Three Awesome iPad Stands for One Awesome iPad

So, I lucked out last Friday after work and went home with a brand new iPad 2. Right now there aren't really any cases or stands available for it aside from Apple's Smart Covers. I think they're a cool idea, but I personally don't want one. To be honest, I really don't care for their appearance, and I prefer to have a full folio-style case (like this for example) than just a fold-up cover for the screen. I've seen pictures of all sorts of new iPad 2 cases, but they're not available to purchase yet. But I really want to have at least some sort of stand for it, now. So what do I do? I make one. Out of what? Why, Lego of course!

I first saw the pictures online of this iPad stand and decided I'd try and copy it using whatever Technics Lego pieces I happened to have. It's a very cool little stand, since it folds down to a little bit smaller than my iPhone. Check out the video on the linked page to see it in action. Since I didn't have the same pieces I had to improvise and build something that was functionally similar, although not quite the same. Here's the result. You know, it sure looks like a scorpion, doesn't it.

The next evening, I thought I'd try my hand at making my own completely original stand. While it looked cool (and even more scorpion-like), functionally it wasn't the best since when my iPad was sitting in Portrait orientation it had a hard time keeping from flipping back. As you can see in the picture below, I actually added some little L-shaped “feet” to the back to help keep it standing while holding my iPad, but even that barely helped. So when I got home the next day I dismantled it and tried another one.

I spent some time thinking about why the simple little stand with minimal pieces could support an iPad great while my design that had a whole lot more pieces and was far more sturdy couldn't. I eventually determined that the main reason for the stability issues had to do with the fact that the back on this one was vertical, while the other was at an angle. The angled back was able to adequately direct the weight applied by the iPad into the table, while the vertical one simply flipped over because the weight was still pushing at an angle. So I tried making my new stand using an angled back, and this time it worked really great. I'm very pleased with how this one turned out. Seeing it with an iPad on it really gives you a sense of how small it is. I'm actually surprised that any of these stands are able to support an iPad at all.

But no, I couldn't let it rest there. Later in the evening when I went to put away the rest of the Lego, I thought I'd see if I actually had enough pieces left to make a third workable stand. And what do you know, I did. Not only that, but I think it ended up looking really great. More of an “Organic Alien Architecture” look this time around.

So now I have three great iPad stands to use. I think I might leave one here at home, put one on my desk at work, and have the small, portable folding one to take wherever I might need it.

PS - apologies for the poor focus on some of the pictures. These were all taken with my iPhone 3G camera, which isn't the greatest, and can't focus good on close objects. Maybe I'll eventually get around to buying a new camera to replace mine which died a while back... But not yet, because I just spent my money on an iPad!