverts or also frame shops. Will cost you under RM50 at most.
eL | February 5th, 2008 at 1:49 am #
Danny, cool eh. Yours plugin to the usb? i wonder if anybody created it directly to the plug socket
like switch it up via the plug socket on the wall. will it blow up the fan?
Danny | February 5th, 2008 at 2:03 am #
eL, I’m not using USB. Not enough power. USB ports only give out about 5volts so if your fan is small that would work fine. Most of the notebook coolers on the market are usb powered that’s why the fans are smaller and also less noisy but at the expense of lower air flow.
I am using an old 12volts power adapter to power my fan. The fan is 12volts. I use a molex connector(HDD power connector) for attach the fan to the power adapter.
If you need any help with the connections and stuff I’ll be glad to help out as I have the tools. FOC
eL | February 5th, 2008 at 2:10 am #
cool, thanks for the offer
i will try to see what i can do. by the way, your notebook, the air flow is on which side? bottom is it? mine is on the side. but since my laptop is switch on almost the time, i took out the battery, and the cdrom, so more holes for the air to go out. and i have 1 retail cooler with 2 fans. the problem with this cooler, after 3 months the fans making weird sound, like “GIVE ME A BREAK, IM DYING” :p
Danny | February 5th, 2008 at 6:39 pm #
eL, my notebook’s fan is on the top left. suck from bottom and blows out behind.
novinthe | February 9th, 2008 at 1:52 pm #
Good work. but its spoiling the table!..
anyway it can be featured in http://www.lifehacker.com i think. please submit ur link to them!
alanbernard | February 14th, 2008 at 10:52 pm #
Very cool mate. That’s the spirit! DIY all the way.