A Durable Kindle Cover

I regularly use my twelve year old Kindle Touch. The second photo shows two covers or cases I have used. Both show severe signs of normal wear. I want a Kindle cover that looks good, functions well, and is very durable. I decided to make one with piano (or continuous) hinge and enameled Masonite.

You may notice the top Kindle cover in the second photo has an orange stripe on it. I once left my Kindle in a motel room. The room was dark when we left. The Kindle was dark and resting on dark motel furniture. The motel manager did mail it to me, but was in no hurry about it. I voluntarily sent enough money to him afterward to more than compensate him.

Materials

• 12 inch strip of piano hinge
• Enameled Masonite in white
• Colored electrical tape
• Velcro with adhesive backing

Tools

• Dremel with a cutting wheel
• Table saw
• Vise
• Metal file
• Spring clamps
• Drill and bits
• MIG welder
• Grinding wheel
• Screwdriver
• Rule
• Digital caliper

I used my table saw built from a 7 1/4 inch electric circular saw to cut the front and back for the Kindle cover. I cut with the white finished side up so the teeth of the saw are coming down into the finish when cutting. That reduces chipping of the finish during sawing. Take dimensions from an old cover, or enlarge just a little where helpful for extra protection of your Kindle.

I needed to trim the hinge pieces on the edges where they meet to fit the thickness of my Kindle when inside the closed cover. I made a sandwich of the Masonite pieces, the Kindle, and Velcro with adhesive backing. The measurement I want is the space between the inside surfaces of the covers.

I am trimming the hinge pieces where their edges will meet. I can do that because I have a MIG welder and can weld the edges to each other. If you do not have a welder, you could get the widest piano hinges you can buy, overlap the pieces where they will join, and use screws or pop rivets to join the hinges.

I placed the hinges back to back and used the rolled part of each hinge to align them in a vise. Rather than use a saw or a grinder to narrow the hinge pieces I used a coarse file. I used two small Vise-Grip Pliers to hold the upper portions of the hinges together while filing. The bit on the vise was used as a thickness gauge to determine when I had removed enough material. This was a slower process, but it worked.

I did not file the hinges as much as I planned. I stopped and fitted the hinges several times. Even though I left the hinges a little wider than intended, the fit around the Kindle was very good. Despite your best calculations stop periodically and do a test fit. The real world beats theory every time.

I am preparing to weld the edges of the two pieces of hinge together edge-to-edge. I am using a caliper to overcome any error in filing so the two hinge pins are parallel before welding. The hinge pieces are clamped to a piece of 2 inch aluminum angle.

The heat from welding often causes problems with distortion, particularly on thin pieces. The old adage, “Weld a little, cool a lot.” is good advice. I set my welder’s current and wire speed according to the chart inside the side cover for the thickness of the steel I was welding. I thought the settings would provide too little heat for good penetration, but I was wrong. The first photo shows the first two welds from the reverse side. Both penetrated very well. I waited to let them cool fully before welding again. Any distortion during welding would also make the hinges difficult to operate.

The second photo shows the surface of the hinge visible from the outside of the closed Kindle cover after I ground the weld fairly smooth.

Notice the speed square in the photo. I used its wide surface to align the covers so each is even with the other. I carefully drilled in the center of the holes in the hinges and fixed the cover pieces to the hinges with the supplied screws. I began with a smaller hole, but discovered I needed to use a larger bit if the screw was to turn into the hole as it should.

I had thought it would be nice if the hinges were the same length as the longer dimension of the Masonite cover pieces. But, I did not want to buy 36 inches of piano hinge and have most of it left over. I opted to buy a package containing a 12 inch piece and let it be about half-of-an inch short on each end. That actually works out well. The corner of the Masonite cover touches finished table top surfaces, but the corner of the hinge does not, and finished surfaces are protected from scratches.

I used a Dremel with a cutting wheel to trim the length of the screws as carefully as possible. I do not want the ends of the screws scratching furniture, so I went a little closer and got the inevitable marks in the finished surface.

I tried painting the marks with paint used on plastic models. But, the shade of white was not quite the same. I have some colored plastic electrical tape. I overlapped it on the inside of the cover to hide any signs of contraction in the future.

See the fourth photo. I decided to use colored tape to make the spine of the cover more attractive. Wider tape trimmed to fit would be nice, but the illusion of color will suffice for now. A special trip to a store and the price of a roll of tape are more than I really need.

I cut and applied two pairs of Velcro strips to the back of the Kindle, one across the top and one across the bottom of the Kindle. They hold the Kindle securely, but allow its removal when necessary. I do not expect to remove it unless I am installing a new battery. Before I attached the adhesive backed Velcro to the Mastonite, I sprayed the surface of the Masonite with a spray enamel to provide a better surface for the Velcro’s adhesive.

When I used the purchased Kindle covers I always had to remove the Kindle from its cover to plug the charger into the jack. My new cover provides good clear access without removing the Kindle.

When this Kindle was new I was traveling fairly often and used time on an airplane to produce things I would need after returning back home. I have some reference items on my Kindle and it saw lots of service. Now I am retired and I do not use the Kindle as much as I once did. Still, I often carry it to church on Sundays and would like it to look a bit nicer than the old covers now look. Of course, no one else has a cover like mine, so there is that, too.