Made my own notebook cooler

What do a broken picture frame, broken gateway laptop and broken fan have in common- other than all being broken?

While daydreaming about what notebook cooler to buy on the way to my local dump to throw stuff away, I thought about the stuff I was about to throw away, and realized that I wouldn't need to buy a notebook cooler, I probably had all I needed!

I had never looked inside the Gateway as it came into my care after a job in a nearby city- the owner was going to throw it away as the screen had broken, and they were already using the RAM and HDD in their new laptop. I took it anyway thinking hey, maybe one day I'll get around to fixing it up and use it for a little streaming music server in my basement (or at least, something along those lines...) but as we all know, things like that usually don't happen, and so in my garage the Gateway sat for months.

The broken fan happened to be a small desktop fan that was almost completely useless and after taking a headfirst dive off my desk last night, it finally achieved it's life goal and became completely useless. The broken picture frame was much of the same.

So I had the idea, lets combine the three and make a little laptop cooler~! Waste not, want not... or something like that.

First was destroying the old Gateway. Fun, but it can get you girlfriend (or in some cases, wife) aggro. I had the basic idea that I would look around inside the Gateway and see if there was any salvageable fans or parts and then use the bottom of the case with its plethora of holes and openings and panels that could be taken off to make the cooler- but a better idea struck.



I ripped the laptop apart and took out the top casing for the screen. Using the back cardboard/wood substance for the backing of the laptop screen so it would cut my legs and would provide a smooth surface, I carefully mounted the backing of the picture to the laptop screens enclosure using the laptops screws that I had removed to get to that point. Finding a speaker inside the laptop brought good news- flipping it upside down meant that it could elevate the back of the laptop- and keep everything cool.
Underneath the speaker being used to elevate the back of the laptop I wedged the video card's heat sink in case it ever got too hot some of the heat could hopefully escape out the back and so it would improve the back from having too much weight on it.


(almost impossible to see, but there is a heat sink and a platform below the screen's outer shell)

The small broken desk fan would donate its wall plug, and the laptop would donate the processor fan for the single fan that now sits next to the speaker that raises the back of the PC- and I must say, I didn't use a single part except for what I had laying around- and that feels good knowing I wont have to blow money on a laptop cooler, even if it doesn't look cool, run off USB (Which some day I might even be able to do) or have fancy LED's.

I haven't taken pictures yet of it "in action" or anything, or even working, but I'll update again soon, as I found a fan with a casing around it so it isn't open and I am working on cramming that in where the old fan was.


Hope you enjoyed, I was hesitant to even post, but I had a fun time doing it so I said eh what the hell, let everyone else see

 

Alternatively, sell the laptop's motherboard for 100 bucks and buy any cooler you want.

 

haha nice job recycling and saving some money.

 

Yeah, it was fun to just sit there and see what worked and what didn't. The original idea was much more... ridiculous- I actually like the way it ended up. Hopefully I can get some black paint and make it nice and matte. Simple drill, some screws that came from the laptop, some old stuff and boom, you've got a nice little cooler.

 

Nice job, man. I need one of these. Are you selling them?