OK here's how to do it. You will need a few feet of 3/8" tube and about 8 sq.ft of your chosen sheet material, either aluminum or steel. And several feet of the big 2" velcro.
The backplate creates a foundation to mount the brackets and keyboard shelf to. It hugs the contour of the dash including the radius at the top. It follows that radius all the way over to where it ends at the top, to form a big clip that the entire assembly hangs from. Later the backplate will be very securely velcroed to the dash from locations on the back and on the radiused portion.
Note the two "ears" at the ends for the keyboard shelf. These can either be welded on or bent as I have done. The only reason this assembly is in two pieces is that it was a prototype - you can do this out of one piece.
These are two vertical brackets that push the computer out away from the dash about 1.25". This is to get the back of the computer out flush with the dash's top and bottom radiuses to accomodate a taller screen. The holes are drilled for my computer only - not yours.
The brackets are welded 12" apart. For your laptop, you might attach a piece of masonite between the two brackets and attach the back of your laptop to that.
My tablet PC came with this plastic holder that was pretty ideal. I drilled the previous bracket holes to mount this holder.
These arms will bolt to the "ears" on the backplate, and hold the keyboard shelf. I pressed 3/4" of the ends in a vise and then drilled them. Then, round off the ends with the grinder.
For me it's a keyboard/mouse shelf but for laptop users it holds up the bottom of the laptop. You have 19" of allowable width until you start to interfere with the right door handle, and the support tabs are 14" apart. Otherwise, all other dimensions are up to you. I can see wanting to do something deeper to support the front of the laptop, for instance.
The 3/8" tubing I reinforced with is optional. You can use other sections like a 1/8 X 1/2 bar, for instance. This would be easier to bend of course. The support tabs are scrap 1/8 X 3/4 bar, but use whatever you have.
The arms are bolted tightly in place to the ears on the backing plate. Note that they point down at a 30 deg. angle so that the passenger does not become a shishkabob. The specific angle is up to your needs.
The shelf is bolted to the arms and we're almost home. I used locknuts so that the shelf can be flipped up as you see at right.
And at 1:00am we are ready to dry fit. Forgot to take a picture of the velcro, but you are running 3 of the 2" strips, cut to 14". The first goes across the very end of the curved radius at the top. The next two go across the vertical portion of the dash. Make the velcro the last step after painting, computer installation, etc. because with that amount of velcro, the mount just ain't coming off without a major fight.
Finishing notes - I also forgot to photograph the two trim pieces that you see on either side of the screen. These are both 6" high. The left one is 3" wide and the right is 6". The right also is radiused to match the dash. These two pieces are highly optional because, again, they are specific to my mount.
The blue stuff? That's neoprene from Michael's. Yeah, the big craft supply place. They have really cool materials... I am gonna do a full-length mousepad across the keyboard for instance.
Good luck folks!
Re: Air2air's FJ computer mount - step by step
That is just totally awsome! I am so envious!
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