Introduction: IPad Stand/phone Stand for Watching Movies

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This is a very quick and simple project (took me less than an hour) that I did with some scraps of wood I had lying around (recycling is good). I wanted a stand that I could use for watching movies on the iPad, when it was on the table.

It can't really get easier - two pieces of wood :) It just depends on what finishing and quality you want - I just went for medium quality as it is just for me.

I made a phone stand of a similar style ages ago, even more basic and will include some pictures of that as well, but it also works well with an iPad too.

I might do a better one later, but for now this works fine.

Step 1: Prototype, First Design for Phone

This was one that I did ages ago, and it was designed not for this phone, but a smaller one. Again, there was minimal work on this short of gluing the wood pieces on. I liked the texture of the front pieces so kept it. It also works with iPad too.

Step 2: Materials

Scraps of wood

Jigsaw (if you need to cut the wood)

Angle grinder (optional) I used it to smooth the wood down as it was very rough initially

Sander/sandpaper

For leather decoration (optional)

Scalpel - I used a 12 blade (or a craft knife) I was advised to use a scalpel as it gives a better cut on the leather

Metal ruler

Cutting mat

Pieces of leather (optional for decoration)

Superglue, or you could use a glue gun

Step 3: Cut and Prepare the Wood

I just picked up some pieces of wood that looked like they would be about right. As I was not planning to paint or varnish it, I chose pieces that had some interesting lines.

The base is 11cm x 6.5cm which just happened to be the size of off-cut I had, and was about the right footprint - I did not want it to be massive.

The other parts are 2.5cm (front piece) and 5cm (back piece), but of course you can choose your own sizes.

After cutting the pieces, I smoothed them with the angle grinder (my fave tool), and also did the curved parts with that, and then sanded them down a bit.

Step 4: Put the Wood Together

I decided to just glue the wood as I did not want to use nails or screws. Position and glue the first (front block) in place so that you can then gauge where the back one should go to give you the desired angle for viewing.

Make sure that the bottom of the two pieces of wood is quite smooth and flat so that you get lots of contact. That was something I did not do myself as well as I should have, oh well.

I tried it with the iPad in place and moved the back piece until I was happy with the angle. When you are happy with the angle, then glue the back piece in.

As I have a cover on the iPad, that makes it a bit thicker, so I allowed more space, however you will need to try your iPad out to see what distance suits for your device.

Then decorate if you wish.

In my case, my phone also fits nicely in the same stand, so it can be dual purpose.

Step 5: Decoration

I had some pieces of leather around so I decided to cover the edges with that for decoration. I did not spend a long time on it so the finishing on the leather pieces is not great.

I used a scalpel instead of a craft (exacto) knife and would recommend that if you can get your hands on one if you are doing leather cutting - it really is a much cleaner cut, as you would expect.

In the picture the top pieces of wood look very white, and unappealing and I really should have varnished them before gluing, but I do not have any handy at the minute - maybe later.