[JustinGray]

I am working on a custom laptop mount for my insight. I wanted somethign that used the bolt that holds the seat down... that made for easy installation and removal with no modifications to the car whatsoever.

I needed to be pretty articulate, so it could have lots of positions for either driver-centric or passenger-centric configurations... and also so it could fold out of the way easily enough.

I have come up with a pretty good solution. I started with something simple i purchased of ebay and modified it a little bit.

I am almost done, only thing left is to add one more armature, and to re-inforce the mounting bracket a little bit.. It is an all aluminum, simple setup.

I should post some pictures when im done... i will try to remeber to take some.

Now that its nearing completion, i am a little worried that the laptop will be too distracting! I will probably crash! So maybe this is a bad idea!

Anyway, anyone interested in this too?

 

[IamIan]

Why laptop?

Why use a laptop ... space is a bit tight already... I would recomend using one of the UPCs ... I use an OQO in my insight and it works great and takes up like .. no space at all.

 

[JustinGray]

I used the laptop because i had the laptop.... my laptop is no OQO but its pretty small and light...

Plus i liked having the larger screen for looking at maps and such for gps. That was my real motivation.

I use delorm GPS and the maping software alot. I make frequent 13 + hour drives all by my self.... so having the Laptop in the car is nice. I have 30 + gigs of music, the GPS, and an easy way to take notes if i need to. I already had it... so why buy something new?

I guess this thing could work to mount just about anything really though. You could moutn an OQO if youwanted to ... but it would probably be easier to just use some velcro and stick it to the dash with that thing

 

[IamIan]

Laptop

Fair Enough...

I thought you bought the laptop for this project... sorry i misunderstood.

Yeagh the OQO has smaller Screen but when driving I look at the road anyway... And Yup if you have 30+ Gigs of stuff the 20GB OQO won't be enough... I usually load 2 or 3 GB of Music on my OQO I have a Movie or 2 Loaded on it and then of course the GPS Mapping and Web Surfing Via Cell Phone.

But You can Easily get twice the computer for the money of the OQO if you are happy with Laptop Size...

I had thought about velcro for the OQO but just use the cassette holder in the center it fits the OQO and my Cell Phone.

Best of luck.

 

[LoNOx 1]

Sounds like the same mount I purchased. It is an aluminum laptop mount from a seller at eBay in February before I made a 2200 mile round trip to Florida. I used Delorme Streets and Trips and OBDll software on a Dell 4150 (7lbs.) laptop.
A current auctionis:http://tinyurl.com/73xvn
I made an aluminum mounting plate and attached it to the front left passenger seat bolt. It articulates, adjusts up and down, and the laptop platform angle adjusts. There is still room for a passenger or it removes by taking out one bolt.
The laptop was great company for the long trip. The only thing that was distracting was the first time the Delorme dude told me that I needed to take the next exit in 1 minute 13 seconds!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:

 

[originalbadbob]

Hey Mr. LoNOx,
I just bought one of the mounts. I didn't know they existed and was thinking how to make one that connected to the seat mount. You saved me a bunch of work. Next question....what type of bracket did you make and how does it attach?
Thanks,
robert

 

[LoNOx 1]

I will try and post a pic tonight.
(from memory) I cut a 2"x3"x3/16 piece of strap, rounded the end, drilled one hole for the seat bolt and two holes for the mount base. It was quick and easy since I had everything "in stock". There is some flex since only one end is attached and the other end is floating.

 

[JustinGray]

You dont even need to go that far... but you may want to...

I orginally did something simlar. But i found i could get alot less flex if i just drille d ahole in the mounting plate they provided and then bolted that directly to the seat mount.... worked pretty well...

I am going to put a thicker plate under the standard mounting bracket though, and that should get rid of all the flex!

Two things to be weary of.... today i have found that i am not terribly happy with the length of the included hight adjustment tube. Its too short for my legs to fit comforatbaly under... so i had to buy a longer aluminum rod (5 bucks or so at lowes). Also, i have noticed upon inspection of my mount (i was told there is only plain aluminum left i could not order color)
that the fit and finish is pretty crappy. Lots of sharp edges, and cut and grind marks. Plus there apears to be a part missing from mine. Its small and not functional, but was a trim piece that sat ontop of the main upright tube.

All and all this thing works well... but if i had to do it again... i would buy the aluminum and make it my self. He charged 20 bucks for shiping... so it comes to 55 bucks total. The more i look at this thing the more i think thats a rip off! Like i said, it works fine, and really would be worht 50 bucks to me, if he had taken the time to make mine look as nice as the ones in the picture!

