iPod Nano Car Dock

When got home from class today I decided I needed to take a break from coding and work on some kind of physical project. I realized my current method of plugging my iPod into my stereo every time I entered my car, and having to unplug it everytime I exited my car was far too time consuming and that a dock for easy set in, pull out connectivity was just the project for this rainy afternoon.

Step One

I needed to find a material to make this dock out of. I decided that wood would be the best choice, as my roomate has cut his loft down to a regular sized bed, and we have a few leg piece just sitting around.

Step Two
I cut about a 2″ piece off using a hand saw.

Step Three:

Next, I gathered all the necessary tools. Since I have didn’t have many resources, I was limited to my Dremel kit, and a pencil. I then traced the bottom of the iPod nano onto the block to guide where I would be cutting, and drilled holes in each corner to the preferred depth of the iPod nano slot.

Step Four

Finally It was time to cut the slot in the block for the iPod. This was a little tricky because, as I mentioned before I didn’t have many tools. My Dremel got the job done, although It wasn’t the ideal tool for the job. I used a combination of the drill, the “saw,” and the sander attachments to get the slot cut.

Step Five

After getting the slot cut, I placed the iPod in and made some adjustments. Then I drilled a hole at the bottom of the dock for a 1/4″ stereo plug (obtainable at Radioshack). I used a couple of short nails to secure the plug inside the hole I drilled.I was careful not to nail in too deep, and only nailing at the head of the plug, to make sure I didn’t short out any wires.

Step Six:

Now that the iPod part of the dock was complete, it was time to figure out how to attach it to my car somehow. I decided cutting a slot on the bottom rear of the dock would allow it to be conveniently attached to the rather large hole I have in my dash for where a radio used to be. I measured and marked the appropriate depth and width to be cut out. I cut out the slot very similarly to how I cut out the iPod slot, using a drill and saw.

Step Seven

The slot fit nicely but I needed another piece of wood to place on top of the dock to secure it for quick plugging / unplugging of the iPod without worry of pulling the dock off of the dash board. This was simple, I measured and cut one more block of wood from my roommates bed posts, and wedged it between the top of the dock and the top of the radio hole opening on my dashboard.

Finish:

Finally complete, I simply ran the 1/4″ stereo wire behind the dash and into the glove box where my radio resides.