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DIY Adjustable HP UltraSlim Docking Station VESA mount
[Edit: I converted this project to use off-the shelf metal parts instead of plastic. Here is a quick demo video]
I got fed up with my HP ProBook 640 G2 laptop sitting in a docking station on my desktop taking up valuable space. My big desktop monitors are raised above the desk surface so why not the laptop? I found all sorts of laptop stands on the market which raise the laptop up, but none are designed with docking in mind. I wanted to be able to snap my laptop into the stand with the screen at eye-level without having to fumble with a bunch of cables and without affecting the docking station warranty. So I built my own:
Materials:
Generic VESA monitor arm (~$25)
2 1/4″ acrylic sheets (~120mm x ~400mm) (~$15) OR generic metal laptop tray ($25)
fasteners (~$4)
6 M4 16mm bolts
6 M4 washers
6 M4 nuts
2 M3 16mm bolts
2 M3 washers
2 M3 nuts
Tools:
screwdriver
pliers
drill
Dremel rotary tool (optional)
Steps:
Upon examining the bottom of the HP UltraSlim dock, I found two hanger areas that can be used to securely fasten the dock to the stand. Nails? Velcro? Nope. I used M3 screws, washers, and wing nuts since that’s what I had in my parts bin.
I had a scrap piece of acrylic which I bent with a little heat gun that my wife uses for embossing. I had never bent acrylic at home but found several guides. 1/4″ acrylic is thick enough that I needed to alternate heating both sides before starting the bend. Took less than 5 minutes to get a perfect 90° bend!
I used the VESA plate from the generic monitor arm as a template and drilled 4 holes. Here I’m using the 50mm x 50mm VESA template because my scrap piece of plastic was small. I recommend using the 100mm x 100mm or 75mm x 75mm template instead. I fastened the VESA plate to the plastic with 4 M4 nuts/bolts.
The second piece of plastic doesn’t need any bends. It just needs carefully drilled holes to match up to the hanger locations on the HP Docking station. I used M3 nuts/bolts here.
After test-fitting, I drilled additional holes to allow fasteners to hold the two plastic pieces together.
Looking back, it would have been cleaner to use a single piece of plastic shaped like a “T” rather than fasten two pieces together. But I didn’t want to make a trip to the store and these are the bits I had in my scrap parts bin.
Attach the VESA plate to your VESA arm and test fit the laptop. On my first try I didn’t leave enough room to fit the USB cables behind the dock. So I had to drill a few extra holes to position the laptop further away from the arm.
I got it right the second time. 1/4″ acrylic is surprisingly durable but for those that are weary of the plastic snapping with prolonged use, it would be simple to make this out of a generic metal laptop tray instead.
I used an HP laptop and dock, but this ought to work for any Enterprise series laptop like Lenovo/Toshiba/Dell that has a snap-in docking connection.
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