====== 2016-04-11 - restroom tablet mount project ======

nature on invention is based on one assumption -- things can be improved. and most of the time they can, indeed. :) here's a little story of internet access in my restroom(s) over a time.

===== early beginnings =====

back when i was a student, wifi devices were rare and usually expensive... so i just pulled the ethernet cable to the restroom and old laptop did the trick. well... almost -- it was not too convenient and by the time it booted... you were most likely "done". ;)

wifis took over quite fast. then smart phones kicked in. now you have wifi-connected phone and you're good. unless you want a bit bigger screen for more convenient reading...


===== tablet era =====

so you buy a tablet. nice, readable screen which means... big device, inconvenient to hold in your hand.

fortunately now 3d printers are more and more common place. so what can we do? :)


==== naive mount ====

first approach was a trivial idea -- just print 3 hooks, and glue them to the doors, in the right place. it looked like this:

{{:blog:2016:04:11:dsc_0122.jpg?200|mounts}}

ok - now we're getting somewhere! :)

{{:blog:2016:04:11:dsc_0125.jpg?200|mounts in use}}

while it was just enough for reading, it turned out to be a bad thing during parties. after all they were ~5cm long hooks waiting for ppl to accidentally rip them off, while trying to get in/out of the room. after gluing these twice, i decided to improve.


==== improved mount ====

so what was now needed was a sort of hook, that could be hidden, when not used. and so i used joints and mechanical latch to keep it closed.

{{:blog:2016:04:11:img_20160117_184609.jpg?200|mount opened}}
{{:blog:2016:04:11:img_20160117_184620.jpg?210|mount closed}}

from that point on there were no critical problems, yet mechanical latch was a bit inconvenient, especially when operated with one hand.

==== the right mount ====

fortunately there was a solution to this as well! :) [[wp>neodymium magnet]] turned out to be a perfect fit here. after removing a mechanical latch, i've just glued two, small, neodymium magnets to both parts (i.e. a wall mount and a flip).

{{:blog:2016:04:11:img_4196.jpg?200|magnet mount opened}}
{{:blog:2016:04:11:img_4198.jpg?192|magnet mount closed}}

now everything is opening and closing with one hand, whenever needed, while at the same time it is small, thus does not cause injuries while moving around. :)


===== open source =====

the whole project is obviously open-source. you can download [[wp>OpenSCAD]] sources of [[https://github.com/el-bart/mini/tree/master/tablet_toilet_mount|restroom toilet mount]] project from [[wp>github]]. as of writing these words, version 3.0 is there, as described. happy surfing! :)