IPad Mini Tivoli Radio Dock

The other day I noticed my old Tivoli radio in the garage I and realized it could and should be repurposed. My new iPad Mini needed a dock and the size of the Mini was complimentary to the Tivoli so I thought of a way for the two to form a better union.

In order to make the radio into any form of dock I needed to see what was inside the box.

Removing the rear screws I found that only the front of the radio detaches. It brings a lot of stuff along with it - tons of electronics in this small radio. No wonder it sounds so good. This thing is jam packed. But it looks like I will be able to fit a Lightning cable through the wires and components.

First I'll cut a 7/16" hole through the rear plastic casing to slip the 6' Monoprice.com Lightning cord. Feed the cord through and leave it there for later.

When I thought of this dock I had no idea how I'd get the iPad to stand upright. I just happened to see this little iPhone stand at FredMeyer for $4.99. It's a brand called ZGear. Looked like it would be the perfect kickstand for the project so I picked it up.

If you end up with this same stand you'll need to cut out a groove for the Lightning cord. A dremel works very well here.

There are a lot of components built off the face of the radio and they reach back about 1.5" so the stand needs to be offset about 2" so the cable can reach up through the top without hitting the electronics of the radio.

Tape off the radio to protect the finish. Center and trace the outline of the dock.

Trace the line with a box cutter to create guide lines for your router blade. (Wishful thinking)

Dremel use to and might still sell this router attachment. Very handy for this plunge job.

Remove the material. Follow the lines you created. Take your time.

While it's taped off you might as well paint the recess with a matching color as your Tivoli face.

Create a hole with your drill where the lightning cable will come through. You want to make it big enough to hold some epoxy glue you'll use to lock the cable in place.

Test fit and adjust, drill holes to hold down the stand. You will screw down the base after the epoxy glue has dried. Use a heavy tape on the underside of the hole. This will hold the epoxy in. Use a pocketknife to poke a 7/16" hole in the tape approximately where it goes (in front middle).

I used Devcon 5 Minute Gel epoxy. Simply mixed the two ingredients and then scooped it in. It dried in 5 minutes and fully hardened in 1 hour.

The kickstand being recessed was hard to open up so I used the cutting wheel on the dremel to slice a slot into the top.

The USB charging cable needs power, so I used some wrap from an old car stereo de-install. Now it's one cord again. But it breaks out to 2 at the power source.

The connection to the Aux In on the radio is done via 1' 3.5mm stereo cord, but you could also dangle a $30 bluetooth receiver off the Aux port on the back of the radio if you wanted to go wireless. Not sure how you'd keep the bluetooth device charged. Looking for a stereo cord with a 90 degree angle at least.

The iPhone fits also.

Let me know how you like it.