Charging station

You can re-use nearly any box-shaped antique to create a modern charging station. Here we placed a power strip inside of a leather-covered wooden chest and mounted a platform for our charging station inside of it! First, measure the interior dimensions of your chest. This will determine the size of your charging platform.

We recommend using pegboard for the charging platform. The holes allow for heat ventilation and provide you with a grid system to organize your devices. We marked our lines of cut based on the dimensions we took in step one. Then, with the pegboard clamped to our work station, we used the Dremel SM20 equipped with an SM500 Wood & Plastic Blade to cut along our marked lines. Remember to follow the line of your cut using the notch at the front of the tool.

Once we cut out our piece of pegboard, we sanded out notches for each of our cords we'd be placing in the station. To do this, we inserted a 407SA Sanding Drum with an aggressive sanding band in our NEW 4200 tool. With the tool set to high and our pegboard clamped, we sanded into the edge of our pegboard. Holding the tool upright at a 90 degree angle to the board, we lightly applied pressure to the side of the board until we removed about 1/4" of material. You do not need to sand the board up and down but rather use the sanding drum to carve into the side of the board. You'll note that the drum is the perfect width for a cord!

Next, you'll need to cut four small pieces of trim which will serve as a ledge on which you'll set your station platform. Here, we marked 4 lines of cut about 1/2" apart on a scrap piece of molding. Then, with the trim clamped to our work station, we used the Dremel SM20 equipped with an SM500 Wood & Plastic Blade to cut along our marked lines.

Using a gluegun, set one cut-out piece from step 4 into each of the four corners of your box. Measure as you go, ensuring you are setting them at equal height within your box.

Next, you'll need to cut out an area in the back of your box through which you can feed your extension cord. Time to use your NEW 4200 again! Pull back the levers to release your sanding mandrel and replace it with a cut-off wheel. Here we used the EZ409. You may choose to use a different cut-off wheel based on the material your box is made out of so refer to the instruction manual with your 4200 tool to determine the best choice of accessory for this step. We measured and marked around our extension cord and using the 4200 tool set to high, we lightly applied pressure, making four connected cuts to create a cut-out for the cord.

Feed your cord through to the powerstrip with each of your devices chargers plugged in.

Finally, set your platform on top of your ledges you cut out in step 2, fitting the charger cords into the grooves you notched out in step 3.