DIY SMC Skype WiFi Phone Cradle

One of the items on our SMC Skype WiFi phone wish list is the desktop cradle.

In the original retail box, SMC is considerate enough to include an AC adapter that I can use at home and a USB charging cable to get the juice from the laptop when I am on the road. Finding something to recharge the SMC Skype WiFi phone is never an issue. However, my desk at home and work has been taken over by those wonderful (or darn?) Skype accessories waiting for test and review. I really need some help to organize it. Besides, having the phone I actually use in daily-basis “stand up” on my desk is always a plus. With the phone in the cradle, I can easily figure out where the call is coming from.

While waiting for the recently announced cradle from SMC, Jon, our in-house senior technician, helps me to design and build up a Do It Yourself (DIY) cradle. Please see the picture. It serves the purpose very well. Jon has even constructed a JIG for all the bending work. Now, he can make one DIY SMC WiFi phone cradle from scratch in 15 minutes. The DIY cradle is very artsy!

I’m going to list all the materials and the steps needed for this DIY SMC Skype WiFi phone cradle in the second half of this post. You can do one for yourself. It should be able to work for all four different brand Skype WiFi phone: Netgear, Belkin, SMC, and Edgecore. If you need one, please send a request to me. At this point, there are four different colors for you to choose from: metal, black, yellow, and blue.

By the way, we are taking our DYI cradle directly to Skype for Skype Certification. Hope the certification process is quick and easy!

Commercial Plug Time

Besides the boring technician job, Jon plays guitar in a Rock & Roll band: Dustin Hayze. You can occasionally see them playing in Houston’s live music restaurant. They now have two EPs published. Please check out their MySpace page: http://myspace.com/dustinhayze. Jon is the one with the bunny outfit.

 

 

Tools, Materials, and Construction Steps

Tools list:

3” Clamp-on Vise Wilton form Home Depot, $21.00

8” Slip-Joint Pliers Craftsman from Sears, $8.00

8” Wire Cutters from Sears, $9.99

Misc: Card Board, Cloth Towel, Sharpie Marker, Measuring Tape, and Hammer

JIG pictures:

 

Materials list:

9 ga. Galvanized Wire 50’ coil from ACE hardware, $5.99

1 qt. Denatured alcohol from ACE hardware, $5.99

Black Plasti-Dip Spray coating from DX engineering, $6.99

 

Construction procedures (See the detailed dimension in the blue prints at the end of this post):

1. Cut a 24” 9 ga. Galvanized wire

2. Mark the 11” position on the 24” wire. Use the mark as the center point to bend the wire by the (3/4”, 3/4”, 1”) triangular JIG. (Bend #1) You will have a long side and a short side.

 

3. On the Clamp-on Vise, use hammer to build the 90 degree bend. (Bend #2)

 

4. Use the back-supporting triangular JIG (1.5”, 1.5”, 1”) to bend the long side. (Bend #3)

 

5. Mark the bending position on the long side in step 2, using the bottom JIG. Bend the wire on the Clamp-on Vise. (Bend #5)

 

6. Repeat step 5 for Bend #6, #7, and #8.

 

7. Mark the bending position on the short side in step 2, using the top JIG. Bend the wire on the Clamp-on Vise. (Bend #4)

 

8. Repeat step 7 for Bend #9, #10, #11, and #12.

 

9. Use the Denatured alcohol to wash off the oil on the cradle.

 

10. Put the Plasti-Dip Spray coating on the cradle.

 

11. Let it dry. After that, you will have your DIY Skype WiFi phone cradle ready to use!

With a littile modification, you can make the cradle for other phones (Cell phones, Keyspan cordless phone VP-24A, other USB phones without cradles…).

Keyspan USB cordless phone VP-24A with the DIY cradle

Click Here to see the SMC Skype WiFi phone review

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