Using PCBWAY to make reinforcing stands for early thinkpads / notes

[solidpro]

Hi All

I have loads of early thinkpads which are in pieces because of the way the hinges have or are likely to destroy the stands they're attached to - either in the lid, base or both.

My idea is to built replacement stands which can be inserted into the bases or screws to provide a much stronger foundation. I know absolutely nothing about 3D printing but I do know that PCBWAY will now do all sorts of 3D printing based on whatever design you send them. I feel I'm going to need to do a course in whatever the best, cheap, compatible version of CAD which a company like PCBWAY would recognise. Does anyone have any advice on how they learned to build 3D printing designs? Is there maybe a decent course on Skillshare or Linkedin Learning or something? Or just a really great series on youtube?

[astral]

I’d also like to learn these skills sometime - you’d have to take measurements of the curvature of the surface you’re installing the stand-off on, but then it would probably be as simple as inputting the measurements into the CAD software and then creating a hole in the middle that the metal thread can be melted into. (You can use a soldering iron for this). I also want to learn this skill, it would be super useful to be able to fix any of these as from what I’ve seen most 90s laptops have this problem. If you end up making one for the PS/Note 425 please upload the stl here!

As for how to learn - I’m sure there’s a YouTube tutorial.