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7K views 5 replies 2 participants last post by  HappyHowie 
#1 ·
Cell Phone Stand Prototype

After performing an inventory of my hardwood storage and surveying different gift ideas on the Internet, I decided to make cell phone stands for Christmas gifts for many family members and a good friend.

I started this project by making a prototype. I asked my Annie what she thought about it. She liked it! So the project is go…

Rectangle Wood Tints and shades Electric blue Gas


For the two pieces that makes this stand I was going to use 1/4 inch thick pieces of hardwood and their width will be 2 7/8 inches. This thickness was an easy decision because I already had some sapele, maple, poplar and pine resawn and planed to this thickness, or close to it. A lot of what I needed was in my hardwood scrap pile. The sapele was leftover materials from my roll around tool chest project.

The long strip I decided to make 7 1/4 inches long.

The shorter strip I decided to cut to 4 3/4 inches long. Its first inch on which the cell phone would sit on is the same width of 2 7/8 inches. I would then cut 1/2 inches off from its two sides on my bandsaw, but would first cut 1/2 inches deep on its sides but 1 1/4 inches from one end. I did those cuts by setting the short piece on its sides against my crosscut sled's fence and setting a stop block at 1 1/4 inches to the far-side of the table saw blade's teeth. I checked the 1/2 height of my saw blade with a Whiteside 1/2 inch brass measuring bar.

Before making any cut I used trigonometry calculations to determine the angle I would get relative to the nightstand's surface: that angle is about 12 degrees. I figure that will work well enough.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Hardwood Metal


For the two slots I drilled a single hole with a 1/4 inch diameter drill bit by fitting the router bit into the hole I drilled on my floor drill press. I completed routing the slots with an upcut 1/4 inch router bit on my takedown router table. I used the router fence to stabilize the routing of the slots in straight line.

Her Samsung Galaxy sat on this stand nicely. It will do.

Communication Device Musical instrument Automotive lighting Telephony Wood


I used my bench chisels to square off the two corners for the long strips wide slot.

I had previously made a bench hook for planing thin pieces of hardwood. I used this bench hook to plane the flat surfaces of these two pieces of hardwood and also mainly to fit the thickness of the short piece so it would slide into the wide slot easily, but snugly.

I carefully squared the routed round ends so the sides of the two pieces would be flush to each other for both parts.

I initially thought I would simply use dark brown paste wax for a finish coat on this project, but I did not like the result. After sanding the wax off, I used Danish Oil on my prototype. I liked its result much better. I can still apply coats of dark brown paste wax on top of the Danish Oil to liven up these stands as time passes.
 

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#2 ·
Cell Phone Stand Assembly Line Started

After making the first prototype, I began the process to make many more of these cell phone stands for Christmas gifts. I need to make thirty-two gifts this year.

I gathered all of my 1/4 thick pieces of resawn lumber plus planed a few more boards to 1/4 inch thickness on my Grizzly planer. With a rip blade in my Saw Stop I ripped all of my 1/4 inch thick lumber to 2 7/8 inches width. I then place a crosscut blade in my table saw. Then with my crosscut sled I set a stop block so I could cut my long strips to 7 1/4 inches. I also placed a pencil mark on my sled at about 5 inches from my saw blade. This way I could cut the 7 1/4 piece and then follow that up with a cut next to 5 inches in length. By cutting these two pieces that would make one cell phone stand I could keep the two pieces stacked together.

I ended up with the following set of stands for these hardwood types: 17 sapele, 10 maple, 9 select pine, and 5 poplar. If I do not make any mistakes I will end up with 41 stands ready for gifting.

These photographs show the stacks of cell phone stand parts paired together by hardwood type.

Wood Brick Brickwork Table Hardwood


Most of my hardwood parts were planed to 1/4 inch thickness. A few pieces were slightly less than 1/4 inch thick. For those I have set aside for routing their slots. I will select a straight router bit that is smaller than 1/4 inch diameter in order to route its wide slot so the short piece will fit into the slot snugly.

