Fans cut into desk. Underside.

Yesterday was one of the hottest days we’ve had so far this summer and my laptop was getting very hot running the PCB CAD.

I’ve tried a cooler pad before which was rubbish so I decided to solve the problem properly.

Where the laptop always sits I made two stepped holes using a couple of hole saws, a chisel and some sand paper. Some paint to seal the custom-wood and two small fans fit about flush into the bottom of the holes.

They are 40x40x10 mm 12V 110mA ceramic bearing fans that have a very long bearing life. I had to take a small amount off each corner to make them a tight fit. Some hot glue will stop them coming out but allow later replacement if required.

A general purpose power supply that’s already in place can also run the fans. There is a 34 ohm resistor (2 x 68R in parallel) in series with the two fans to slow them down; greatly reducing the noise and beat effect. I will have to build a small temperature controller that detects a rise in the temperature of the desk and runs the fans until it cools down.