Tag Archives: DIY

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Friday, 04th Jan 2013

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Nexus 7, Tech

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DIY: Nexus 7 Stand of the Garage Variety

While waiting for the Nexus 7 dock to become available for order, I was also trying to make my brain become useful over the holiday season and persuade it to think of a DIY stand idea. I discovered it is quite difficult to convince the brain to do anything during the holiday season.  But I continued nevertheless, and started looking at some materials I have in our garage, because really, what are the chances I might be able to find something that might be remotely useful for a tablet? In the garage? Practically zero. Until it is not. And so here is my own Nexus 7 stand (calling it a docking station is a stretch, of course).

Bookend

The bookend bent at an angle

The bookend needs to be at an angle. At 90°, the device will, of course, fall forward. The back of the tablet is made of rubber material so scratches are avoided when in contact with the metal vertical end. The bottom of the bookend is a different story though, since it touches with the edge of the tablet. This is where my excess weather strip comes into the picture (quite literally in this regard).

Weather strip

Weather strip

The weather strip has its sticky side stuck to the bookend, which probably needs no explanation.

Weather strip on bookend

With both materials I found in my garage, it is quite simply, of garage variety. So with a 5 min hack job over, it is time to “dock” the tablet.

Nexus 7 landscape on bookend

Note the additonal weather strip foam on top of the bottom forward strip.

Nexus 7 portrait on bookend

There is no more excuse in not continuing to watch Breaking Bad’s first season!

Nexus 7 portrait on bookend

Note the additonal weather strip foam on top of the bottom forward strip.

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Thursday, 15th Mar 2012

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etc, Music, Tech

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DIY: Laptop we stand, guitar we fall

I have a portable laptop table with caster that I use as an audio mixer table. Nothing fancy there, just an ordinary computer furniture anyone can buy from an office supply store. The table top has just enough of a space for the mixer and a flat panel monitor.

When my monitor finally gave up, I set about putting my MacBook up at the spot where the monitor was, at least for the time being, instead of buying an immediate replacement. This involved a DIY game plan motivated by Lifehacker’s laptop stand ideas. I happen to look at my seldom-used guitar stand, a Proel Guitar Stand A Frame, and immediately knew I found my silly version of a DIY laptop stand. Without delay, got down to business of fitting the guitar stand to the table.

Since the horizontal base will not fit on the top of the table, I have to put it in such a way that the table top is squeezed between the horizontal base and the U-shaped guitar holder, as seen on Fig. 1. This was in fact the better approach – the gap between the base and the holder was a tight-fit to the thickness of the top.

Fig. 1

I screwed additional PVC conduit clamps on the guitar holder for added security. Fig. 2 shows the placement of the conduit clamps.

Fig. 2

I also added foam tube pipe insulation around the A-bracket, as seen on Fig. 2. This protected the MacBook from scratches. What’s more, all the rubber/foam protection meant to protect the guitar also provided the same protection for the MacBook. This can be seen on Figs 3. and 4.

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

I might have lost a good guitar stand, but I gained a laptop stand in the process. And this might just become a permanent fixture. The additional materials used were:

  • PVC conduit clamps (Bag of 5), ~$1.20
  • screws, $0.00 (stock)
  • foam tube pipe insulation, $0.00 (leftover)

Fig. 5