one more thing - i now have a couple of circles of acrylic as well as a 2.5x3 foot sheet, what can i use it for?

Looks great. Acrylic is great for modding. You can use it to make windows in your cases. I would just hold onto it and you will need it for something.
-maestro

Great mod if i was holding onto my iBook I might think about doing something like this.

looks cool man. Take us a side angle shot so we can see that. Looks like the fans work well too. yea, hang onto that arcrylic, you will find a use.

here are some side shots - also, i just returned from the auction down here and I got a nice keyboard tray - unfortunately, it was attached to a desk, so I'll have to get that together soon, and then my desk will be set.

Possibley a bit late for your project but for the people with metal based PowerBooks (ie not me with my plastic iBook) it might be worth investigating the possibility of using large heat sinks to rest the bottom of the 'book on. Coupled with some fans pulling/pusing air might be quite effective.

I was actually thinking of building something like that out of aluminum. The bottom would be solid, the sides mesh, and the top solid with two fans inside. If possible, I would build-in the hardware from my BookEndz docking station on one end and maybe splice power from it so as to keep my desk relatively uncluttered. Since I use a screen, keyboard, and mouse, the 'Book is usually closed on my desk, unless Bluetooth isn't working. The cooler would also need to rest flat on the desk, so as to accomidate my setup. I have relatively little experience with modding/building electronics, though, so I would need mny pointers. And on the subject of Bluetooth, do any other PowerBook or iBook (or I suppose even PowerMac, iMac, and Mac mini) owners have a proble with their computer spontaneously losing track of Bluetooth hardware or firmware? Sometimes after a manual shutdown/restart or even after a proper one, the Bluetooth card in my 12" AlBook will disappear for reasons unknown. I haven't yet addressed this to the Apple Store geniuses, although I have meant to about three times now. I keep forgetting to ask that question when I go in for answers to others.

I was thinking of putting in a pot on the front of the stand to control the fan speed - does anyone know how to wire that? My fans are three wire, so my guess is i take the third wire to one end of the pot and then the other end to the common ground.

Edit: on the pot(entiometer) note -I found two good sites that sell stuff like that for a lot cheaper than radio shack: Futurlec and Mouser

Post edited by: soundmann18, at: 2005/09/30 16:13

You could buy a pci fan controller and detach it from the slot cover.
-maestro