You Can’t Put It Down
1/12 Let’s face it: Browsing the internet on your iPad takes two hands. One hand holds the device; the other hand swipes. Fine, but the approach no longer works if, for example, you want to watch a step-by-step video as you work on fixing the lawn mower. That’s when you realize the importance—nay, the necessity—of a tablet stand. You could buy one, sure, but it’s easy to build your own. It might only take a few minutes, and you can use parts you likely have already. shutterstock.com
LEGO
2/12 Grab your youngster’s LEGO collection and hopefully among its many colorful blocks, you’ll find pieces from a Technic building set—the sort used to build little cars with rack-and-pinion steering. These kits include bars and pins that firmly hold LEGO pieces together, enabling you to construct a sturdy and definitely fun-looking DIY tablet stand. As a practical and whimsical finishing touch, incorporate rubber wheels to protect your tablet from scuffing. apartmenttherapy.com
Hand Tool
3/12 Want to be sure your DIY tablet stand will stay in place? Anchor it down with a pair of claw hammers. Yeah, the tablet could probably stand without assistance from the Philips head, but it’s a nice touch—so is the polished hardware. jamesbom.com
Wood
4/12 The simplest and most portable of the bunch, this DIY tablet stand consists of two wood arms that slip over the sides of the tablet. Glue a magnet to each arm so that when traveling, you can easily keep the stand paired with your tablet. freshhomeideas.com
Coathanger
5/12 Cooking in the kitchen with a tablet is a potential disaster. Cinnamon dust can cover every speaker hole on the device; splattered sauce can muck up the screen. Elevate the tablet out of harm’s way—while keeping the display at eye level—by simply bending an inexpensive wire coat hanger with linesman pliers—$0 and ingenious! lifehacker.com
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Corks
6/12 If you have a couple of wine corks on hand, this is a fun DIY tablet stand to make. Here’s how to do it: Drive a drywall screw through each cork, then tie cotton rope to the tip and head of each screw. The rope should be just long enough to hold the tablet steady as the corks meet the table top. touchytalk.com
Office Supplies
7/12 Ever seen the basic bookends sold at office supply stores? To work as DIY tablet stand, one of those thin metal organizers hardly needs any adjustment. All you need to do is tilt back the bookend’s side to achieve the best viewing angle, then clamp on a pair of binder clips to prevent the tablet from slipping. forums.macr
umors.com
Packing Tape
8/12 The round footprint of a packing tape roll is wide enough to keep your tablet upright, but for stability, the key here is to put the groove (for the tablet’s base) off to one side of the centerline. geeknaut.com
Plywood
9/12 Build a handsome DIY tablet stand with scraps of cabinet-grade plywood. Start with a 6″-wide, 11″-long chunk (with a thickness, ideally, of 5/8″). Then cut a 3/8″-wide slot at 25 degrees, about an inch or so in from a 6″-wide edge. Using a sander, carve out a divot for the home button, then chamfer the edges for a finished look. discussions.appl
e.com
Cardboard
10/12 You can also create a stand with cardboard. Repurpose a FedEx box or, alternatively, use the one your tablet came in (avoid flimsier material like cereal boxes). The beauty of this design is the way it folds in half. forums.macr
umors.com
PVC
11/12 Perfect for scenarios in which a flat surface is unavailable, this lightweight stand (which you can break down and transport) is made of PVC pipes and fittings—easy and inexpensive materials to work with. instructables.com
For More…
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Don’t Miss!
If you have the money to hire a handyman for every household woe, go ahead. But if you want to hang on to your cash and exercise some self-sufficiency, check out these clever products that solve a million and one little problems around the house. Go now! This is a tutorial on how to make a DIY iPad stand for drawing. I’m sharing how I made a simple iPad stand DIY with wood. This project is great if you like to draw using iPad and want to achieve a perfect angle. Plus you can use this iPad holder on desk, or even on bed. I also added a soft felt surface for this drawing tablet stand to protect my iPad Pro. I’m building this for my iPad Pro 11in, but you can customize the size and angel of this tablet stand for your own tablet and preference.
Why build iPad stand for drawing
I recently made a wood stand for my iPad because I couldn’t quite find something that fits my needs in the market. I mainly use my iPad to draw, so I needed it to be at a pretty low angle for a comfortable iPad drawing experience. Most of those tablet stand/holder on the market are designed for them stand more straight up instead of laying down. So I designed and built an adjustable iPad stand with wood. I specifically designed it in a way that is easy to make and customizable. You can really customize this tablet stand for your needs, depending on your tablet size, or angle you want it to sit. The DIY process of this drawing tablet stand is pretty straight forward, so I’d say it is an easy build, even for beginner DIYers.
