Cheap and Effective: Cardboard Phone Stand

A good view is important for all screens on your desk, including your phone.

Cardboard
Wood dowel; for this project I used 1/8” skewer
Cutting utilities; scissors and a decent knife are recommended
Hot glue
Ruler

Start by tracing your phone onto a piece of paper to measure side lengths. Cut a rectangle the size of your phone face, and a trapezoid matching the width of the phone, adding a triangle to each side of the rectangle made for support and exceeding the thickness by any amount comfortable.

Cut a tooth pattern to the length of the phone holder. The example is cut to 3/4” width with 3/4” x 1/4” triangles cut out along one edge. This leaves a whole 1/2” for support, which is always welcome when dealing with cardboard. Trace the first piece onto three more pieces for a total of 4 pieces to use. Once all the tooth lines are cut, cut two thinner solid lines keeping in mind that they must later support the phone and thus have to be thick enough to do so later on, however thick feels comfortable.

Now it is time to fasten the vast majority of the parts together, starting with the teeth. Glue pairs of tooth rows together to increase their strength. This should leave you with two rows to then glue to the back of the holder. Align the two rows parallel and vertical to the holder, with the teeth facing up, and as an extra glue tip, it helps to glue the piece and then add glue on the corners after the fact. Cut a piece of dowel to at least 3/4” wider than the distance between the two rows of teeth, and push in the dowel at the bottom part of the rows of teeth. Also, remember to glue the bottom part of the holder to the front of the holder, with the triangles bent to a right angle for support. Put another dowel through both of the two other strips of cardboard from earlier and cut it to 3/4” added to the width between the tooth rows again.

Finally, put the two pieces bridged by a dowel on the bottom tooth of the holder and mark what distance makes a near right angle. Cut two matching strips to the length marked, and make a hole on each side of each strip for attachment to dowels. Optionally, you can cut out a base as well tk later glue these strips to. Make holes for a dowel on the other side of the two strips bridged by a dowel, and run a dowel through the four strips with the longer two strips on the outside and the shorter two on the inside. This should make a point of pivot for the strips. Finally, shave the opposite side of the new strips down to circles around the holes and place the holes over the dowel that runs through the two tooth rows.

Now you can proudly place your diy adjustable phone stand on your desk after all this work.