Laser Cut Project #1 on Glowforge: a Custom Phone Stand (of course)

Within hours of getting my Glowforge laser printer set up (they call it a printer - it's really a cutter), I had to design and print/cut something of my own. Of course I did cut one of the free designs on the Glowforge web site - the classic snap-together box - but everyone who knows me knows it's the design process that makes me happy, not just printing pre-made designs.

What better first object to design than a custom phone stand?! I've never done that before (ahem).

The design I had in my mind was quite simple, so I sketched a quick version of the idea on paper - it was just two identical, vertical parts which actually support the phone, and a perpendicular support which keeps the two stand parts aligned and stable.

Detailed Requirements Planning

I barely needed any more planning - but, as in all product design, it's good practice to think about what I'm trying to achieve in more detail. I like to think about all my projects like this: What am I trying to achieve with this product? What problems should it solve?

What are my "Design Do's and Don'ts" for this product? 
Here's the simple list I compiled for this phone stand product:

1. Hold a phone easily and quickly without having to open, close, snap-in, pry or otherwise fit the phone into anything. I just want to drop it in and easily take it out.
2. Hold a phone BOTH vertically (portrait) AND horizontally (landscape).
3. Hold a phone at a comfortable video-viewing angle on the desk - mostly upright, not flat - less than 90 degrees from the desk, but more than 45.
4. Hold any phone, regardless of size, including my big Pixel XL and my son's small iPhone.
5. Don't obstruct any of the screen.
6. Be easy and fast to cut on the Laser Cutter, using minimal materials. Cheap to make.
7. Be simple, not fancy - since it's mostly hidden behind the phone.
8. Easy to put together, and bonus if it comes apart to fit in your pocket.

Reflecting on the Design Process

Even for a project this simple, you can see it's pretty easy to quickly come up with a whole lot of detailed requirements! That's actually what we do at work all day as product managers - mostly with software - but sometimes with hardware. I think it's good practice to be this detailed and diligent with #maker projects too, especially when it's teachers using these projects as lessons to achieve other learning objectives.

This allows for each requirement to explicitly be solved with math or art and design or other skills, depending on the project. Every one of these requirements can have it's own failures, learnings, solutions, inventions and insights attached to it - and this is where even a simple project becomes an engaging and inspiring learning adventure!

Cardboard Prototype

I did a rough sketch using a fantastic, free iPad app called "Vectornator Pro", which makes it really simple to create a multi-point vector design that can be adjusted by simply moving the points or changing the curves. When I had the 3-parts roughly designed, I moved right into laser-cutting, and cut it out of cardboard first to see how far off I might be. Surprisingly, the design mostly worked on the first try! There were small tweaks I could make to hold larger devices, maybe allow for a couple of different angles with the same device - but generally, the design met most of my requirements!


The cardboard version was actually strong enough to hold my phone firmly - maybe I should stop here and declare victory ;).  I quickly realized this design could be used to hold other things too - like business cards - so even my cardboard prototypes are being put to good use as business card holders.

Getting to a Final Version

The next step was cutting this design out of "real" material - something that will hold up to being used everyday, like wood or acrylic. It became clear with the first print that the design needed two tweaks.

First, I wanted the three parts to stay firmly together so it didn't fall apart when picked up, but be able to come apart when needed (for pocket carrying). I experimented with notch designs which help the parts "click-in" and stay together, but are simple to pull apart. (Note: this was a revisit design adjustment once I had more experience with the Laser Cutter and acrylic material... not a beginner design.)

Second, I wanted it to feel firm and not flimsy - which wasn't true of this current design. The 3-part design felt like it could break easily - it was "racking" (a wood-working term where an object doesn't have the right opposing angles of support, making it prone to leaning or breakage at the joints). It was simple and it worked... but I wanted it to be better.

Iterate!

I decided that I could provide TWO angles for the phone to rest by adding a second set of holders to the otherwise useless back-side of the stand - this worked pretty well and with a little adjustment in the depth of the base - to avoid the phone from tipping over with that shallower angle.

Calling it Done

I decided to add a 4th part - another support which would help keep the two vertical stands aligned and not prone to motion which could break it. This, of course led me to many experiments - and I quickly violated one of my own design "Don'ts" - I started thinking about the aesthetics. Even though I came up with a very strong design with a 4th part, I didn't like the aesthetic. I proceeded to spend too much time trying to make it look better - and ended up with two final designs - one stronger, one prettier.  These became the final versions... for now... since no design is ever actually "done" ;)

Yet Another 3D Printed Phone Stand

I got tired of laying my phone down next to my computer - so I wanted a simple phone stand that would stand my phone upright or sideways so I could see it and use it. Of course there are likely cheap phone stands or 3D Models that would suit my purpose somewhere - but I had two reasons why I "needed" to make my own:

First, I wanted it to suit my needs and fit my phone exactly.

Second, I like to make stuff - so why pass up the opportunity to invent something new!?

Design Requirements

The basic requirement of this design was to firmly hold my phone upright without tipping over. But there were other things I had to consider in this design. Here's the full list:

• Hold phone upright (portrait) without tipping and with firmness that let me tap the screen.
• Hold phone in sideways (landscape) too. (hopeful on this one)
• Have a slight angle so it is easy to see on my desk.
• Nothing should block ANY of the screen.
• Simple & Fast to print - no supports, flat bottom surface to grip print bed, minimal mass.
• Able to hold phones approximately the size of my Nexus 6P with or without a case.

Things I decided not to worry about for this first design included a way to dock the phone on the charging cable or making the stand portable to fit in my pocket. As with any product, sometimes it's just as important to pick things you're NOT trying to solve as it is to pick those problems you ARE trying to solve.

The 3D Model

This one was not as simple as it looks. The requirements I had to be simple and low mass made it more of a challenge - otherwise, I could have simply used a big block (as I've seen in many other phone holders).

I started with a block. I imagined the shape I wanted to be more like a wedge, holding the phone on the front, then angled back to the bottom surface.

To get the right shape of the front which would hold the phone, I created a 3D Model of my phone - not to be printed, but to be used as a shape to SUBTRACT from the wedge block to leave behind a perfectly shaped area to hold my phone. I then subtracted a large chunk of the block from the angled front for the area where the phone screen would be seen, leaving about 5mm on each side, about 3mm thick, to hold the phone in place by the edges.

Now, as with any subtraction operation like this, the fit would be too tight if I just printed it as is - so I pushed out the insides of the phone holding area by 0.5mm on each side, and the back by 1mm.

Landscape works too!

To reduce the mass of the wedge, I wanted to cut out a large part of the back - so I made a copy of the whole wedge, and scaled it down to be a subtraction shape. I made it smaller by about 5-8 mm on each side and the part behind the phone, and then subtracted it from the back of the wedge - leaving the back of the wedge with no material at all.

The shape I got was pretty much what I imagined! I finished it up by softening all the edges with a "Filet" operation (in Autodesk 123D) and gave it a first print.

Making it more useful

Landscape is great for video watching

I measured the space for my phone with the case - so the space for the phone was actually bigger than the phone itself by a few mm on each side.

The first print actually worked well with the phone that had the case on it, as it was a tight enough fit to really hold the phone firmly. But when I removed the case from the phone, the fit was so loose, that the weight of the phone leaning against the back of the stand let the stand slide up the phone and pop off the top.

I needed to create some friction or pressure for phones without cases - I had no intention of making a new stand for every phone or for phones without cases.

I decided to try a flexible "bow" in the back - just a very thin (1mm) printed flat strap, which would be stuck into two small holes into the inside of the phone holding area - creating pressure against the back of the phone and holding in in place when there was no case on it.
This worked!

The Model is published HERE.