Also I have a photo of the first few stands that I have close to final assembly; l to r: maple, sapele, select pine, and maple. These four stands still need to be sanded so there are no sharp edges and to get ready for their finish coat of Danish Oil. I have a walnut dye mix that I will test on a test piece of pine before committing to using dye on that wood spieces The few stands I will be making with poplar I already know will work well with this dark walnut like dye. The formula I have comes from Charles Neal. It amazing makes poplar look like walnut hardwood when finished.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain
 

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#3 ·
Cell Phone Stand Assembly Line Started

After making the first prototype, I began the process to make many more of these cell phone stands for Christmas gifts. I need to make thirty-two gifts this year.

I gathered all of my 1/4 thick pieces of resawn lumber plus planed a few more boards to 1/4 inch thickness on my Grizzly planer. With a rip blade in my Saw Stop I ripped all of my 1/4 inch thick lumber to 2 7/8 inches width. I then place a crosscut blade in my table saw. Then with my crosscut sled I set a stop block so I could cut my long strips to 7 1/4 inches. I also placed a pencil mark on my sled at about 5 inches from my saw blade. This way I could cut the 7 1/4 piece and then follow that up with a cut next to 5 inches in length. By cutting these two pieces that would make one cell phone stand I could keep the two pieces stacked together.

I ended up with the following set of stands for these hardwood types: 17 sapele, 10 maple, 9 select pine, and 5 poplar. If I do not make any mistakes I will end up with 41 stands ready for gifting.

These photographs show the stacks of cell phone stand parts paired together by hardwood type.

Wood Brick Brickwork Table Hardwood


Most of my hardwood parts were planed to 1/4 inch thickness. A few pieces were slightly less than 1/4 inch thick. For those I have set aside for routing their slots. I will select a straight router bit that is smaller than 1/4 inch diameter in order to route its wide slot so the short piece will fit into the slot snugly.

Also I have a photo of the first few stands that I have close to final assembly; l to r: maple, sapele, select pine, and maple. These four stands still need to be sanded so there are no sharp edges and to get ready for their finish coat of Danish Oil. I have a walnut dye mix that I will test on a test piece of pine before committing to using dye on that wood spieces The few stands I will be making with poplar I already know will work well with this dark walnut like dye. The formula I have comes from Charles Neal. It amazing makes poplar look like walnut hardwood when finished.

Wood Rectangle Flooring Floor Wood stain
Just a thought - as an added touch you could have their name or initials laser cut in to the face of the stand. HTH
 

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#5 ·
Ten More Sapele Phone Stands Prepared for Finish

With these additional ten sapele cell phone stands I worked on today, I now have 32 stands prepared for its finish coat of Danish Oil. I know, some of you will count the stands in the photo. My first prototype is not in this photograph. To get to this stage this afternoon, I used the following hand tools: my low angle block plane, four bench chisels: 2", 1", 1/4" and 1/8", my #4 smoothing bench plane, and my thin part bench hook for hand planing flat surfaces.

Wood Hardwood Rectangle Composite material Wooden block


I have ten more stands to complete to this stage of development. I will work on those tomorrow. These were the stands made from slightly thinner scrap pieces of maple and pine. For these stands I used a 3/16 inch diameter straight bit to route the slot for part B to slide into. The previous slots were routed with a 1/4 inch diameter straight bit on my router table. After some touch-up sanding of remaining sharp edges, I will apply my walnut dye to the poplar hardwood stands and Danish Oil to the other stands.

Oh yeah, I have looked at purchasing a laser engraver. I need to understand their capability better before I make that purchase. So I do have a hot iron wood burning tool with a signature point. I will practice burning initials for names on scrap pieces of wood before burning initials on the face of these phone stands. It was a great idea to add these initials to these gifts. Thanks.

Wood Tradesman Carpenter Flooring Hardwood
 

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#6 ·
Completed 42 Cell Phone Stands

I had ten stands to fit parts together today. I have 42 stands now ready for finish. I need to remember to burn letter initials or first names to these stands before applying any dye or finish.

The poplar hardwood will get a walnut dye coat. I will test some of the pine with this dye. The rest will get Danish Oil coats.

Wood Hardwood Lumber Wood stain Plywood
 

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