Introduction: Duck Tape Nintendo DS (Phat) and Games Holder

By www.reclusivemonkey.com
About: I've only just begun to make things, after consuming things for many years...

A Nintendo DS (Phat) holder made out of Duck Tape. It also holds four games! I was inspired by seeing many other Duck Tape inventions on the internet and being too mean to fork out for a DS holder.

For this instructable, you will need;

One roll of Duck Tape
Sharp craft knife
Metal ruler
Scissors
Cutting surface
Nintendo DS Phat
Some DS games (4 or 8)
Some time

Go easy on me guys and gals, this is my first instructable!

Step 1: Main Body

To make the main part of the holder, you will need to stick two pieces of "duck fabric" together. We make this by sticking pieces of duck tape together, overlapping by about a centimeter. You can do this sticky side up, but I find it far easier to stick it down to my cutting surface. A clean cutting board you can get from most art/stationery shops is good for this. Mine came with a couple of sharp cutting knives as well.

Cut off several pieces of duck tape and stick them to your cutting board, so that you have a square that is 31cm x 22cm. Then cut back two strips from the top, 3cm x 11cm as shown in the diagram. Once you have done this, carefully peel the whole thing off you cutting board, and set it aside.

Repeat the same procedure, only this time you need a square 37cm x 22cm. At one end, trim the corners 3cm in from the corner point on the top and side, and on the other end, 6cm in from the top and side of the corner, as shown in the second diagram. Again, carefully peel the whole thing off the cutting board.

Now comes the tricky part. You need to align these two pieces, sticky sides facing and stick them together smoothly. The widest parts of both pieces should align; the narrowest end of the first piece should dissect the longer trimmed corner pieces as shown in the third diagram. Be very careful here; once duck tape meets duck tape sticky side, nothing will part it!!! This is the most crucial stage.

With your knife, make a cut along the sticky part of the second fabric, 11cm down from where the corners meet, so that you can fold it over the first piece. Fold over the left and right ends and smooth down. If you make a better job than me, it will look nice and neat!

Step 2: Mould to the DS

Next, lay your DS on the main body you have just created. The game boy slot edge of your DS should align with the 11cm down strips we took out as shown in the diagram. It should also be in the middle!

Next, fold up the bottom section of the main body of your DS. It should be snug, but not too tight. Holding the DS in place, you should press down on the upperside of the main body and bring yup the bottom corner, as if you were wrapping a square box. The bottom edge you have pulled up should align with the 11cm in trimmed edge. Fold in the bottom corner, making sure its well tucked in like in the second picture. Then bring up the outer edge and press it flat against the other side. Smooth down the folds, and make sure you are happy with the fit. Let it relax back.

Cut a piece of duck tape the length of the outer section you folded in. Now, repeat the step you just did, and stick down the outer piece with the duck tape you just cut. It should look like the third picture.

Repeat the same for the other side. It should be a little easier now you have one side completed. Make it snug, but not so much that its a struggle to get your DS in and out! It should now look like the final picture. As you can see, we now have a reasonable duck tape case for our DS. But what is a DS without games? Lets carry on and add some game cases now to finish the job.

Step 3: Add Those Game Cases!

You'll be tempted to leave at this. Don't! With just a little more effort, we can add space for four more games in there, or even eight if you need them.

Roll out a strip of duck tape, 8cm long, 5cm wide. My roll was 5cm wide, so yours probably will be too. Slice this strip down the middle, so you have two pieces 8cm long, 2.5cm wide.

Take one of the strips, and fold it around a DS game cartridge, sticky side out. Not too tightly, as you don't want to be struggling with those little suckers when you need a Mario Kart fix. About a 2mm overlap seemed to be ok.

Next, trim 2cm off the height of the remaining duck tape piece, and then fold this around the existing duck tape on your DS cartridge, sticky side to sticky side. Make sure you line it up nicely! You'll notice you have a small strip of stick on the back. This is intentional!

Now, just to make things neat, cut a small strip of duck tape 5cm long and the width of a DS game. I found this to be around 3.2cm wide. Stick to the inside front of the little holder we've just created, about 2mm in, stick down the front and then fold over the remainder onto itself, flush to the holder. The idea is to fold this remainder over to make a base for the holder which won't stick to your DS games! The fourth picture shows this much better than I've described it. Fold it over to stick to the rear of the game holder. You should be able to slot a DS game in and out easily in this.

Step 4: Without a Flap, They'll Fall Out!

Now we need to create a little flap to keep those babies in.

Cut a strip to measure 3.2cm x 7cm. This will form the inside of the flap.

Next, cut a strip to measure 5cm x 5cm. Cut off one end of the corners, 1cm in from top and side.

Now stick the smaller piece to the one with the trimmed corners, stick side to sticky side. The smaller piece will be in the middle of the larger piece (First picture). The trimmed corners won't be aligned exactly, so with your knife, trim the corners so they meet the corner points of the smaller piece, as in the second picture. Then fold over all the edges so there are no sticky sides showing. We now have a flap! (Second picture)

Fold in the top edge to your game holder, and stick the bottom to the back edge where the sticky side it still exposed. You should now have a nice little game holder (last picture) with a flap and a little bit of sticky exposed to position it on your DS case.

Make another four!

Step 5: Secure the Games

Now we have four game holders, its time to secure them to the DS game case flap.

Take a strip of duck tape, just a little less longer than all four game cases, and fold it over on itself so that the sticky side is exposed. Use a few millimeters to stick it to itself, and then stick to the top cover flap in the middle, about half a centimeter from the end (first picture).

Stick all four game holders to this strip, the bottom of the game holders aligned to the end of the flap and all flush together with no gaps, as in the second picture. Then, stick a piece of duck tape to the underside of the top flap, with around 4cm extra to either end, and about half the width beyond the end of the top flap.

With your knife, trim the piece you just added as shown in the third picture. The cuts should be aligned with the edge of the flap, and the edges of the outer game holders.

Fold in the side flaps, making sure you tuck them in snugly to the outer game holders (fourth picture), then fold up the bottom flap, again making sure its all snug (fifth picture).

Step 6: That's All Folks!

And we're done! The weight of the games keeps the flap down, and it all looks pretty sweet. You should also be able to slide in a spare stylus into the inside of the holder down one of the sides (second picture). Don't push it in too far or you might not be able to get it out!

Now dig out that Mario Kart game and get racing!

If the instructions get worse towards the end, I blame the gin and tonics I drank in celebration of my first instructable!