gogogubbins
13th March 2007, 01:44 AM
Wizard desk Stand on the Cheap
Ok so I was kind of envious of my friend’s HP iPAQ 6340- primarily because it looked slick on his desk sittin a pretty in its desk stand. So when I saw an old Casio stand (I think it came from a Casio but I don’t know for sure) in a tech junk shop I picked it up with an idea. The thing was so useless that I got it for free. It was all scratched up and had a white paint smear on its side! It was not even a perfect fit for the Wizard, but then, it did come for free.
I already had a 2.5-3.5 stereo converter as well as an extra USB Mini cord. All the things I needed for my stand. And yes My trusted battery operated drill.
I began by ripping out the existing circuitry present in the stand. The Stand had a non-functional tilt mechanism (It would have been cool if it was working). Since a crucial spring was missing and it did not add any extra functions, I decided to do away with the tilt thing and hot glued the Base and the receiver fixed at the standard 65 deg angle.
The existing connectors were of no use so I just drilled them out. Then carefully measured the center of the slot and drilled a hole for the mini USB. (remember the slot was much wider than the vertical Wizard and much smaller than a horizontal wizard). With a cardboard cutout made by tracing the bottom part of the Wizard, I was able to get near perfect measures. From the same cutout I also marked-off the location of the 2.5 stereo pin. I adjusted the required height of the pin and the USB plug by actually plugging in the Wizard. The USB plug and the stereo pin were then hot glued to the receiver base.
The Casio had a translucent ‘start’ button and I had salvaged the LED that was part of the original circuit. I spliced the USB cable and soldered the LED leads to the + and – wires (carefully and not messing with the data wires). Now I also had a LED charging light (Ok it does nothing but look cool). Some more hot glue to fix every thing into position and it was done. I fixed a fairly heavy metal bolt to the underside of the base with industrial grade duct tape to provide extra stability.
I even drilled a hole to one side for the extra stylus. So there, a stand for the Wizard.
I am able to charge the Wiz on my desk- it looks real cool with Innobek Side window running. I am also able to use a wall wart with USB female to charge the Wiz while I play tunes on it with the audio piped through my Music system.
Time Spent- 20 minutes
$$- 0
Next upgrade- sand and paint the thing (I guess Black would look nice)
Ok so I was kind of envious of my friend’s HP iPAQ 6340- primarily because it looked slick on his desk sittin a pretty in its desk stand. So when I saw an old Casio stand (I think it came from a Casio but I don’t know for sure) in a tech junk shop I picked it up with an idea. The thing was so useless that I got it for free. It was all scratched up and had a white paint smear on its side! It was not even a perfect fit for the Wizard, but then, it did come for free.
I already had a 2.5-3.5 stereo converter as well as an extra USB Mini cord. All the things I needed for my stand. And yes My trusted battery operated drill.
I began by ripping out the existing circuitry present in the stand. The Stand had a non-functional tilt mechanism (It would have been cool if it was working). Since a crucial spring was missing and it did not add any extra functions, I decided to do away with the tilt thing and hot glued the Base and the receiver fixed at the standard 65 deg angle.
The existing connectors were of no use so I just drilled them out. Then carefully measured the center of the slot and drilled a hole for the mini USB. (remember the slot was much wider than the vertical Wizard and much smaller than a horizontal wizard). With a cardboard cutout made by tracing the bottom part of the Wizard, I was able to get near perfect measures. From the same cutout I also marked-off the location of the 2.5 stereo pin. I adjusted the required height of the pin and the USB plug by actually plugging in the Wizard. The USB plug and the stereo pin were then hot glued to the receiver base.
The Casio had a translucent ‘start’ button and I had salvaged the LED that was part of the original circuit. I spliced the USB cable and soldered the LED leads to the + and – wires (carefully and not messing with the data wires). Now I also had a LED charging light (Ok it does nothing but look cool). Some more hot glue to fix every thing into position and it was done. I fixed a fairly heavy metal bolt to the underside of the base with industrial grade duct tape to provide extra stability.
I even drilled a hole to one side for the extra stylus. So there, a stand for the Wizard.
I am able to charge the Wiz on my desk- it looks real cool with Innobek Side window running. I am also able to use a wall wart with USB female to charge the Wiz while I play tunes on it with the audio piped through my Music system.
Time Spent- 20 minutes
$$- 0
Next upgrade- sand and paint the thing (I guess Black would look nice)