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Short Summary
Main recommendation: He builds a sliding-lid Kindle Fire case that doubles as an adjustable stand, using a dovetail-routed slot and magnets to hold the lid in position. The project is simple woodworking, and the design incorporated reader suggestions after he crowdsourced ideas on his website, Facebook, and elsewhere.
Key Points
- The stand works by letting the lid slide along a dovetail-cut ledge, so the Kindle can be propped at any angle the lid is set to.
- A ridge inside the case grips the bottom edge of the Kindle, which holds it upright and also keeps the power switch from being pressed accidentally.
- Two rare earth magnets on each side, with washers on the underside of the lid, hold the lid closed and in position.
- He made a 1 cm thick blank matching the Kindle's size so he could test fit without repeatedly bringing the actual device outside and getting sawdust on it.
Details Worth Noting
- Concrete instructions:
- Cut the Kindle cradle by screwing a crude template jig to a 3/4 inch blank, then routing around it with a 3/8 inch straight bit.
- Cut the ledge with a dovetail bit in a router table, making a first dovetail slot, then clearing the middle section.
- Make the lid from a thin piece of the same wood, using the same dovetail bit with a fence on the router to bevel the edges, and make repeated passes, checking fit each time, until it slides smoothly.
- To make the lip that grips the Kindle, raise the dovetail bit slightly and feed the piece through backward, since the blade's rotation would otherwise throw the workpiece; stop short of the far side to leave the lip.
- Glue a 1/8 inch thick piece to the back of the lid, then drill holes for rare earth magnets and epoxy them in, one on each side, and drill shallow holes for washers on the underside.
- Finish with a few coats of lacquer after sanding smooth, and add a felt lining to the bottom of the case.
- He said he was initially concerned but based on his reading about e-readers and modern electronics without magnetic media, he concluded you're probably fine using magnets, noting some Kindle cases use magnetic latches.
- He initially considered a metal strip to stop the lid at set positions, but found it unnecessary because the lid works at any position.
- He mentioned a small breakage of the lip on one side during construction and said it wouldn't make a difference, joking it looked like a design element.
Bottom Line
This is a practical, low-complexity project that combines a protective case and a reading stand, with the magnets and dovetail lid doing most of the work.