DIY iPad stand video trailer
Let’s start with a short video trailer so you get an overview on what I did. Here’s a 1 min video version of this DIY tablet stand. If the video doesn’t work here, you can watch it on YouTube here or scroll down to find the full length video in the middle of this post. I’m posting DIY videos on my channel on a regular basis, so subscribe if you like to see more videos like this!
DIY wood iPad stand finished look
Here’s what my finished DIY iPad stand looks like. This iPad stand is roughly the size of my iPad when folded, just slightly larger. I did make it slightly deeper to account for the Apple pencil. The size is fully customizable, so you can make it as large as you want.
DIY iPad holder tools and materials
1/4″ plywood Small hinges Super glue Wood glue Felt sheet
DIY wood iPad stand full video tutorial
This is a full length video tutorial If you enjoy this video, you can subscribe to my channel for more ideas on home decoration and DIY.
Instructions for DIY iPad stand for drawing
First of all, here is a rough sketch I did for thisdrawing tablet stand, so you can get an idea of what we are building here.
DIY wood iPad stand project template
Step 1. Cut out plywood pieces
So To begin, I cut out some quarter inch plywood to size.This project needs four pieces. I have a template you can use to cut your pieces based on your iPad size, so check out the template above.
Step 2. Connect plywood pieces by hinges
Now with all the wood boards ready, I need to connect the largest two boards with a hinge. BTW, I’m adding a tape on the edge of one of the boards just as a visual guide. I’ll be removing that later. So I aligned two boards with one side, then added the hinges to the side that doesn’t line up. I first tried using screws which the hinges come with. However, even with the small hinge , the screws are still too deep for my 1/4 inch plywood, so they stick out by quite a bit.
To solve it, I am using a plier to cut the screw shorter – make sure you wear safety glasses while doing it.
So after trimming the screws and reattaching them, they will not stick out from the board. I started with one hinge but found out that it will wobble a little bit. So instead I added two more to stabilize it.
But I think two hinges would just do the trick. Also I later gave up shortening the screws because it’s too much work. And I ended up using super glue instead which I’ll share later.
Step 3. Add stopper to the top board where iPad will sit
Now I have the two main pieces connected, I’m adding a stopper on the top plywood board so that the iPad would not slide off the stand when it is raised at an angle. I used wood glue for this and let it dry according to the package instructions (usually overnight)
Step 4. Add support board
And now I have the basic shape, I need to add a supporting board to create the angle. I’m using hinges again for the connection. But at this point I was tired of cutting those tiny screws and I ended up using super glues for this job and it’s really quick and easy. So I just applied glue to one side of the hinge, and attached it to the base. then I wipe off the extra glue for a cleaner look. Then I just let it dry and apply it to the other side of the hinge, and let it dry as well. Now you can see the basic shape is done.
In my case, I used 1 hinge to connect the support board to the base, but you can do 2 hinges if you want. For the support wood board sizing, I particularly cut it to the size that will achieve my perfect angle. So mine was just a little bigger than 2 inches. So for your iPad or tablet, it might be different depending on how angled You want the iPad to be. I would encourage you to position your WIP iPad stand, and determine your ideal size to cut.
If you want to make the angle adjustable, the size you cut will need to achieve the maximum height, and then you can go lower from there. I’ll explain more in a little bit. With all the glue dried and cured. I tested them out and it’s working pretty well. Also it can be flattened like a notebook which makes it easy to store.
Step 5. Add felt sheet
Next I want to add some nice touches to give this iPad stand a softer surface and better finish. So for the materials, I’m using some felt sheets and cutting them to size. Then I used Mod Podge as the adhesive, and glue the felt to the surfaces where the iPad will be sitting. You can use any adhesive of your choice. I also added a sheet of felt to back, just in case I put this iPad stand on delicate surfaces in the future.
How to modify the angle or make it adjustable?
Thisdrawing tablet stand is designed to be adjustable in two ways. And that’s also why I used wood as the building material. It is a lot easier to cut to a desired size, and also assemble pieces together. First of all, you can change the angle of thisdrawing tablet stand from my version. Simply increase or decrease the height of the support piece and you’ll be able to get your own perfect angle for drawing. The angle of my iPad stand is fixed, but you can totally make it adjustable. In fact, I might do it in the near future if I want my iPad to lay down a bit lower for drawing purposes. For a more adjustabledrawing tablet stand, you can add some wood slats on the back as the stopper for the back support. Using popsicles is probably one of the easiest ways as it doesn’t require you to cut anything, just stick them to the back with wood glue.
DIY iPad stand for drawing project summary
So I’m very happy with this DIY project because it’s so easy to build and I’m able to use it for iPad drawing at a very comfortable angle. It’s really pretty to store as I can fold it up easily and carry it around. I hope you enjoy this quick tutorial and build your customized DIY iPad stand.
Other DIY ideas
DIY hot glue gun holder DIY large wall tapestry DIY dried hydrangea wreath
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