In this instructable I will show you how I made a charging dock for my iPod Touch.

I will also give you useful suggestions and ideas for your own dock , or a similar project .

I hope you can learn something new !

NOTE : This instructable is also appliable to almost any other iPod or iPhone model.

(I admit that I am not the first one to come up with this, and there are other similar docks out there, even out of Lego)

Step 1: Get Your Materials

You'll need:

iPod (or iPhone)

White dock adapter (supplied with your iDevice)

USB Cable (supplied with your iDevice)

Step 2: Fitting the Dock Adapter and the USB Cable

You might have already noticed that the connector on the USB cable doesn't fit into the Dock adapter.
We need to make the opening on the dock adapter bigger , either by sanding it, cutting it with a sharp blade, or whatever method you can come up with.
You'll need about 1 mm extra space on each side.

See the final result in the second picture.

NOTE: If your USB Cable Connector has two release buttons , you have to sand off two little metallic clamps on the connector. Otherwise your iPod will be stuck in your dock. See https://www.instructables.com/id/Really-loud-DIY-iPod-Touch-Dock-with-speakers/step4/Dock-Adapter-and-AudioVideo-cable-edit/ for more info.

Step 3: Preparing to Join the Adapter and Connector

Now you want to join the Connector and the Adapter, and to ensure the right position of the connector, you should plug in your iPod.

Notice in the first picture that the wide side of the Adapter faces in the same direction as the back of the iPod.

Plug in the Connector of the USB Cable into your iPod.

Put everything as shown in the third pictue.

IMPORTANT : Make sure the iPod reaches the bottom of the Adapter, and that the Connector fits all the way into the iPod.

Step 4: Joining the Parts

There are uncountable ways of joining these parts. Among them are epoxy glue , superglue , and the cheap method I will show you.
But don't use only silicon glue , such as Universal UHU, nor heat glue . These won't work.

I grab a 2" iron nail with nose pliers , and heat it on the stovetop as you see in the first picture.
Then I carefully and slightly meld the two pieces together with the hot nail as in the second picture.
However there was a gap left when I did mine, and you can't use this method on gaps.

NOTE: I didn't meld both sides of the Connector, only the front, and the edges.

Wait for it to dry/cool down. Remove your iPod. You can now reinforce the joint with epoxy, heat glue gun or whatever you come up with.

Step 5: Placing the Dock

Now that your iPod (hopefully) fits perfectly into the Dock , you can place it wherever you want .
I placed it on the night table I was building, (just a sheet of 4mm plywood, with self-adhesive vinyl covering) and I'll show you how I did.

First I made a hole in a piece of cardboard and widened it so that the dock fits all the way down . Don't worry, it can be slightly bigger . See for yourself in the first picture.

Then you graba pen or marker and draw the contour of the hole on whatever surface you'll put the dock on. Cut it out and sand the edges of the hole. Second picture was taken before sanding.

Step 6: Fastening the Dock

A lot of similar Instructables are only using tape to stick the dock. This is not good . I insist you use superglue .
If you'll put covering material on the surface, then do that first , and cut away some covering material from the surface. This will make the glue bond better . See second picture. Also you can scratch the underside of the dock with a needle for the same reason.