Phone Alarm Clock

The reason I designed this piece was for me to be able to use my phone as an alarm clock. Yes I know… it already works that way, but specifically I wanted to be able to snooze it easier. How did I manage to do that? Making a simple and elegant design with a huge button on top to be able to snooze, check the time, etc etc.

This design was made to fit my phone which is an iphone 7, but I guess with some modifications you could change it to fit whichever phone you want. The way it works is you put your phone inside making sure the sleep/on/off button to it’s side is placed under the wooden lever on the inside. The lever is glued to a big button on the top of the workpiece so every time you push it it will click the sleep/on/off button.

IMPORTANT: The lever must be carved with the wood grain going along the piece, so it won’t break when being pushed down.

I do not own a CNC machine, so this design might still have flaws until tested.

In this case I’m using walnut, but choose whichever material pleases you best. The thicknesses can be achieved with a planer, since you won’t really be able to find them commercially like this.
- 12 × 8 inches 5 mm thick
- 8 × 6 inches 9 mm thick
- 10 × 6 inches 15 mm thick

Apart from that we’ll need:
- Wood Glue
- Clamps
- Sand paper (150 grit)
- Wipe-on Polyurethane

Optional:
- Brad Nailer (this is just in case you want stronger joints, but it is not essential for the project)

Carve the pieces making sure to choose the right board with the right thickness for each one of the parts.

Since we’re using a 1/8th inch bit we’re going 2 need to chamfer the edges of 2 pieces in order for them to fit.
- The top square part of the lever, which goes inserted into a carving into the button needs to be chamfer in order for it to fit.
- The back triangular piece that add support to the workpiece has 2 protruding pieces, we need to chamfer the edges of both those piece so they will fit the carvings on the back piece.

All of this can be done on the go in the next step, but I thought it was important to mention it before beginning.

For this step I added 2 pdf files to the project page. One called Parts List and another called Gluing Instructions. Use both of those pdf’s in order to correctly glue it all up.

Remember since this has several parts, it’s better to give each step the time to dry before going on to the next.

IMPORTANT: Do not completely glue the lever, if you look at the piece you will notice there are parts around it that have a spacing, that is to allow it to move freely.

To give it a sleeker look, we want to chamfer or round all the edges that go up vertically, we can achieve this with a router and roundover bit or with sandpaper.

For practical purposes, I think the best choice would be to use a wipe on poly. But again, choose whichever finish you like best.

Since I do not own a CNC machine, I can’t really make these projects using that process, so if you do choose to remake my projects please share the pictures of it.

Enjoy!