DIY wooden $5 iPad Dock / Stand

You might have seen the $5 iPad Dock (or €5 iPad Stand) on the internet (Lifehacking, Wired, TUAW, CrunchGear) and thought 'I can do that'. And of course, why not? I'll save you the trouble of finding out exactly how to make it, by giving you the exact instructions to make your own wooden iPad Stand.

After three days of testing we can confirm the wood doesn’t scratch the iPad, the iPad doesn’t fall over when you tap the screen and you can use it horizontally while charging :)

Materials:
- Piece of nice wood (130 x 80 x 24 mm or 5.1 x 3.1 x 0.9 inch if you prefer)

Tools needed:
- Saw
- Drill
- Large diameter drill bit (we use 19mm)
- Sandpaper

Step 1 Make a 130 x 80 x 24 mm wooden block

Or 5.1 x 3.1 x 0.9 inch if you prefer

Comments

[dbbd]

Why is the groove made 15mm deep?
I've seen stands that do not hide the ipad button.
Is this because of the wood strength? So if I use a hard wood, can the groove be shallower?
Is it possible to have a higher edge on the back and a lower on the front?

[drbakker]

We tried a lower edge on the front and higher at the back, it works. Next time I'm in the woodshop I'll try the shallower groove, that might just work as well.

Thanks for your comment and idea!

[JamesMD]

Thanks for the great project.. I built one in about 20 minutes! I used red oak, and I made the groove shallower, eliminating the need for the hole... I also made my cuts at about 20 degrees, rather than your 27. But then I made the rear one about 25, to accommodate for the angled back of the iPad.

[king billy projects]

Like it. Easy to knock one up out of a cut log too (with credit to you!)

http://kingbillyprojects.wordpress.com/2011/12/13/wooden-ipad-stand/

[drbakker]

Nice work!

[richfiddler11]

Yikes!!! No offense intended, and I realize it's for illustration, but this picture gives me the willies just looking at it!

I value my fingers very highly and hate working with short lengths of wood like this that get my digits so close to a spinning blade.

I do plan to make one of these, but I think I'll start with a longer piece of wood, use the table saw's cross slide while cutting the slot and then cut it to length.

Great instructable!!

[tim_n]

pic 3a looks posed to me, but a fair point none the less.

[Robert L]

Coward , real men lose there fingers when doing the most basic of tasks!!!

[Mike73]

I really like it. I saw those stands on the internet for more than 5$ and was thinking to myself I could do this, too. To add to the design, you could stack up darker and lighter wood scraps togehter (you would get some striped design of the finished part). It seems you have quite some nice woodshop :-) I wish I had the space to set one up for myself, too (I'm still using the hand saw stuff due to space restrictions).

[drbakker]

MIxed woods, that sounds great! The woodshop is Simon the iPad Grandpa's and is awesome, see these pictures of it. 

If you make a nice version of the wooden iPad stand, will you share pictures :) ?

[Mike73]

If I get to making a stand for my iPad I surely will share (and also give credit to yours as inspiration). Nice woodshop. Seems you guys are all into making those stands :-) By the way, you've used the same camera I have.

[leebioni]

Ace thanks alot for this bud

[pheobe]

simple and useful !

[DIY Dave]

Cool I think I'll make something like this for my phone

[stephenniall]

 Gonna make something like this for my pda