Cover/stand designs for 6" readers

[Renate]

I've had my Poke3 for a few years now. That uses a cover that uses a plastic shell that grips the reader and a front flap. Even though it has no (conspicuous) magnetism, the front flap triggers sleep.

My goal is for something to support the reader at a 60 degree angle on a desk but not add a lot of weight or be cumbersome. I have a little 1/4-20 T-nut expoxied to the back of the case which accepts a little bendy leg (sawed off a mini camera tripod). This gives me a stand but I also can remove it.

I've thought about cutting the front flap out and glueing it directly to a bit of the rear case of the Poke3. That would lighten up a chunk of the rear cover. But right now, with the wrong battery in the unit, I'm running it without the Poke3 rear cover anyway.

The Poke5 is a bit smaller and lighter. But the cover is a bit heavier as it is a magnetic powerhouse. The Poke5 has a ton of supermagnets in it. Personally, I'd rather have just enough in there to keep the flap shut. There's so much magnetic attraction going on that when you open your book there is a bit of indecision whether you are splitting the back from the device or the front from the device. The cover is a a chunk of the combined weight so you end up removing the cover entirely to read. How is this better than just using a soft sack?

I've considered removing ALL the magnetics in the Poke5, using a soft sack and using the power button for sleep. I've considered removing all of the magnets except the right edge and using only a front flap glued to the back edge so as to retain auto sleep. I'd trim all the magnetics from the flap except a small bit.

In any of these cases I'd still install my "monopod". Even when just holding a device I find the having that foot nestled in your fingers gets around the problem of slim bezels and slippery cases.

Any thoughts?

It would be possible to have something that folds out like a picture frame.

[Renate]

You weren't expecting an extended delay while I considered this all a bit, where you?

The magnets are nearer the back so the attraction there is strong. I removed 7 magnets from the left side and top and two from the right side. You could actually still use the cover as normal that way, although the cover would be a bit lose on the left side when the cover was open. Still, you can see that there is a ton of magnetic overkill here.

I cut the back cover down to 1/2" of the "chunky" bit. That material is tough, I have no idea what it is. It took a dozen cuts with a carpet knife on both sides to get through. At least it cut fairly cleanly. The leatherette is well bonded, so no fraying edges.

The front flap still stays put when you hold it face down and the auto sleep still works.

I'll be installing a T-nut where the "X" is, but imagine my dismay as I realized that I didn't have any right in stock.

[Renate]

Wow, they went overboard on those magnets. I just took out another 4, that makes 13.
I figured that the cover was uniformaly magnetized, like those business card magnets.
Not so! The front and rear cover have embedded super strong magnets at certain points.
The right side of the case has about 10 magnets, but only 4 interact with the front cover.
So, for all the people who are replicating this (i.e. none) you can take it down to these four magnets.

I'm waffling on installing a foot as those dollar store cell phone stands (like plate stands) works pretty dandy too.

Note: And I finally figured out the cover Hall effect on the Poke3.
There's a little sticker on the right edge, like a store anti-theft thingie.
But it's not magnetic. Is it RF? I couldn't figure it out. (It's just a pad.)
Like the Poke5 cover having a fiberglass? acryclic panel with super magnets, the Poke3 is the same.
There is only one magnetic spot, not the right edge, but slightly right of center on the bottom edge.
The Poke5's spot is on the bottom edge on the left.

Watch out for those case magnets on the Poke5.
They are very strong and can easily wipe the stripe off your credit card.
The cover magnets are not nearly so strong.

[Renate]

I took apart the piece of the back cover that I wasn't using.
The backbone is 1.25 mm (0.050") acrylic.
The magnet are the same thickness, that is, thinner than the ones in the case.

Mmm, I think that I'll try to split the 1/2" remnant of the back cover and remove the acrylic and the still more magnets that are there.

Edit: So I did remove that bit of backbone and magnets on the back 1/2".
It came out pretty well, I didn't even have to split the side seams.
Of course, it would have been easier to do before it was attached to the back case.

In any case, look at all the magnets that I got rid of!
So now the front flap has four magnets for the right side closure and one magnet for the Hall effect sensor. So there is no useful modification to the front flap.
Inside there are the four remaining magnets as shown in the previous post.

[denisuu]

That's nuts! Your e-reader must be quite a few grams lighter now!

There were only 4 magnets in mine (if I remember correctly). I also took them all out and removed the speaker on my Leaf2. (which also has a magnet) The sound was horrible anyway.

[Renate]

Originally Posted by denisuu

That's nuts!

Thank you!

I thought that this had turned out really well and I was surprised that I didn't get a rise out of anybody.

The Poke5 is so pretty now with only the bit of back cover that I'm hesitant to go further with any more modifications. My Poke3 has that T-nut glued to the center of the back. That works fine for the removable foot, but it's a bit annoying as without the foot, lying around (not being read) it's all teeter-tottery. I've thought about drilling a hole in the front of the cover so that the cover can be folded all the way back. I'd only do this to the Poke3 as it's been relegated to standby service.

I've thought about getting a round 20mm x 2mm to place in the center of the back of the Poke5 as a general attachment point for a leg. Still, the less magnets, the better.

The back cover on the Poke5 folds back so well and securely I've thought about making a mount for the gooseneck using a thin piece of acrylic that would be sandwiched inside the front cover and the back case with a little bead or step at the bottom to prevent it from slipping out.

[Renate]

So, I tried out a proof-of-concept for a holder that hangs off a gooseneck.
The main plate is 7" x 3" of 1/8" plywood.
The bottom rail is a bit of the square section off a Chinese plastic chopstick.
The mounting hole is 1/4-20

I'll have to test it a bit to see how I like it.
I like how this requires no modifications to the Poke 5.
The front cover simply folds around back over the main plate and it's enough to keep it from tipping forward.

I'll probably spray paint it black. Done. And a bit of fine-tuning.

[denisuu]

I see so you didn't want to drill a hole in the back like you did with the Poke3.
So that peace of plywood is attached to an arm now?

[Renate]

Originally Posted by denisuu

I see so you didn't want to drill a hole in the back like you did with the Poke3.

The Poke3 actually just has a T-nut glued to the plastic shell which is the back of the cover.
My Poke3 does not have the actual device back case attached now as I'm using a replacement battery which is thicker that the stock battery.

Yes, the Poke5 little board is mounted on the gooseneck.
I tried to find the exact model but all the ones I see have the gooseneck in curlycues.
The one that I have is fairly stiff. You can bend it, but really only one wide radius bend on the whole length.
Even so, sagging is still a problem.
As delivered the arm does not rotate inside the clamp.
I hammered it loose to break the mold so that the arm can be swung out of position without changing the bend of the arm.

The bottom line is that I find reading on my side more comfortable than reading on my back. It's probably the mattress.