Ergonomic Laptop Frame (or ErgoTop)

Written By Evan and Katelyn

ErgoTop v1 by Evan and Katelyn

Here are the build instructions for the ErgoTop v1 that Evan and Katelyn built in their video. Special thanks to Austin Bradley, who we hired to write the instructions and check over everything to make sure you will have an easier time building one yourself if you are up for the task.

Note that this design is released under the CERN Open Hardware Licence Version 2 - Strongly Reciprocal

*pictures coming soon(ish)

Before You Start:

**This build assumes you already have or have access to:

  • 3D printer (you can also order parts online)

  • Laser cutter or CNC machine (you can also order these parts online)

  • Drill

  • 5/16” or #7 drill bit

  • Hex wrenches

    • 4mm

    • 2.5mm

    • 1.5mm

  • Vise (or other strong-holding clamp)

  • Pliers

  • Heat set insert tool

You can access the the google drive folder with DXF and STL files you can print and laser cut: https://bit.ly/ergotop 

Or if you want to look at the original Fusion 360 files:https://a360.co/4ia2WWv (password is: evanandkatelyn)

Shopping List (affiliate* & sponsor links)

Computer Stuff:

Main Frame:

Keyboard Chassis:

Handle:

Optional:

Tools:

Material Preparations

CNC Parts (Aluminum Version):

  • Layer 1 & 3 files in .125” aluminum

  • Layer 2 file in 6mm acrylic

  • Tablet holder joiner in 1/8” aluminum (*optional but nice for a magnetic mount)

CNC Parts (Acrylic Version):

  • Layer 1 file in 1/16” acrylic

  • Layer 2 & 3 files in 6mm acrylic

  • Tablet holder joiner in 1/8” acrylic (*optional and cannot support a magnetic mount)

3D Prints:

  • Hinge spacers (left & right)

    • Recommended settings:

      1. Layer height- .16 or .20

      2. Walls/Top/Bottom- 3 to 5

      3. Infill- 15% gyroid

      4. Supports- no

  • Top tablet brace

    • Recommended settings:

      1. Layer height- .16 or .20

      2. Walls/Top/Bottom- 5

      3. Infill- 15% gyroid

      4. Supports- yes

  • Optional: Magnetic back mount

    • Recommended settings:

      1. Layer height- .16 or .20

      2. Walls/Top/Bottom- 3 to 5

      3. Infill- 15% gyroid

      4. Supports- no

Main Assembly

Hinge Modification

  1. Grab the square-shaped cold shoe on the bottom of the monitor mount hinge with pliers or a cold shoe mount and rotate counter-clockwise to loosen up the screw. (You will not be able to remove the screw this way; this is just to make the next steps easier.)

  2. Open the hinge to 90º to reveal a small hex screw on the inside. (You may need to use a 2.5mm hex wrench to slightly loosen the two screws on one side. This will allow the hinge to move more freely- just remember to tighten these back later to ensure the hinges strongly retain their position when in use.) 

  3. Place the lower half of the hinge in a vise or other form of clamp.

  4. Slowly and carefully loosen the screw with a 2.5mm hex wrench. Be careful not to strip the screw or your wrench- take your time and apply lots of downward pressure as you turn. (Brute-force method: Still having trouble with removing this screw and feeling adventurous? Firmly hammer a T15 torx bit into the head of the screw and loosen with a ratchet wrench, applying downward pressure as you turn. This will somewhat ruin the head of the screw, but the added grip from the oversized torx bit ensures a greater chance of removal.)

  5. Remove the screw and other washers/plastic bearings, then allow the cold shoe to drop out. Discard these parts.

  6. Re-mount the hinge in your vise and carefully widen the hole where the screw once was using a 5/16" drill bit. Take this much slower than you would when drilling through wood.

