Community challenge #2: Phone/Tablet stand (closed)

Hi fellow Shapeokoers and Nomaders,

Community challenge #1 was fun, so let’s not loose momentum, the second challenge in the series is:

Make a phone (or headphones, or tablet, or [your favorite e-device]) stand !

Not only is it a fun thing to design (that will probably involve joints of some kind), it also turns out to be useful. I didn’t know I needed a stand for our phones and tablets until I made one (with the Shapeoko of course), and it has been standing in the hall for 2 years now, it’s probably one of the most useful items I have made so far:

shapeokomy_stand

Anyway, for this second challenge the rules are:

  • it must be made on a Shapeoko or Nomad
  • submit your entry in this thread:
    • post pics of the finished piece
    • include the associated design file(s) and tell us about the steps you followed to create it.
      • any CAD tool welcome, bonus points for using Carbide Create.
  • you can post multiple entries if you want.
  • there will be two phases:
    • you have 10 days to submit your project, that’s between now and Dec 25th, midnight PST (don’t spend Christmas day on your Shapeoko though !)
    • this time around, the “likes” won’t count: at the end of this 10 day period, I will launch a poll and everyone will then have until Dec 31st to cast their vote(s) among the list of projects that were submitted on time. This way all entries, be it last minute, get the same voting time.
  • the jury (that’s @Jorge and the usual suspects at Carbide 3D, plus myself) reserves the right to remove votes from “suspicious” voters, and will also break any tie.

And now for the great news: there will be TWO winners this time!

  • First place will win a 200$ discount code on the Carbide 3D store, and this swag pack:

shapeoko_challenge2_swag1

  • Second place will win a 100$ discount code on the Carbide 3D store, and this swag pack:

shapeoko_challenge2_swag2

Have fun, make something you will enjoy using or offering (there is still time for making it a Christmas present for family or friends!), or just show off your creativity and CAD/CAM skills !

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Can it be a tablet stand? or does it need to be for a phone? (or headphones) The picture has a tablet and a couple of phones, but what about a focus on a single/multiple tablet stand?

It can absolutely be a tablet stand, read it as “make a stand for [your favorite electronic gizmo]”.

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Don’t hesitate to drop a line here (or better yet a work in progress pic) if you think you are likely to participate, I know the week before Xmas is busy for many of us, having to finish the custom made gifts for family and all that, but I would love to hear about what’s coming!

Also, don’t hesitate if there are questions you would like to ask about how to do certain things in CC (related to designing parts for a stand), the challenge is also the opportunity to learn a trick or two from other community members.

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Julien I have something I’ll be posting. Made them for my guys at work for Christmas last year and they love them. Look forward to sharing!

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In the “Making something that fills a business need” category I had to quickly put something together that would hold my phone for video conferencing while in front of the white board for the next day. I already had a tripod about and with some light Fusion360, a block of HDPE, some Nomad action, washers and screws the tripod phone mount was born. Turns out it now also doubles as a phone and ipad stand for taking conference calls while on the bike trainer in the winter. Nomad … when you quickly need to make something out of (almost) nothing.

Files up on CutRocket!

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Very nice ! Simple and clean, as any overnight project should be :slight_smile:
Are those three bumper pads in the first pic, so that the phone does not slip ?
What is the use of the two screws on the bottom part ?

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Julien: I like the contests, it shows member’s ingenuity and skills but I have a comment on this one for future reference. The contest is just before X-Mas (or popular holidays) and many members including myself are busy producing stuff for X-Mas and participation may not be as large for this contest as the previous.

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Yeah, in retrospect this is not the best timing I guess, but on the other hand this is an opportunity for the few people than are not busy finishing Xmas projects, to have a higher likelihood to win! :slight_smile:

Not to worry, the series will continue in early 2020 so there will be plenty of opportunities for all of you busy elves to get to win one of the next challenges, if you are not available for this one.

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Here is a picture of the tool holder Headset stand I made for the contest.

The parts are 2 halves that make up the actual headset holding unit, a “stick”, a walnut base and a walnut inlay with the carbide 3d logo.

The 2 halves that make up the main unit are inverted pairs, using bit 201 for most of the work. I also used my bowl making bit to have a nice round curve on the inside. The two pieces fit snugly and a tiny bit of woodglue sealed their fate together.


The design was done in Carbide Create in a few separate design files:

Edit: I realize that the main picture does not clearly show the hollow internal area of the top area, so here’s a side angle picture:

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So for my project, I had a couple of design constraints I needed to deal with:

I wanted a “charging station” on my nightstand, but I also didn’t want to give up any room on the nightstand, since it isn’t very big.

I wanted the charger to be part of the station (not another thing on my floor).

I have cats. (This is only relevant to other cat owners, who know of the not so secret feline desire to knock everything onto the floor). I would prefer this didn’t happen to delicate electronics.

The circular charging station I designed fits over the entire top of the nightstand and is about 2 inches thick. It consists of 2 layers of 3/4 plywood, sandwiched between 2 1/4 pieces of plywood. The 3/4 pieces have sections carved out to accept the charger, 3 phones, an iPad and a Kindle fire. Since this is a flat piece, I still have plenty of room to place items on the top (which the cats can then knock over).

The slots for the various devices were pretty simple to design. It’s just a rectangle a little larger than the device you want to store. The charger was a bit more tricky since it was thicker than 3/4, which meant I had to line up and carve a pocket in the top of the first 3/4 board and then a matching pocket in the back of the second 3/4 board. I also cut a channel for the power cable that was big enough to feed the cable through (so the charger would not be a permanent part of the charging station).

I then flipped the second board over and carved the next pockets for the phones and the Kindle. Lastly, I carved a design in the top, strictly for decoration.

This kind of design can be adapted to any shape and is useful when space is at a premium. I think my next version would also route the wires internally for esthetics.

Tabletop holder.zip (56.0 KB)

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We now have a trainer-bike-friendly phone mount, CNC headphones, and a cat-resistant charging station. What’s not to love about this machine and this community!

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I know what that graphic in the center is!!! Yes, I’m old. :smiley:

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Glad to see the entries coming in! My last minute phone mount seemed rather scrappy compared to the artistry displayed in the previous contest!

I will note that for whatever reason this contest doesn’t show up in my mobile browser when new comments are added on for some reason - which seems odd - perhaps it is not getting the views it should.

The three bumper pads fit into recesses in the hdpe holder - hdpe itself is rather slippery so the soft rubber bumpers make sure the phone doesn’t slide off it knocked. The screws were originally going to be used for a clamping system if needed, but so far so good!

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Weird. The only thing special about this thread is that it has been “pinned”, but it would be strange that this would result in what you (don’t) see on your mobile browser…

This looks like fun. I’ve been meaning to make a family charging center for a while. Maybe I’ll have time to finally tackle it. I should make it portable so we have it for our upcoming trip…

I made a wireless charging stand for my phone at work and so many people asked me if I could make them one, I batched some out with carbide create. It was actually one of my first projects and major learning experiences of owning my machine! I used double sided tape to hold down the material with the thought of keeping my stock to minimal waste but a few times it did come loose… (I would totally use tabs if I were to make them today!) I milled out a pocket on the backside allowing about a .02-.03 wall thickness for the wireless charger to sit behind and still charge the phone, I also made a few flush mount where the charger is not hidden but sits flush with the back of the phone.

Samsung Wireless Charger .875.c2d (149.9 KB)

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@agentwusabi Those look awesome! Love the wood choice :100:

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