Recycle your old iPhone dock for use with your 3G iPhone

Published by garry
Jul 19

Last week i was donated an old first gen iPhone dock, which i took to our engineering dept and attacked with an electric precision grinder….the result is a little messy but very very usable.

I’m modifying another dock right now to give to a friend - based on that I decided that blogging it might be helpful to others!

Some photos below….

So…. save yourself some cash and recycle your old docks!!! You only need to take a small amount off the back and a little more off each side.

Digg!
Filed under: iphone, phones, ,

17 Responses

  1. Craig Says:

    I’d get some wet n’ dry sandpaper to that. It will give it a nice smooth finish. Make sure you use the paper wet.

    Posted on July 21st, 2008 at 3:57 pm

  2. Tony Shadwick Says:

    Hey - I agree with Craig. Get yourself some automotive wet and dry sandpaper, and you can get it looking smooth again. No problem! Just use a higher grit to get it smooth-by-scratched looking, work your way up to 800+ grit, using wet sandpaper - like, do this in a sink of water. Get above 1000 and it will look brand new! Places like AutoZone should have what you need.

    Posted on July 21st, 2008 at 4:05 pm

  3. Dr. Tim Martin Says:

    I’m surprised you guys are going to such extremes. I took a hair dryer and warmed the plastic then pushed the new 3G into the docking section and let it cool overnight. Presto! Works like a charm now - each and every time. I’ve done this to both the old dock (that came with the iPhone) and the dual dock for the BlueTooth earbud.

    You merely need to stretch the cradle section just a bit. I see no reason to hack it to death with sandpaper and scrapers.

    Posted on July 21st, 2008 at 5:44 pm

  4. admin Says:

    Hi Tim,

    Well, its funny you should say that… only the previous day i was using the heat gun from our engineering dept to ‘modify’ (for modity read destroy) an N95 housing off ebay that just didn’t fit exactly right… and based on my experience with melting plastic i avoided it in this instance.

    I do have another one to do for a friend though, so i might give it a go next time.

    Thanks for the tip!

    Posted on July 21st, 2008 at 6:16 pm

  5. Mod your dock to work with iPhone 3G Says:

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    Posted on July 21st, 2008 at 11:31 pm

  6. Mod your dock to work with iPhone 3G | Apple,iPhone,Mac,iPod Says:

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  7. Mod your dock to work with iPhone 3G | PC and gadgets blog MyPCProblems.info Says:

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  8. Mod your iPhone 1st Gen dock to fit iPhone 3G :) | iPhoneIndiaBlog.com Says:

    [...] one is pretty interesting. TUAW found this article on a UK blog. Here is how to recycle your old iPhone dock for use with your 3G [...]

    Posted on July 22nd, 2008 at 5:46 am

  9. Archetrix Says:

    @Admin

    You might have noticed there is a “slight” difference between a hair dryer used by Dr. Tim Martin and the heat gun you used for your experiment on that N95 case.

    Posted on July 22nd, 2008 at 9:29 am

  10. admin Says:

    Archetrix, you do have a point, but i’ve never been one for taking my time and being careful - i usually wade in with all guns blazing, with a Tim Allen - Home Improvement “More Power” mentality.

    Maybe i’ll grow out of it by the time i hit 30 ;)

    Posted on July 22nd, 2008 at 10:38 am

  11. Rashaad Sallie Says:

    Hi … sorry but I had to post this on my blog. http://www.iphone3g.co.za

    Posted on July 22nd, 2008 at 11:14 am

  12. admin Says:

    haha, no worries Rashaad!

    You can’t beat a bit of ghetto modification :)

    Posted on July 22nd, 2008 at 11:23 am

  13. Apple iPhone SDK - Mod your dock to work with iPhone 3G | iFones.com Apple iPhone 3G iPhone News Says:

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  15. MobileHogs - mobiles, latest mobiles » Mod your iPhone 1st Gen dock to fit iPhone 3G :) Says:

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    Posted on July 25th, 2008 at 2:51 am

  16. The Simple Way to Mod Your Old iPhone Docks to Work with iPhone 3G | MacSlush Says:

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    Posted on July 26th, 2008 at 11:44 pm

  17. Hot Iphone 4 You » Blog Archive » Recycle your old iPhone dock for use with your 3G iPhone Says:

    [...] Thomas Ricker wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptLast week i was donated an old first gen iPhone dock, which i took to our engineering dept and attacked with an electric precision grinder….the result is a little messy but very very usable. I’m modifying another dock right now to give … [...]

    Posted on July 30th, 2008 at 3:09 am

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