Design a phone or tablet stand that fits your device: the angle, the slot, the cable notch
The viewing angle for a desk, kitchen or bedside, how wide the slot must be for your case, how deep the base, a cable notch at the port, and the prompt.The phone stand is the first thing most people print, and the downloaded one is nearly right: the slot is a shade too tight for the case, the angle is wrong for a desk, the cable will not reach the port. Designing it to your phone takes three measurements and settles all three complaints.
Three measurements
- Thickness of the phone in its case. The slot is this plus 1 mm. A bare phone is 7 to 9 mm; in a case 10 to 14 mm; a tablet in a folio 12 to 18 mm.
- Width of the phone, the way it will sit (portrait or landscape). The stand's slot should be at least 60 % of it to stop the phone tipping sideways; full width looks better.
- Where the charging port is, from the edge the phone will rest on, and the plug's size (a USB-C plug with its shell is about 12 × 7 mm; a Lightning plug 8 × 6).
The angle, from where the stand will live
| Where | Angle from the desk | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Desk, next to a monitor | 60 to 70° | Glanced at from a seated eye height |
| Kitchen counter, recipe | 70 to 75° | Read from standing, a little further away |
| Bedside table | 45 to 55° | Looked at lying down |
| Video call | 75 to 80° | Camera level with your face |
| Drawing or typing on a tablet | 20 to 30° | Hands rest on it |
The lower the angle, the deeper the base has to be: at 60° a phone 150 mm tall leans back about 75 mm, so the base behind the slot must reach that far or the stand tips. A rule that works: base depth at least half the device's height for a phone, two-thirds for a tablet.
The parts of a stand that works
- The slot: thickness plus 1 mm, 10 to 12 mm deep, with its back face tilted to the angle; round the bottom corners of the slot so the phone's edge sits in a groove, not on a line.
- The lip at the front of the slot: 8 to 10 mm high for a phone, 15 mm for a tablet. Lower and the phone slides forward; higher and it covers the screen's bottom edge.
- The back rest: the tilted face the phone leans on, at least 40 mm tall. Taller is more stable; a cutout in the middle saves plastic and lets you push the phone off from behind.
- The cable notch: a slot 14 mm wide and 8 mm tall through the lip and the slot floor, centred where the port will be, running out the back of the base so the cable lies flat. For a phone that sits off-centre of its port, the notch moves, which is why the measurement matters.
- The base: 1 mm wider than the slot on each side, with the depth above; 4 mm thick, with a 0.5 mm chamfer on the bottom edge against elephant's foot. Four shallow pockets for 10 mm rubber feet keep it from sliding, or a strip of cork.
For a tablet, double the lip, make the back rest 80 mm tall and the base two-thirds of the tablet's height; a tablet at 70° pushes hard on the back rest, so 2 mm walls or a solid base.
A dock, not just a stand
Lay the plug in the stand's slot floor so the phone drops onto it: a pocket the plug's exact shape (measure it, add 0.3 mm), with the cable running out the back. Alignment is tight, so this is the one case where a 0.1 mm reading matters. Fit Check cuts a five-minute test slice around the plug pocket before you print the stand.
Typing it into SpeakCAD
Give the thickness in its case, the width, the angle from the table, where the port is, and the base depth rule above if you want to be sure. The AI builds the stand, says which sizes it used, and the dimensions panel shows the slot width to check against the calliper. "Make the angle 65 instead of 60" or "move the cable notch 10 mm to the left" is a small change, and on a plan the first 3 small changes of each part are included.
The stand is also a good first part by hand, free: a box for the base, Cut a slot with its Angle set to the tilt, Cut a 14 × 8 mm notch through the lip, Fillet the top edges, Text your name on the back. The hand tools explain each step.
If you have never measured for a print, how to measure an object for a 3D printed part takes ten minutes and saves a reprint.
Printing
Print it the way it stands: base on the bed, no supports, 0.2 mm layers, 3 walls, 15 % infill. A phone stand is 40 to 60 g of PLA and about two hours; a tablet stand twice that. PETG if it lives on a sunny windowsill or in a car. A 1 mm fillet on the slot's edges keeps the case from scuffing.
Shaping a part by hand (a hole, a cut, an added shape, text, rounded corners, a shell, every size typed in millimetres) is free, and so is downloading what you shaped. With the AI, a new part spends 4 credits on a plan with its first 3 small changes free, a design change 3, a small change 2, a quick edit 1; without a plan a new part spends 3. Start with Maker: 50 credits a month for $7.99, cancel anytime.
Prompts to start from
Open one in the builder, change the numbers to yours, and the model renders in your browser, usually within a minute or two. Keep adjusting in the chat before you print.A desk phone stand for a phone 12 mm thick in its case and 72 mm wide, 65 degrees from the table, slot 13 mm wide and 12 mm deep, 10 mm front lip, cable notch 14 x 8 mm centred, base 80 mm deep with a 0.5 mm bottom chamfer
A kitchen tablet stand for a tablet 9 mm thick and 250 mm wide in landscape, 72 degrees, 15 mm lip, back rest 80 mm tall with a cutout, base 110 mm deep, 2 mm walls
A bedside charging dock for a phone 8.5 mm thick, 50 degrees, with a pocket for a USB-C plug 12 x 7 x 25 mm in the slot floor, cable running out the back
Questions
60 to 70 degrees from the desk for a phone beside a monitor, 70 to 75 on a kitchen counter, 45 to 55 at a bedside, 75 to 80 for video calls, and 20 to 30 for drawing on a tablet. The lower the angle, the deeper the base has to be.
The thickness of the phone in its case plus 1 mm: about 9 mm for a bare phone, 11 to 15 mm in a case. Make the slot 10 to 12 mm deep with a front lip 8 to 10 mm high, and round its bottom corners so the phone sits in a groove.