Introduction: Upcycle Shampoo Bottle Into Quick Echo Dot Wall Mount.

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About: I'm a family man, with restless hands, so I try to think about crafty things that my kids can do.


This project is upcycled form a 1-liter Shampoo bottle-bottom.

My wife likes to buy shampoo when Beauty-Brands has their liter sale (which I hear is a heckuva bargain, but I'm bald, and so will just take her word for it) and we throw away (into the recycle tote) lots of these bottles each year.

1 liter shampoo\conditioner bottles are actually common, but that's where this one came form.

The bottles are a common size, and it happens to have the exact inside diameter as the diameter of a 2nd Generation Amazon Echo Dot.

I decided to exploit this coincidence to make a wall-mount for one of my Echo Dots after spending $10 on one for another Dot in the house.


Supplies

Materials list:

1x 1-Liter shampoo bottle.

Tools:

Sharpie.

Utility knife.

Drill.

Sandpaper.

Step 1: Measure and Mark

Measure how much of the bottle you need from the bottom.

I just put the Echo Dot up against the side, and held my sharpie against it while I turned the bottle to mark it.

You can actually make it smaller than the Dot as it fits snug, so there's enough friction that it doesn't need to be the whole depth of the device.

Step 2: Cutting, and Marking, and More Cutting

Cut the bottle where it was marked, and then cut a flap in the side where the plug will go (see pictures).

Cut all the way to the bottom of the bottle so that it can be folded flat.

Using the prongs of the plug as a guide, mark where you'll need to cus slots in the plastic, and make holes for the prongs to poke through. Make sure they're spaced well enough that the side of the plug can fit between the holes and the edge of the bottle.

On the opposite side from your new flap, use the Echo Dot as a guide to mark, and cut a hole for the charger to plug in. This doesn't have to be exactly opposite the flap, but I thought that aesthetically it works best, and it may be structurally better*

* disclaimer, I'm no structural engineer.

Step 3: Mark, and Drill Vent Holes

I'm not actually sure where this device vents, and it seems to cool passively, if at all needed, because it makes no fan noise.

I'd say here, the more holes the better. Possibly even one big hole in the middle in addition to what I did.

First I marked roughly where I wanted the holes to go around the edge of the bottom surface of the bottle.

I didn't have a real plan here, but I knew that there were holes in the bottom of the Echo Dot, so they're likely important.

It turned out to be far easier to drill from the inside of the rim, than from the outside where I marked, so I just guessed the spacing, and drilled a bunch of holes around the inside perimeter.

Sand off all of the burs, and the rough-cut top lip of the newly fabricated holder.

While you have sand paper out, if you're gong to paint it, be sure to key (or rough up) the outside plastic to assist with paint adhesion.

Step 4: Plug In, and Mount the Echo Dot Wherever You Have an Outlet

Push the Echo Dot into the plastic housing with the Amazon logo toward the flap where the wall plug will mount (if you made it the way that I did).

Plug in the wall plug through the slots that you made for it.

If you can find a shorter micro USB cable, I would recommend using it, as you're only going to need about 4 inches of it.

This mound can be used mounted as I have it, or hanging with the Dot underneath the wall plug.

Enjoy your roughly 8.5 square inches of counter you just freed up.

It's worth noting that the dot doesn't goo all the way into the bottom. There's a gap in there which will help with airflow.

As mentioned before you can drill a larger hole in the bottom of the holder to help with pushing the Dot out of this holder, as the fit is snug enough that removal is not easy without something to push through the holes that I made.