28 May 2006 Bed Office
When ever I am working from home, I would be working mostly from bed, holding the laptop with left hand while right hand types. That certainly is poor ergonomics and bad for both my wrists and my coding speed.

Searched local stores for any furniture suitable for fixing or holding the laptop on bed. Couldn't find any. So decided to build one for myself.



Necessity is the mother of invention. Initially thought, I can cut and nail wooden planks together, and went hunting for wooden strips to a nearby hardware shop. I surveyed the whole shop looking items that could be helpful. Whoa! found more than what I expected - plastic PVC plumbing material! There were pipes of various lengths, joints and more... Bought 1/2" diameter PVC pipe and 4 joints - two 130 degree, and one 90 degree corner piece, all for under 5 American dollars. This is so much better and easy than cutting wood with hack-saws and trying to nail it!

I picked the parts I wanted (see the design above) and assembled the frame on the shop floor. The old salesman was looking at this weird plumber with confusion. I now had a lightweight solid frame that was strong and stable enough to support the laptop, but it wasn't finished. I needed some way to hang the laptop to the frame so that it is held firm. I bought a L cross-section plastic strip and tried clamping it to the pipes, but wasn't strong enough to hold the laptop. Thought of getting treadmill book holders, but couldn't find them in any nearby shops.

Corrugated cardboard is another strong material. I stapled one across the central pipe and pasted a supporting strip towards the bottom end of the corrugated sheet. Thats it! My Ferrari laptop is now firmly held between the angle of the corrugated sheet. It forms a triangle - triangles are the strongest polygons. Much of its weight is transmitted by the frame. My stomach which used to take much of the weight is more free. Both my hands are free! What more, my laptop bed holder with its creamy white PVC pipes looks like a space age instrument!


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