How hard would it be to make one of these? [replacement Belkin Cushtop/lapdesk thingy]

[Throbbing Angel]

Ahoy.

I am not a maker of things, so bear with me and be gentle.

I used to have a Belkin Cushtop (pictured below) and it was perfect for my arthritic & laptop needs. I have tried to replace it with other lap desk-type things from eBay & amazon; nothing quite fills the same gap. Currently, I use a lap desk thing I bought with a cushion underneath it and I find it a bit unstable and too low down.

The Cushtop was made from hard foam and covered in a material that was quite hard-wearing. After about a decade of use, it was filthy and the foam was breaking down where the Cushtop was picked up.

So, any ideas? Assume I know nowt.

"Measuring 14.5 inches wide by 12 inches deep, the CushTop gently slopes from 4 inches high in the rear to 3 inches high at the front, providing a comfortable ergonomic angle for typing. It's not nearly as soft as it looks, although the fabric covering (described by Belkin as "furniture-like upholstery") looks and feels nice.

Propping the CushTop on our laps, we found it put our laptops at a decent height for typing. It was a little on the small side for a large 17-inch desktop replacement laptop, but a perfect fit for mainstream 15.4-inch systems. The interior pocket was tighter than we expected: we had trouble shoving a midsize power brick inside it, and larger ones would be out of the question."

 

[danski]

Ahoy.

I am not a maker of things, so bear with me and be gentle.

I used to have a Belkin Cushtop (pictured below) and it was perfect for my arthritic & laptop needs. I have tried to replace it with other lap desk-type things from eBay & amazon; nothing quite fills the same gap. Currently, I use a lap desk thing I bought with a cushion underneath it and I find it a bit unstable and too low down.

The Cushtop was made from hard foam and covered in a material that was quite hard-wearing. After about a decade of use, it was filthy and the foam was breaking down where the Cushtop was picked up.

So, any ideas? Assume I know nowt.

"Measuring 14.5 inches wide by 12 inches deep, the CushTop gently slopes from 4 inches high in the rear to 3 inches high at the front, providing a comfortable ergonomic angle for typing. It's not nearly as soft as it looks, although the fabric covering (described by Belkin as "furniture-like upholstery") looks and feels nice.

Propping the CushTop on our laps, we found it put our laptops at a decent height for typing. It was a little on the small side for a large 17-inch desktop replacement laptop, but a perfect fit for mainstream 15.4-inch systems. The interior pocket was tighter than we expected: we had trouble shoving a midsize power brick inside it, and larger ones would be out of the question."
View attachment 363525

Could you take that description to a local upholsterer? They have all kinds of foam etc.

 

[Throbbing Angel]

Could you take that description to a local upholsterer? They have all kinds of foam etc.

Good idea. Cheers for that danski

 

[not henry]

in the middle of Leicester market there are 2 or 3 foam sellers . They are upstairs in the building bit above the fish market. They claim to satisfy your every need (foam wise). I think that this is a project which might be attainable

 

[moose]

I wonder if it might be easier to buy something as a base, then wrap it in foam, rather than trying to replicate the old one faithfully, as it looks complicated.
I'm really surprised there are no Chinese copies of the Belkin knocking about, given how popular they were.

 

[Throbbing Angel]

I wonder if it might be easier to buy something as a base, then wrap it in foam, rather than trying to replicate the old one faithfully, as it looks complicated.
I'm really surprised there are no Chinese copies of the Belkin knocking about, given how popular they were.

I used to have one of those Ikea things, I wonder if it is still knocking around the place. Might have a look tomorrow.

As for making an exact replica, the hole doesn't have to be part of the new thing. That was for storing cables, chargers, etc, but I never did that, so just a hard foam wedge of those dimensions, ish, would do it. I think that'd be easier to make, too.

 

[haushoch]

Belkin Notebook CushTop Platform - Chocolate/Tourmaline - Excellent Condition! | eBay

There’s one for sale on eBay.