Nowadays, there are plenty of laptop stands available, now that Zwift and other indoor cycling applications are so popular. Back in 2015 though, when I first started playing around with Zwift, nothing was commercially available. People were having to use things like ironing boards to put their laptops on!
Requirements
I needed to build something that would support my laptop, putting it at an appropriate height and position, within easy reach when I was on my bike. Building something that met that one requirement would have been rather easy. What I wanted to create though was something that met three other additional requirements/constraints:
1) I needed the table to fold flat so I could store it on the wall. I keep my car in the garage overnight and there is no space for a table that needed it's own floor space when not in use.
2) It needed to be quick to fold up and put up. It was already a hassle moving my car out of the garage, so I needed a table that would be very quick to setup.
3) I didn't really want to buy new materials and ideally wanted to use the pieces of spare timber that I already had available.
Designing a table with all of these requirements wasn't too easy, and so I'm quite proud of the design that I came up with.
Design
The base of the sides were wider to aid stability. The two pieces met at the top where they were joined used spare door hinges.
Then the table top rested securely on top as a separate third piece, constructed from plywood.
A small strip of wood connected the two sides at the base, hinged/connected on one, and slotted on the other, so that the other side would sit in the routered channel to prevent the sides seperating.
This all worked surprisingly well. The video below shows how it works in action:
