Russell Beattie

I decided to make myself an iPad stand out of Lego after seeing some DYI stands recently and I figured I'd share the results. My goal was to create a stand that was both minimal, yet sturdy. I didn't want to slap a few pieces together in some wobbly base that would either fall apart when I moved it, or worse, break apart while bearing the weight of my shiny new $500 gadget. But I also didn't want a multi-colored plasticky monstrosity sitting on my desk either. So here's what I did, so you can play along at home if you like. (The rest of the pictures are at the bottom of the post.)

First, I started out with a Lego road base piece so that there was a nice smooth section where the iPad can slide in without having to place it "just so" on the studs. I'm pretty sure we got that particular piece in a Firefighter kit a few years ago. We've moved on to Star Wars since then, so no one will miss that piece I'm sure. The nice thing is that because it's meant to go on the bottom of a bigger set and support the weight of a building, it's smooth on the bottom - so it won't scratch up a table top, nor does it slide around much.

After that I grabbed a bunch of thicker pieces that I felt would support the back of the iPad without separating from the base. The rounded brick pieces worked out perfectly - the curve at the back acts as a sort of arch (I'm guessing), so it's hard to "shear" it apart. Finally, I tapered the back up until the angle was just right, then topped it with a couple slanted pieces I found that fit perfectly.

For the front, I just threw a black couple 6x1 bricks on the ridge, and topped them with smooth black caps. As you can see, when you look at it from the front, you can't even tell it's sitting on Legos. Though I may decide to make it more Lego-like (i.e. colorful with studs showing) I actually wanted to see how nice I could make it look first.

I'm very happy with it -it's sitting here on the desk right now and it works great. Nice and sturdy, and it blends perfectly from the front.

:-)

-Russ