The TecnicSTAND designed by Frostedblue

Written By: Frostedblue On: 16/09/2009Time(23:46:40)

My task was to design a landscape iPhone stand at zero cost to myself using my immense design skills and my engineering prowess!?! Well maybe not quite, more like my love of building stuff out of Lego when i was a kid. So i set about looking around my flat for some suitable things to make one. After rifling though my man drawer, full of manly things, i was at a loss as to what to use. That then lead me to remember a Tecnic Lego Dirt Bike, tucked away in our storage cupboard and thought that this might be a perfect start to my little design project.

So i then thought it might be quite good if i shared my experience with you guys and started taking a few shots along the way on my Nikon. First things first, i had to dismantle my bike, which although satisfying, was a little sad as i loved this kit when i was a kid. Saying that, i cant tell you when this kit was released as i cant find any record of this particular dirt bike online. Even using googles image search!

I came up with a few versions of the stand first before settling with this one, where the bikes suspension struts are acting as a cantilever against a Lego pole at the back of this final revision.

The base/legs were originally flat to the ground, up until i needed to tilt it forward a little as the angle was a bit wrong. Once i added the support arms for the iPhone and placed it back on the desk, it suddenly struck me that i had made an iPhone stand that slightly resembled Jonny Number 5 (Short Circuit). i think it was the little wheel at the back that did it.

With a few tweaks, it was ready to be used:

Having shown my wife, she was really impressed. She then said and i quote ”Where’s mine?”. Having loads of Lego pieces left, i started work again! Once coming up with i slightly different design (lacking the exact Tecnic Lego parts that were used in my first design) i showed the wife the prototype design, it went down OK but she didn't like the fact it was a Landscape design, preferring the stand to be in a portrait format.

This then led me to this design:

So, again, with a few tweaks, it was ready to be used:

Both designs require very little contact with the iPhone itself so they keep scratching of the backplate down to a minimum. Which is good!

Feel free to copy my design for your own use, if you can find the right parts that is, just show your appreciation here @ FB. Let me know if you like them.

I may, if i get some more time, look at improving the first version to support swiveling and proper cable management.

Cheers.