Stone Phone Charging Dock

by Christian Knuell

28K31430

Intro: Stone Phone Charging Dock

Most phone charging docks are light and easy to tip over - so let's make a really heavy one from solid stone...

STEP 1: Materials

  • Select a stone of suitable size.
    • Make sure it is not too thick because you'll need to drill all the way through it...
    • And check if it sits nicely without wobbling...
  • A diamond grinder bit...
  • And a diamond drill bit...

I've bought my diamond tools at eBay directly from China. They are incredibly cheap ( a few dollars for a whole set of 30 grinder bits ) and work very well...

STEP 2: Cut the Phone Slot


  • Measure your phone and create a drawing for the slot and charging cable...
  • Mark the center of the stone...
  • Use some soft padding to clamp the stone - otherways you may damage it...
  • And tilt it forwards by a few degrees so the phone will lean backwards once the part is finished...
  • Use plenty of running water or your tool will be destroyed within seconds...

My tool is coated with diamonds at a length of 10mm and I want to cut 18mm deep...

The tools diamond coating will last a certain distance - no matter whether you cut 0.1 or 10mm deep. To make the best of your tool use as few passes as possible - so in this case set depth per pass to 9mm to cut the whole slot in just 2 passes...

I've also enabled trochoidal milling in the CAM software - this way the tool generates much less heat and lasts much longer...

If you don't want to use the stone as charger you're already finished...

STEP 3: Drilling From 2 Sides

  • My drilling tool is too short to drill from just one side so I needed to turn the stone to machine it from both sides...
  • The difficult part is to align everything so upper and lower drill holes will match perfectly...
    • But there is a simple trick: just clamp a piece of scrap wood and machine it into a tight fitting counterpart for the already finished slot. Now you can just put the stone on it and everything will be aligned perfectly...

For diamond drilling it is important to use a low depth per pass setting so the tool retracts often and allows fresh water to reach the bottom of the hole.

STEP 4: Machining the Cable Slot

  • Finally clamp the stone so the lower side is level...

STEP 5: Glueing the Cable

  • Insert the cable...
  • Connect the phone...
  • Put it into the stone and turn everything upside down...
  • Then glue the cable into the slot and fill the hole completely with hot melt glue...
  • It is important that the phone is inserted during glueing - this makes sure the power plug will be exactly aligned the way it needs to be...
    • You can seal the area between connector and phone with some play dough before glueing - this way no glue can leak between connector, phone and slot. There is almost no risk with hot melt glue - but if you use something like epoxy this is extremely important otherwise you may not be able to remove the phone or cable again!

STEP 6: Finished...

30 Comments

Northrrn_Joe 8 years ago

Are you using some sort of milling machine?
or just a simple drill press?
Great idea anyways!

JoelBennett1 8 years ago

You should post an instructable on how you made your own CNC machine! I think there's at least a few of us around here that would be interested in such a thing.

mchau2 8 years ago

I am interested!!

DIY Dave 8 years ago

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this how cavemen charged their smartphones?

damyar 8 years ago

That is soo cool , awesome
But cane use hand drill for make it !?

Christian Knuell 8 years ago

You need a CNC mill.

Basically any hobbyist CNC machine should be able to do this as cutting forces are very low - but manual tools are not suitable for something like this.

spongerich 8 years ago

I disagree. Athens and Rome were built largely from stone with simple hand tools.

With some patience you could do this with a Dremel type tool. You might want to choose a softer stone that a chunk of granite, but a CNC milling machine is far from the only way to make this.

GeekyKestrel 8 years ago

They were also built by slaves over hundreds of years. Apple would totally change the connector by then.

ooohlaa 8 years ago

can you please share the source from which you purchased the drill bits? I buy glass and tile bits from Harbor Freight but they get dull with just a few holes ... would these be any cheaper/better? thanx lovely idea and great instructions

Christian Knuell 8 years ago

I've bought them from here: http://stores.ebay.de/THK-Diamond-Tools-Shop

ooohlaa 8 years ago

THANX but oh gosh I do not understand German, do they also have an English website? I will try to track it down but do they get dull quickly was another question?

Christian Knuell 8 years ago

Just search for "diamond grinder bit" - there should also be English suppliers.

The bits can last several hours - but it depends on spindle runout, stone and feedrate. I made this stone with just one bit and it is still OK.

Make sure you get a coarse grit for stone - the coarser the faster it will work.

jeanniel1 8 years ago

I like the stone - and allows for a variety of stones that can be used! Nice drilling and CNC work. So clean. Good job!

nbronwyn 8 years ago

Very cool idea and job

MiikePage 8 years ago

Felt lining might be a good way to improve on this already quite simply awesome design. That, and access to the home button!

rbarron 8 years ago

You could also cut the opening slightly larger and line it with felt.

I like it, now I just need a CNC :-)

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