Aluminum iPhone dock

posted Sep 6th 2009 6:30pm by Jakob Griffith
filed under: iphone hacks, ipod hacks

finished_dock_with_iphone

Last week we mentioned an article to cover up that ugly iPod dock; [Jozerworx] did one better by creating his own iPhone dock entirely. He had access to a machine shop where he combined some spare aluminum with an existing iPhone connection cable, but mentions the dock could probably be created with basic hand tools and a power drill. The design is quite minimalist and we would go as far as to say it has that shiny-and-made-by-apple-so-I-have-to-buy-one look. Alternatively, frosted acrylic with some leds would probably look pretty cool too, maybe it would blink whenever there is activity. What kind of dock would you hack?

Comments [21]

tagged: aluminum, apple, dock, iphone, ipod

Reader Comments

Very simple yet very fitting, I like it :)

Posted at 6:56 pm on Sep 6th, 2009 by OrderZero

I don’t understand, is the arduino on the bottom? :P

But seriously, I do like it, easy to make and customize a little, but still good-looking.

Posted at 8:50 pm on Sep 6th, 2009 by nave.notnilc

I don’t really like it that much.. Looks like a piece of sheet metal bent into an iPhone chair… Because it kindof is. But w/e we all have our tastes.

Posted at 11:29 pm on Sep 6th, 2009 by Jack

fare from best looking, but practical, good engineering

Posted at 11:41 pm on Sep 6th, 2009 by therian

I would have apreciated something more instructional like how he bent the aluminium

Posted at 11:44 pm on Sep 6th, 2009 by Hackius

Just imagined cheapest (simple tools) version of this holder stand for phones made from coffee tin can, solder and glue together. In Afroman style

Posted at 11:50 pm on Sep 6th, 2009 by therian

I bent the aluminum in a metal bending press, since I was in a shop. You can also bend aluminum by clamping it between two pieces of wood and pushing on it.

Posted at 1:12 am on Sep 7th, 2009 by Jozerworx

Hackius: Haha

Posted at 2:54 am on Sep 7th, 2009 by Tim

That looks like an excellent start.

Maybe a tad rough around the edges, but sheet metal is a great medium for getting a job done while lending itself to some creative flair as well.

Time after time we see stories on the net about incredibly resourceful folks using scrap metal and some surprisingly basic tools to achieve some useful and unique devices that verge on art.

I also like lego as a medium for device docks.

Excelsior!

Posted at 4:43 am on Sep 7th, 2009 by strider_mt2k

This is a case where you can say “just because it uses aluminum doesn’t make it pretty”, and it isn’t pretty at all (for me at least).

It is just a aluminum sheet blended with an ipod usb cable hot glued in the bottom.

If I had to choose between the pacman one and this one, i would go for the pacman.

Posted at 10:39 am on Sep 7th, 2009 by Tomasito

Re: Jack and Tomasito

I agree that using aluminum is not an automatic 10 on the attractiveness scale. I didn’t set out to create the most beautiful or functional iPhone accessory known to man kind, I just had 15 minutes and a sheet of aluminum, and wanted something to sit my iPhone on so I could see the screen while it was plugged in.

Keep in mind that the camera flash exposes every flaw, fingerprint, and dirt particle on the dock. When seen in real life, the dock looks quite a bit better; it matches the brushed aluminum trim on my dell monitor very nicely.

Posted at 12:00 pm on Sep 7th, 2009 by Jozerworx

Scotch tape.

It also exposes scotch tape.

;)

Posted at 12:29 pm on Sep 7th, 2009 by strider_mt2k

Get something brass to fancy it up, that would be better than LED or/and acrylic, mixing metals has a nice effect.

Posted at 5:58 pm on Sep 7th, 2009 by Wwhat

strider_mt2k,

Tsk tsk, it is clear packing tape, not scotch tape. They are COMPLETELY different. ;)

Posted at 6:35 pm on Sep 7th, 2009 by Jozerworx

Shot blast with glass beads for a nice sheen finish. Any good machine shop has a glass bead cabinet..

Posted at 7:09 pm on Sep 7th, 2009 by medix

Re: Medix

I’ve used glass beads, I find the finish somewhat abrasive, and I don’t want to scratch my phone.

Posted at 8:23 pm on Sep 7th, 2009 by Jozerworx

@Jozerworx:

I mean.. you could at least used a piece of aluminum bolted with two screws two the aluminum sheet to hold on the cable connector.
Maybe you could made someting that actually holds the iphone (other than the connector). A sheet of aluminum in “C” shape might work.

I don’t know.. I do not want to be pessimist, just this design didn’t conviced me.

Posted at 5:39 am on Sep 8th, 2009 by Tomasito

@medix: -or a jitterbug even

Posted at 5:41 am on Sep 8th, 2009 by strider_mt2k

@Jozerworx

steel wool can really polish aluminum with a brushed look, possibly brasso if your looking to omit any imperfections,

Posted at 8:51 am on Sep 8th, 2009 by stinkymonkey

@stinkymonkey

The dock was polished with a grinder, sandpaper, steel wool, and finally brillo pads, so it is quite smooth and has a nice brushed visual texture. As I was saying, the camera flash highlights the microscopic flaws and fingerprints on the finish.

Posted at 3:22 pm on Sep 8th, 2009 by Jozerworx

I like the simple look to it.

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