  7. Slowly tap threads into this hole using a 3/8"-16 tap.

  8. Unmount from vise and clean off any debris or metal swarf.

  9. Remove the tiny anti-rotation pin on the top side using a 1.5mm hex wrench.

  10. Repeat for all four hinges.

Keyboard Chassis / Base Plate

  1. Adhere all 3 layers using 3M adhesive (with countersunk holes exposed). Ideally the 3M adhesive is applied to the layer 2 acrylic piece and already cut to size.

  2. Countersink the screw holes of the Layer 1 plate using a 3/8" countersink bit. This is quite a tedious process with the metal base and made easier with a drill press.

  3. Thread 1/4" to 3/8" adapters into the modified holes of two hinges. Don’t screw these in too far- just enough so that they are flush with the outer edge of the hinge.

  4. Stack base plate, spacers, and hinges, then screw together with 1/4-20 x 1" flat head socket cap screws using a 4mm hex wrench.

  5. It’s highly recommended that you add some self adhesive felt to the bottom of this base plate. If you don’t, it's very likely that the aluminum and/or screws could scratch up your table. It also just makes it look nicer.

Tablet Brace

  1. Install 1/4"-20 threaded inserts using a heat set insert tool (or a soldering iron in a pinch) into the 2 outermost holes of the top of the tablet brace (the ones that are beveled upward).

  2. Insert the remaining two hinges into their slots and tighten using the thumb screw. (You can tighten these further using the end of a hex wrench or other small tool, but don’t over tighten.)

  3. Firmly press the two tablet holders into their respective slots in the brace. These are meant to be tight fits- you might need to lightly tap them with a rubber mallet. (model might need to be modified depending on printer tolerance)

  4. Temporarily screw these holders into place with the 1/4"-20 x 1/2" button head socket cap bolts.

Final Frame

  1. Thread the remaining two 1/4" to 3/8" adapters onto the tops of both selfie sticks, then screw the selfie sticks into the hinges in the tablet brace. (We are installing the selfie sticks into the tablet brace first, rather than the base plate. This makes it easier to tighten the screws.)

  2. Hold the tablet brace above the base plate and use the thumb screws of the lower hinges to screw into the bottoms of the selfie sticks. (You can tighten these further using the end of a hex wrench or other small tool, but don’t over tighten.)

  3. Get excited.

Handle

  1. Cut your leather strip to roughly 7” (size may vary based on your hand size. Cut to whatever length feels comfortable to you.)

  2. Trim corners with a leather rounding punch.

  3. If you have a leather hole punch, make two holes near the ends for the screws. If you don’t have a hole punch, careful use of a 1/4" drill bit can work. Don’t worry about rough edges- they’ll be hidden by the screw.

  4. Burnish the edges of the leather using the burnishing bits in a dremel. If you don’t have a dremel, a drill should work fine.

  5. Clean up the leather using some conditioner and polish to make sure the leather lasts. You can look up tutorials on how to do this well, but it’s pretty straightforward.

  6. Remove the two innermost screws from the top of the tablet brace, add in the handle, then replace the screws.

Finishing Up

  1. Place your keyboard into its cutout in the base plate. This should snap in very satisfyingly- if not, find the edges it's catching on and gently sand/file them down. (If you ever want to trade out for a new keyboard, you’ll have to create a whole new baseplate. It’s recommended that you find a keyboard you’re happy with BEFORE this build.)

  2. Loosen the thumb screws on the bottoms of the tablet holders just enough to give a little wiggle room, then loosen the larger screws on the back side to open up the tablet holders.

  3. Place your tablet into the holders, close the holders up so that they hold the tablet on both sides, then tighten down the screws on the back side. Now gently tighten the two thumb screws on the bottoms of the holders until your tablet is secure. You shouldn’t ever need to adjust the back screws again- just loosen the small thumb screws slightly to remove your tablet.

Optional Additions

Joined Tablet Holders

  1. Remove the thumb screws on the bottom of the tablet holders, catching any springs/pieces that may fall. (You may encounter some resistance near the end of the screw. If this is the case, peel back part the rubber backing on the mount to reveal a c shape lock washer at the end of the screw. Use some small pliers to remove this…  or just forcefully unscrew the screw until the washer breaks off on its own.)

