Creative PCNC Custom Cell Phone Stand Ideas

You’re probably thinking, “How in the world is a Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine a DIY thing?” It’s definitely not typical, takes background knowledge in programming, and is more expensive. But it opens the door to otherwise unobtainable projects (like a custom cell phone stand), does the job of many tools in one, is more efficient, and is just cool.

Sometimes I come up with crazy ideas and/or things I want to make but have no idea how. Other times, my husband Jason has the ideas. Sometimes we scheme together and imagine the millions we’ll make once our “invention” is patented. Then we research (by that I mean Google) the invention and reality sets back in as we realize it already exists. Yes, you can laugh out loud!

Jason’s Custom Cell Phone Stand Idea

The idea for a cell phone stand came from Jason. He likes to try new things at his job. I was a bit skeptical the first time he told me what he was working on. We don’t always “connect” when explaining things to each other (read – I’m a very visual person and like pictures; however, I’m terrible at describing things!). The words karate figure, cell phone holder and wood made sense, but nothing else.

A few days later, the kids and I visited him at work. He showed me what he made. In fact, there were a bunch of co-workers looking at it. I still had no idea what I was looking at. Initially, I thought it was an abstract object. Then they all explained it was the karate figure – the part the phone would lean against. Still a blank look. Then they pointed out where the head, arms, and legs were. AHHHH – light bulb! It would need some paint (in my humble opinion) once assembled. All together though, it was a pretty cool idea.

My Custom Cell Phone Stand Idea

Weeks later, I decided I wanted to make a cell phone stand for my brother’s birthday. I wanted it to look like a piece of bacon. He sort of loves bacon; who doesn’t?!? Only problem was I had no idea how to make it myself.

Lucky for me, Jason does and works for a company that sells various types of Personal CNC machines. They were very gracious in allowing me to use the machines to make the phone stand parts. You can learn more about them here: https://www.tormach.com/

I learned a lot along the way. So, although it’s not exactly my normal DIY; I still thought it was awesome and wanted to share with you! Who knows – maybe you’ll become a CNC hobbyist someday? It’s on my radar now!

Custom Cell Phone Stand Instructions

Step 1.) Draw the desired object using CAD (computer aided design) software. This part was exasperating and fun. Exasperating because I had a hard time trying to describe to Jason how I wanted it to look. Fun once he just showed me which buttons to use and I did it myself!

Step 2.) Transfer the drawing to CAM (computer aided manufacturing) software. This step was all Jason. He used a program called SprutCam. I’m not sure what he all did, but it took him about 5 minutes, and we were ready to go.

Step 3.) Copy your file into the CNC controller and set up your work and tool offsets. We used Tormach’s PCNC 770 Mill to cut the bacon part and a PCNC 1100 Mill to cut the circular base. Setting up the machine was easy. First, we installed and measured the tool. Then we set the work offset, which tells the machine where the part is located.

Step 4.) Run your part! This step goes quick and it’s really cool to see the mill chip away at your block of material to form the shape.

The bacon part took about 2 minutes to cut and the circular base took about 4 minutes. If I had done this by hand it would have been a couple hours!

Finishing Steps

After the parts were cut, we sanded, assembled, and then painted – my favorite part!

I was kind of shocked with how cool it turned out. You know how sometimes you picture a project looking amazing in your head, you build it, and then think…Yea not so much! Totally not the case! I was a little nervous presenting the gift, but it went over well. So well in fact, that several of his co-workers wanted one too!