 

[LoNOx 1]

Originally I was going to mount it to the base plate, but since it was very light metal (about 20 ga.) I opted to mount it to a thicker plate with two bolts. I was afraid one bolt would tear out of the carbon steel since it was so thin.
Yes, the finish was crude but a file, sandpaper and buffing wheel would work wonders. Enough short sticks of T6 aluminum would have cost more than the eBay product.

Do you have it mounted on the driver or passenger seat?

 

[originalbadbob]

Did either of you guys mount it above or below the seat track?
Thanks,
robert

 

[JustinGray]

I mounted it on the left side of the passenger seat track. Its mounted above the seat track mounting plate. The plate has an indent on it... so i placed a few washers in there as spacers between the 20 guage (it is way to thin, so im going to bolt a pice of flat stock i have uncer it... should be enough re-inforcemnet) and the seat bracket.

There are currently two problems i am running into. The first is that i find mouing it this way moved the upright too far to the right on the passenger seat. It impinges just a little on leg room of the passnger. I dont like it.

My plan to fix that is to add one more armature to the pice very low down. Simlar to the armature up top, it will allow me to swivel the mount a few inches to the left of its current position. That should give back the leg room

The other problem is that with the mount on there (only when its extended, not if i fold it to the floor) then i can not slide the seat forward. Really, not a big deal, becasue who cares if you can move the passenger seat. There is no rear passenger to make leg room for, so its not a big deal at all that i cant move the seat. Never the less, i think that my addition of aother swing arm might fix this problem as well... we will see.

P.S. He has a 100% satisfaction garruntee on his posting. I emailed him because i feel that the product was a little misrepresented to me from those pictures on ebay. I agree with you that the parts would cost around 50 dollars ish. However. He only charges 35 for the mount, and 20 dollars shipping. So really, he is subsidising the cost through overcharging for shipping. Also, if he is buying hte raw materials in bulk, then he is not paying 50 dollars for all the materials. Im wiling to pay for the labor, but i feel that the product should be a little better done than it was. Like i said, works great... but just not pretty enough i guess

 

[LoNOx 1]

The shipping cost is way too high. I guess I got a DEAL in Feb. It was ONLY $15.
I realized the quality might be lacking. He had some negative feedback to that effect on eBay.
I mounted mine below the track. I fabbed a spacer out of the aluminum for the other track.
The Insight seats are low in the front anyway so it improved the seat position a bit. (According to my co-worker that carpools with me.)

The extended bracket allows the seat to move forward a little for access to the controls on the amp under the seat.

 

[originalbadbob]

If you see wsysinc selling any more of those laptop mounts on ebay. DO NOT BID ON IT!!!! :evil:
I purchased one on April 20th. He lied to me about shipping it after 8 days and I still don't have it. He sent me the tracking number on the 28th of April and a lame apology of sorry it is taking so long. UPS still isn't showing it as picked up and I have had to open a dispute with paypal.

Robert

 

[LoNOx 1]

I had the same problem. It took about three weeks for shipping but it finally did arrive.

 

[Mike Dabrowski 2000]

My approach to the laptop mounting was to fabricate a custom countoconsole over the drink holders(cant use them). This console attaches to the 4 attachment screws of the shifter cover, so no new holes needed to be made, and the console can be removed without leaving a mark. The console has a mount for my Street Pilot 3 GPS, and a Jack in and removable aluminum custom computer mount, that allows adjusting the tilt, and proximity to my driving position.
Some photos of the instalation:
http://pages.cthome.net/genesisone/fullconsole.jpg
http://pages.cthome.net/genesisone/cont ... 20foam.jpg
http://pages.cthome.net/genesisone/driv ... 20arms.jpg
http://pages.cthome.net/genesisone/driv ... 20arms.jpg
It took some time to tig weld, but has allower me to mount all king of things in the car without any hole drilling or unbolting of anything.
Food for thought.

 

[Mike Dabrowski 2000]

Whoops !
I linked to the same photo twice.
http://pages.cthome.net/genesisone/stor ... +video.jpg
Mima Test setup.
:wink:

 

[originalbadbob]

Wow! :shock: That's a lot of stuff. I would have a wreck from not looking at the road. I suppose you don't bother with your radio anymore?
Robert

 

[Mike Dabrowski 2000]

I am not using the video display now, and have added a GPS mount in it's place that lets me operate the radio controls.