anybody made a kindle docking station?

[sunnybob]

my work surface is drowning in electronic gizmo's. I now have two models of Kindle, and two phones. The phones have different leads, so i need a box / stand / whatever to hold four electronic machines all with easily accessible charging leads.
Wiring is not a problem for me, the design of the wooden unit is.

Simple is good, by the way.

It will sit on a kitchen work surface.
Any help please?

 

[DiscoStu]

I made an iPad stand by routing a groove in some oak. I used a dovetail bit so that the iPad was held upright but on a slight angle. I had a hole underneath for the cable. You could do the same but with several slots?

 

[sunnybob]

Nothing is that simple in my life.
1 kindle has a slot on the base (offest) 1 kindle has a slot on the side (central)
1 phone has the same mini usb as the kindles (on the base) the other phone has a concentric socket on the top.
My brain cant work out how to make a holder for all 4. I think it will need flying leads, dont see how I could do an ipod style fixed plug.

 

[AndyT]

Fortunately for you, this problem goes back longer than you might think and was solved by Agostino Ramelli in the 16th century:

More here https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookwheel

It shouldn't take you long to knock one up! :wink:

 

[sunnybob]

and I bet he can find his page in the book quicker than I can on the kindle!
But game playing has to a (female dog)

 

[Halo Jones]

What a great picture! Thanks for sharing.

I love the way the machine is by the window for the best light. And do you see all the locks on that door. With the expense of books in those days it shows an authentic drawing/lythography.

H.

 

[Halo Jones]

Oh, should have answered the original question. Why does a kindle need a docking station? Mine lasts about a month on a single charge.

H.

 

[sunnybob]

A month? is that with a half hour a day use?
Ours last barely seven hours. On a 5 hour flight they are almost done.

 

[John Brown]

I think it depends which model you're talking about. The Paperwhite only uses significant power when rewriting the display, or when using the frontllighting. I believe the Fire models use a lot more juice, being active, rather than passive displays.

 

[Halo Jones]

Yep. I made the assumption you were talking about the e-ink readers like the paperwhite. I can see why you would want a charging station for a tablet.

 

[sunnybob]

These are a 2 year old fire HD, and a 3 month old fire whatever they call the things now.
Terrific game machines, but battery has to be charged every time you put it down.
Looks like I'm the first to need one of these multi stations, oh well, time to get the drawing board out.

 

[AndyT]

Hi Bob

Sorry if I derailed your query - I've been thinking about rather more practical designs for reading on several devices at once, which don't need gears or carved cherubs.

There is another well known historical design, by Thomas Jefferson, as displayed in his home at Monticello:



Roy Underhill showed how to make one here http://video.unctv.org/video/2365004559/

It's a nice looking thing and you could easily hide wiring in the middle, but I expect it ends up taking up more space rather than less. So maybe your own design will be the best for you.

 

[Adam9453]

I guess it could be as simple as a bookstand but with four stands built into one bigger stand (like a plane till).
I think having holes to slip your charging cables through would be the easiest and to make it look nice I would put a frame around all 4 sides (like a picture), that way you can have discreet slots in the frame to feed your charging cables through whether they are on the bottom, side or top of the device. You would obviously need to put the devises in the correct positions, i.e. the base charging items at the bottom, the top charging item at the top and the side charging item at the appropriate side. That way your charging socket is next to the frame.
Hopefully that makes sense and if not I could do a rough drawing to show what I mean.

 

[Adam9453]

Also are the cable USB fitting or straight into a mains plug?
Just thinking that if they are all USB fitting then you could fit a 4 way USB extension lead to the back of the stand and just run one mains lead to the socket, therefore avoid a massive clutter of wires and making the overall setup slimmer, neater etc etc

 

[sunnybob]

andy, yes, too much floor space on that one, we only want to store them, not use them while charging.

Adam I have a stirring of your line of thinking, If you have the capability of sketching and posting i would appreciate it.
3 are mini usb on the machines. At the moment I'm using at least two chargers at any one time. Is there such a thing as a multi charging transformer with usb sockets?
If I could reduce the chargers to 1 multi usb and 1 for the old nokia phone, that would help a lot.

 

[RogerP]

A few years ago the now discontinued Blackberry Playbook had a Rapid Charging Stand which sounds very like what you want for your Kindle. They hold the device at a comfortable angle for reading and using whilst at the same time it is charging.

They're dirt cheap now. Maybe it could be modified?

 

[Adam9453]

something like this should work for you;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/DIGIFLEX-COMPAC ... B002SUFC80

I will knock up a design for you and post it (probably tomorrow I expect)

 

[sunnybob]

I need four slots.

adam , my concern on that multi usb is its more for information exchange than charging. Whenever I connect a kindle or my LG phone to the computer, I get a message saying low power charging, might not be sufficient if using machine.

i suspect I'm going to have to fit 4 chargers inside a box, with the flying leads at different corners.

 

[Ram64]

Steve Ramsey has free plans for a device charging station on his website http://woodworking.formeremortals.net/ that might fit the bill

 

[sunnybob]

well, thats getting closer, but it will need a lot of modification to get the large kindles in.
Thanks