Cheap Tablet Stand From Coathanger

This is the third one of these I've made. The first was for my stepson's iPod. They work fairly well and can be adjusted simply by bending the wire to change the angle of view.

You need a coathanger (duh) and a pair of needlenose pliers.

Cut the coathanger fairly close to the hook and straighten it as much as you can. Bend it as in the photo, centering the bend in the coathanger as much as possible. Don't worry if it isn't precise, we can cut off any excess so as to even things up later. Make sure the bends are square and that the remaining wire is more or less parallel.

Now bend the part you just bent so it is 90 degrees from the rest of the coathanger as shown in the photos. Again, make sure everything is parallel and square.

Make one last 90 degree bend so you get something like this.

Cut the "tails" leading off from all that bend work you just did so that they are more or less even. Now bend the remainder of the coathanger so as to look like this. You are done. Test it with your tablet and adjust the wires so as to achieve a comfortable viewing angle.

Note how the sharp tips of the coathanger are bent. This is to prevent scratching or otherwise tearing up the surface it is sitting on.

The stand works in either horizontal or vertical mode. The second photo is the first one of these I made, designed to hold an iPod for either viewing or photography purposes. I did not think the iPod style was sufficiently strong to hold a larger, heavier tablet, hence the extra bends.

Obviously you can adjust the distances used so as to accommodate larger or smaller tablet devices. The tablet pictured is a Kindle Fire 7, I believe.

If you use this with an iPad, be advised the magnets in the tablet for holding the accessory covers Apple sells will want to grab onto the wire. This can be either a nuisance or a feature.