I am a first grade teacher at a small school. We have 10 iPods that are used throughout the school. They are stored in my classroom so I wanted to do something unique for storage/charging. We also use a lot of bleach wipes throughout the year. I save the canisters and generally use them to store other items. In this case I did some modification to them before reusing them.

Step 1: Prep Canisters

Simple enough, peel the paper labels and cut the lid off the top. Leave the ring - they have a catch to tear the wipe off and hold it for the next use. This works well to secure the cord from falling behind the unit yet allows it to be pulled forward to unplug/plug iPod in.

Step 2:

I cut them about 6.5 inches long. I started using some tin snips, my cuts weren't as straight and weren't the same length. I fired up the table saw to get a more consistent cut. I used a little sandpaper to clean up the burrs on the edges. Make sure you pay attention and cut the tube correctly, I have one that I cut the wrong end off. I just cut a hole in the back side and used it that way.

Step 3: Assembly

I used a hot glue gun to put them together. I also made a base for it. The unit is pretty light and this adds some weight to keep it secure. I hot glued the canisters to the base as well. I am not sure how well the hot glue will hold up over time with use but I figured it's cheap and I can probably just re-glue anything that comes apart.