Making a Charging Station from Walnut & Brass | I Like To Make Stuff

With my 4 kids doing school at home lately, I've needed to make a charging station for all of their school computers. This project was made from materials I had on-hand and took a day to build. Go check out your scrap bin and make something awesome!

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Due to social distancing right now, my whole team is working from home. That leaves me to produce and shoot the videos, just like in the old days. Another unfortunate result of the distancing is that I can't go to the store to get material for my upcoming projects. For this build, I'm using some left-over material I have on hand to solve our new laptop charging problem. Recently, I made a new Credenza out of walnut plywood and I have some offcuts left over. I decided that I could use some of these funky shaped pieces for our charging station and the odd shapes would actually help produce a cool visual style. Besides the 3/4" walnut plywood, I have some brass flat sheets and a length of 1/4" brass rod that I can use as accent pieces later on.

I know that a stack of dado blades is not easy to come by in a lot of places, but I really like using it to make that perfect little pocket for shelves and dividers. Starting with the taller side walls, I cut a dado across the middle that will hold the computer-holding shelf. Armed with a modified capital letter H, I planned on splitting up the center area into four separate stalls for the computers to sit. I measured out the exposed area and marked off three dado slots that I cut on the table saw. Perfectly, the three divider walls locked into place.

Now that the walls were structurally ready, I wanted to add that decorative design element to the charging station. Because of one of the scrap pieces, I decided to add a continuous slant to the front of the charging station. To ensure that the cut it the same across the five uprights, I bundled them together, justified to the top, with some tape and ran the stack through the bandsaw. Before I brought the pieces together, I applied some wipe-on polyurethane to the hard-to-reach areas. I used some walnut edge banding to cover the exposed edges and assembled the pieces using some glue and brad nails.

To add a little flare to this walnut box, I wanted to add some brass accents. In the upper computer-holding spaces, I needed to add a rear limit so the laptops don't push out of the back. After drilling some continuous holes through the uprights, I drove in the 1/4" brass rod to act as a rear stop. The chargers, an essential element in this charging station, were hot glued up into the lower space of the upper-case H. The opening of this space on the front of the charging station is open and you can see the nest of charging cables. Using some brass sheets, I cut a panel to cover this area. I marked and drilled four elongated holes so the USB-C plugs can come out the front and plug into the laptops. To add a matte finish to the brass, I used my orbital sander to lightly scuff up the front.

In most of my projects, I tend to make things more square and don't really care about visual aesthetics. In conclusion, the left-over material I used forced me to add a visual elements because of its off-cut shape. I was really pleased at how I was able to design this charging station around those pieces and it turned out super nice! It is really functional, the kids area using it every day. All four chargers are plugged into a power strip that plugs into the wall.

I hope you can go out into your shop and use some scrap material to solve a problem in your home. Right now, we all may not be able to go get exactly what we need, but we are resilient and creative and we can make it work!

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About I Like To Make Stuff:

We have lots of projects including woodworking, metalworking, electronics, 3D printing, prop making and more!

These videos are our attempt inspire and empower others to make the stuff that they want to have. Hopefully you'll see something here that will inspire you to make something that you're passionate about!

Making a Charging Station from Walnut & Brass | I Like To Make Stuff

I Like To Make Stuff

[Iliketomakestuff]

Lots of (valid) questions about the heat generated by the power supplies. I honestly considered adding a small PC fan to vent the underside of this, but they don't create as much heat as I expected. I think it has something to do with the fact that all 4 of them are rarely charging at the same time, plus the open area in the back allows venting. We haven't had any issues over the last 4 weeks that these have been in use.

[JoseSalazar-mgqj]

Mate, such as in the old days, 6 years ago I used to watch and create all I saw here with my dad. He passed away but your videos are still the same. Thanks for the amazing content.

[RonaldFinger]

Projects that solve niche problems are my favorite!

[RedHillian]

That's fantastic Bob, and I love the retro feel of "just Bob in his workshop, shooting this all himself" - I was wondering how much back catalogue of content you had before you'd be putting out the solo stuff!

[clydebalcom]

You are obviously a devoted father. Stay safe and I wish you and your family the very best.

[michaeljensen]

This video is a lifesaver thank you so much for making it. I am a small business owner and a pastor. I have 2 phones, 2 Tablets, and a laptop to keep charged and this charging station makes my life so much easier. Thanks s bunch

[Legbookformer]

I took industrial technology this second semester which is basically wood shop. Watching these videos before that class was helpful because I already knew everything. Keep up the great work!

[markbryan]

Necessity is the mother of invention! Nice job. Thanks Bob.

[willybaetens]

Hi,
Great job.
It is useful, nice design, compact.
Thanks for sharing.
Keep it safe.
Willy from Belgium.
😷😷😷

[adrianh.]

This is absolutely the content I love to see from this channel, "I want to make a thing and I'm going to make what I have work for the project."

[miningbruno]

You need to come up with some sort of grommet for the brass plate; over time -- and it won't be that long -- the wires will chafe down to bare conductor (you can also hot-glue them in place, right before, or over the opening).

[nikolabolsec]

One of the reasons I started to follow your channel and to be inspired by you is the retro music which you composed. Not that it gave your videos a distinct quality but it also gave some mystical atmosphere... Hope you will return to it more. It is your "signature move".

[avyayirde]

This video is a testament to how good you are at making videos on your own

[soffes]

Love the throwback ILTMS music at the beginning. Very Bob filming himself :)

[fcworkshop]

Walnut and brass is always a good combination. Very clever and nice job!

[evelyn_r]

I really love these quick practical solutions to storage and/or charging solutions 💖

[ChaseGatyas]

This was literally on my TODO list for this weekend. Thank you!

[tinkertailorsolderply]

Brilliant. Great seeing so many making use of whats around rather than always getting things in. Can be very liberating and get the creative mind going!

In regards to the brass holes, maybe 3D print a plastic collar to prevent the cables cutting against/exposing the wires?

[arkadiuszrenc]

You should do all the videos this way. I like that camera is not moving on gimbal - it's easy to see everything. And also it's great to reuse material! Do that often please :)

[dalebob]

Nice to have some of the old days style every now and then