  2. Add in the acrylic tablet holder joiner piece, then replace all of the screws and springs, securing the joiner piece in place.

Magnetic Phone Mount

  1. Install 2mm threaded inserts using a heat set insert tool (or a soldering iron in a pinch) into the bottom of the 3D printed mount for the magnetic phone holder.

  2. Screw the 3D printed mount onto the acrylic tablet joiner piece (see Joined Tablet Holders) using 2mm screws.

  3. Slide the magnetic phone mount into the 3D printed piece.

Nicer Thumb Screws

  1. Don’t like the original thumb screws on the tablet holder? Replace them with shorter thumb screws for a low profile and a new look. (The original screws are locked in place with a retention ring so will take decent force to remove. You can peel back part the rubber backing on the mount to reveal a c shape lock washer at the end of the screw. Use some small pliers to remove this…  or just forcefully unscrew the screw until the washer breaks off on its own.)

Vanity Covers

  1. Spice up these off-the-shelf components with some custom laser cut vanity covers. These can be glued onto the base plate, hinges, and around the keyboard.

No More Yellow

  1. If the yellow grips on the tablet holder screws stand out to you, you can simply remove them using a small hook to pull the loop off. (Or just cut them.)

  2. Take it a step further by replacing the bands with some o rings in a color of your choice. 

Edible ErgoTop Enhancement

  1. Place a banana next to your ErgoTop.

  2. Now you have a snack. Yum.

FAQ

Q: Will you sell these?

A: Right now we’re not planning to. If a reputable manufacturer reaches out to us and wants to work with us to sell some, we might be open to it.

Q: What about selling kits?

A: With the current hardware, kits would be pricey and we’re not sure how much demand there would be. Maybe if the design is improved (see notes below) and the hardware cost can be reduced, someone from our community might be able to sell kits, but the two of us will likely not so we can keep making videos.

Thoughts on potential improvements:

*Price reduction opportunities: 1) Cheaper monitor mounts that would be compatible (might require small design tweak). 2) If the tablet holders could be replaced by something that can be 3D printed. 3) Once the design has been improved by the community, someone selling a kit can bring prices down by buying in bulk.

Height adjustment: It would be great if the height adjustment locked. This feature might be hard to implement though since it would make height adjustment more troublesome than friction based selfie sticks.

Base: A better design might be to have just a flat platform base with room for various keyboards and some sort of keyboard lock. The easy and inelegant solution would just be to hot glue a keyboard of choice down haha. Another solution would be for the community to develop a few different bases for a few popular keyboard options. 

“Mini” version: I wonder if anyone would be interested in making a “mini” version for Android tablets or iPads that are as small as possible while still keeping a full size keyboard and the adjustable height capabilities.

Framework laptop version. I think it would be really cool if instead of making the top able to switch between tablets, we went with a replaceable component strategy instead and used Framework laptop components to make an easy to repair ergonomic laptop.

Big stretch goal: make it compatible with “normal laptops”. This might mean some sort of shelf to set a laptop on where the laptop can be secured down in some way or some sort of other clever solution. Hopefully this could just be a swap for the top bar, keeping the base and arms the same.

Finalize the name! Some potential contenders are ErgoTop, Ergonomic Laptop Frame (E.L.F.), ErgoTablet, ErgoStand, ErgoFrame, ErgoRig, OrthoTop, LiftTop, etc…

Next steps…

That’s up to y’all: our community and any community that forms around this idea/invention. We want to see what modifications and improvements you make from our video, files, and instructions. Will a community form on a subreddit or discord? Will there be a github page for different versions, or would a page on Printables/Thingiverse make more sense? We hope that this has enough life that we can eventually do a followup video on the modifications that have been made, or any kits that are available in the future.

Evan and Katelyn