Introduction: DVD Drive IPod Dock

I noticed recently that my DVD drive wasn’t getting much love, but my iPod Nano was getting loads of use and needs charging all the time. An idea came to me suddenly one day that I should put the two together and make a simple dock for my iPod from my DVD drive and some materials I have lying around the place.

Credits for this go to the guys over at thepcreport.net where the original guide can be found

It doesn’t look the best, but at least it’s really cheap to make. Here’s how you can make it:

Materials

  • An old DVD or CD that you don’t mind cutting up
  • The plastic iPod docker that came with your iPod
  • iPod charging/transfer cable
  • The iPod iteslf
  • Knife/scissors/pliers for cutting DVD
  • Sandpaper for sharp edges
  • Permanent marker
  • Blu-tack or similar adhesive
  • Tape
  • Oh, and your DVD drive (laptop DVD drives won’t work unfortunately; neither slot-loading drives)

Step 1: Prepare

Collect materials in a clean work space. You might make a mess cutting the DVD so make some room

Draw, on the shiny side of the DVD, a rough outline of the underside of the iPod dock. You only need some of the plastic coming through the other side of the DVD, so take a look at the above pic for an idea of what to draw.

You may not get it right the first time, this is understandable and you can easily make adjustments when you get to the cutting process

Step 2: Cut

Cut out inside the outline. This may be a tough task as the DVD is made of plastic and might snap in half if you’re not careful. Hold the DVD on a firm surface to prevent cracking. Occasionally check with the iPod dock to make sure that it will fit inside the hole. Also, watch out for flying bits of plastic when your cutting; wear eye protection if you’re worried about the bits going in your eyes.

I know I didn't use the best of tools to cut out the plastic, so I'm sure you could find something a bit better to use. I used a pretty shocking pair of tough cutting scissors and pliers for the job - I would recommend something more powerful and sharp to cut the plastic

Hopefully the disc you're using doesn't have anything important on it because by now it's obviously too late to still use the disc as a disc

Step 3: Sand & Fit

Once you've cut out the dock shape, sand down the sharp bits of plastic around the hole you’ve cut. Then, insert the iPod dock to make sure it fits inside the hole. If not, keep trimming the DVD until it does.

The hole should now be the right size, so add some blue-tack to the underside of the dock and fit it carefully into the hole you’ve just cut. Make sure it doesn’t fall out of the hole when you turn it upside-down or when you shake it lightly.

The more snugly the dock fits, the better. You may have failed to cut the hole the right shape the first time - don't worry, just grab another disc and try again!

Step 4: Attach Cable

Dock your iPod in the DVD dock you’ve just made. This will help while cabling.

Attach the charger cable to the iPod and tape the cable firmly to the dock. Make sure it will stay there when you take the iPod out of the dock and your iPod will dock correctly when put back in. A lot of tape may be required.

Step 5: Finish

Now your dock is ready to be used. Insert it in your open DVD drive and thread the cable through the hole and plug it into the USB port on your case.

Enjoy your new easy-to-make DVD drive iPod dock. Just make sure that you don’t shut the drive while the dock is still in there or snap off the disc tray accidentally. I don't accept responsibility for snapped or ruined DVD drives

Understandably people will be worried that their drive tray will get snapped off. Just to test it out, I applied quite a bit of force to my DVD drive tray (the same one as pictured) and I couldn't get the tray to snap off. I put a roughly 4kg brick on it and it still didn't snap off. Seems pretty tough