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Cables, cords everywhere and it doesn't hold my drink anywhere. If your house is like mine, the mouse cable is plugged into a socket. We have cables for tablets, phones, watches, cameras, toys and more. I decided to take control of the woodwork and make a charging station that would handle the chaos. I used a few scraps of sapele left over from other projects, but you can use any wood or purchase a piece of 1x6 from your local hardware store.
The beauty of creating your own charging station is that you can customize it to your needs. My kids' tablet cases, for example, are about an inch thick, which is thicker than most. The boys are 7 and throwing things away is their way of life, so a big suitcase makes sense. However, many plug-and-play charging stations do not have enough space for larger devices. I make sure that both areas have enough space for large tablets.
While you can certainly use my design as a template for your own charging station, take the time to catalog your equipment and customize it to your needs.
Warning: DIY projects can be dangerous even for the most experienced hobbyist. Before starting this project or any other project on our site, make sure you have all the necessary safety measures and how to use them correctly. This may include, at a minimum, goggles, face shield, and/or hearing protection. If you use power tools, you must know how to use them correctly and carefully. If you don't, or if you're uncomfortable with any of the things described here, don't attempt this project.
Statistics:
- Duration: 3 to 6 hours
- Price: $40 to $75.
- Difficulty: Medium
Goods
How to build a charging station with your own hands.
1. Cut the boards. There are several projects that can save you from cord tables. Box construction was not one of them. All parts of the box are sanded and flat and square so that the joints are tight. We have a complete guide to cutting your own wood, but there are a few basic steps. First, cut the boards to the desired length with a miter saw. This simplifies processing and reduces material removal during the manufacturing process.
Then take them with the knees and smooth one side and one edge. If you don't have a joint, you can use a joint on a planer and a table saw. If you don't have a leveler, you can level one side with a fence or hand planer.
After one side and one end are flat and straight, run the boards through a planer to level the opposite side, cut them to their final width using a table saw, and use a miter or miter saw to cut them to their final length.
When you're done, you should have 15 boards, each about half an inch thick.
- 2 (5" x 12") top and bottom
- 2 (2 x 12 inch) long sides
- 2 (2 to 4 inches) for front and back
- 9 for tablets and phones (1 to 5 inches)
2. Cut the rabbits to the top and bottom boards. Rabbits are one of the easiest ways to connect the sides of the box to the floor. Sideboards are grooves about a quarter of an inch deep on the outside edge of the board where they sit. This helps with alignment, provides some mechanical strength and increases the adhesive surface. I cut the screws with a 1/2 inch straight drill, but you can also use a table saw. If you choose the latter, you can do multiple passes with the blade or a single pass with the hole pile.
[See: Amazing Woodworking Tools You Have At Home]
The tabs on the bottom panel should be clean, but you will need to trim the tabs on the lid by 1/16 inch so that you have room to turn the lid on and off as needed. If the top is too tight, it will vibrate and be difficult to control.
3. Cut access holes in the side panels. Before gluing anything, make holes for the wires coming out of the box to connect everything. You can do this after assembling the box, but before assembling it is easier. I cut it with a ¾ inch forstner bit.
I cut one hole in the center of the back panel for the main power wires and five holes in each of the equally spaced side panels. Change the holes to match the number of wires you want to insert. I didn't really need 10 holes, but I wanted flexibility in how the wires came out. Also, five on each side looks better than three.
4. Sand all parts with 150 grit sandpaper. If you are assembling a box, it is recommended that you sand all the parts before assembling. After the construction, it is difficult to enter each end. I sanded this project down to 150 grit with an orbital sander.
5. Glue the side panels down. Apply wood glue to all the bottom board tabs and the ends of the front and back boards, then firmly insert all the side boards into the tabs. Use a clamp to attach the front and back together and a few more fasteners to securely fit all the boards in the hinges.
Make sure the boards stay straight when gluing. If you bend the center of the box, the lid may not fit. If you have trouble, you can fasten them in place with nails or similar fasteners.
6. Cut the tab on the device case cover. This is where customization really comes into play. Plan the location of all equipment. As I said, children's tablets are very thick, so I had to make two very wide parts.
Mark the location of each stem, then cut ⅛ inch deep or deeper so you don't cut through the board. As with the dowels in step 2, you can cut holes with a straight-cut router or with a single blade or table saw. I used my table saw and miter saw for this as I felt I had better control and precision with my saw.
7. Post the posts to the forums. Apply wood glue to the plank, then push the vertical surfaces. The tricky part is clicking it because there are so many clips. You can achieve this with multiple patches, pressing one or two posts at a time until they are dry and then taking a few more steps. I was too impatient for that, so I put two boards on each bracket and clamped them together. This allowed me to put equal pressure on everyone.
You can also bend the pins at the bottom of the cover if you have trouble pressing it down. I didn't use any screws because I didn't want to see them or plug the holes and also because I was a little afraid of splitting such small boards.
8. Fill all holes and gaps. I'm not a good carpenter at fitting every board perfectly, so I have to fill in some gaps on most of my projects. You can use the usual wood putty for this, but you can make it yourself by mixing wood glue and stool from your projects. This works well with the color of your wood, but the downside is that the glue will ruin the look of the wood, requiring a bit more sanding than wood filler.
9. Grind again. After assembly, glue or flat corners should be smoothed and any wood filler left in step 8 should be cleaned. Lightly sand the box with 150-grit sandpaper to keep it smooth. For a beautiful appearance condition and removal of invisible stains.
10. Apply the selected finish. Because I love the look of natural sapele, I didn't put any stain on this project. I simply applied shellac to the box and lid, sanded between coats, then sanded the edges with a brown paper bag for a perfect finish.
11. Place the power supply and cable in the box. If you feel like it, you can put a small case inside the big case to hold the power supply, but I don't think this is necessary. I used double sided tape to attach the charging connectors to the back of the box and made sure the power cable went through the hole in the back. I also used velcro cable ties to secure my kids camera charger to the top for easy access.
12. Connect all cables and set. All you have to do is run all the cables through it and connect it to the power supply. Tie it with fabric cable ties or zip ties to keep everything organized. Make sure there are enough tails at each end to reach the device you want to charge. Then simply find a suitable spot in your home, plug in the power bank and start charging your device. No more looking at messy cords on the desk.
