ThinkPad laptops have a nice ecosystem of accessories that can be used to enhance the work experience one of which is a dock which allows for a set of input devices to be quickly connected. Another is a laptop stand which is height adjustable and can act as a base for the dock itself. Unfortunately, the dock I use with my T480 is not compatible with this stand unless a special print is designed for it.
This laptop stand was intended to support the docks attached to the previous family of ThinkPads and because of this I considered purchasing a workstation in that generation. To test this out I purchased a workstation dock compatible with the p50 / p51 laptop that I would consider using since it would be on the higher end of the performance available. However, it turns out that all docks except for the workstation dock is compatible with the laptop stand and thus required me to design a solution.
This print utilized higher tolerances around cable management as it was meant to test out initial measurements. I also added some debossing and printed this vertically to capture interior space without need to add in support. However, due to the low surface adhesion of this print bed, it fell over and failed.
The main issue with placing these docks on the laptop stand is that they tend to slide down / move around during when securing / removing the laptop to the dock. To resolve this issue, one solution I thought of was to add a simple block below the dock to prevent it from sliding down and securing it in place with the other laptop stand attachments.
The print was properly completed however the PLA filament used here ended up less pliable than expected. For this print I expected that it would bend just enough to fit on the grooves in the laptop stand without deforming plastically. Unfortunately the print was far too rigid and the nub portion of the print needed to be removed.
Due to the portions of the print that needed to be removed in order to fit on the stand, it could no longer be secured in place without permanently attaching it to the laptop stand. I decided to move away from trying to design a print for the workstation laptop I wanted and instead work on a print to accomodate the T480 laptop I did have.
The laptop stand includes a clip to provide support for the missing space on the stand if not used with a supported dock. For this I plan on using the dimensions of this clip as the base for designing the attachment for the ultra dock for my T480. The different versions here add incremental changes to adjust tolerances in order to be properly used with the laptop stand.
This first print used initial measurements from the existing clip and was used to test whether it would fit in the existing laptop stand slot. The rails for the initial clip were not taken into account and the extra material in the space between prevents this clip from entering its intended slot.
The design for this clip was updated to account for the space required in order to slide in the laptop stand. The clip did not end up locking in place due to the angle of the end cap mismatching that of the laptop stand.
The thickness of the insert portion of the clip was increased to decrease the amount of movement available when placed into slot. The angle of the end cap was updated so that it matched that of the laptop stand and now the clip is able to lock into place. There is still room for other small improvements however those can be addressed in future prints for the ultra dock.
The clip here gradually adds more material to secure the ultra dock more securely with each version. The final version accounts for the moving parts of the dock such as the slide and also keep other ancillary parts of the dock, such as the power supply, secure. For the most part this redesigned clip for the ultra dock serves the purpose of keeping the dock in place during the securing / removal process of the laptop.
This version of the ultra dock clip provides a small update to the existing clip by just adding a bit more material to account for the larger dock size. This print by itself allows the dock to be place on top of the laptop stand properly but still needs to be secured.
The keyhole for the ultra dock were measured and the material around that area was accurately removed to allow access with the side cover present. The side cover also provided a small amount of overhang to the dock in order to keep it secured in place, though the rubber stopper on the bottom of the dock makes the fit a little too tight.
This version extends the cover over the dock while adding in holes to expose the Kensington lock and labels around the keyhole. The holes for LED indicators and the power button had the correct height placement but needed to be moved a bit more to the right. From the overly tight fit from the previous print, the area around the rubber steps on the dock was increased. However this was not enough as once the print was attached to the laptop stand with the dock, it had to be destructively removed as the fit was too tight.
This print removes the place underneath the dock to allow for the rubber steps on the dock to directly contact the laptop stand and as a result the dock is able to be easily added and removed. The radius around the top portion of the dock cover was increased to fully display the labels and power button. The lower portion of the print needs more reinforcement in order to provide stronger support for the dock to prevent that portion of the print from bending. This print is the first to use space gray PLA filament since it matches the intented color scheme and is also cheaper.
This version adds a couple incremental changes to previously successful design. For this chamfers were finally added around the print and more material was added towards the lower portion of the print to mitigate the bending issue. It also further increased the tolerance between the dock and the print so that they do not fit too tightly.
This print adds space underneath the clip to house the power adpater as more material was necessary to eliminate bending. This increased angle also added sufficient space to cover the portion for the power adapter. One issue that could be addressed in a future versions would be decreasing the overly large tolerance for the AC power adapter plug. Another issue is that the print seems to display lines between the design sections which could be addressed later in a complete redesign.
When designing the model for this project, I had to make use of constraints in Fusion 360 which I previously considered an afterthrought. For a project like this with many percise measurements, constraints and use of separate components made going back to tweak iterations a bit more accessible. In the future I plan on following this type of structure and possibly revisiting this project with a further improved version of the ultra dock clip.