Whizbang Charging Basket 2000 (Woven Cable Organizer)

Cable Management Is Hard.

I've spent bits of the past 3 years prototyping, designing, 3D printing, and testing cable organizer ideas, and eventually came up with a game-changer. BUT, I stalled at the idea of producing and deploying them. It wouldn't be easy.

Then one day, I had a vision: Segmented Elastic.

Segmented elastic isn't a new idea. You'll find it on backpacks for attaching gear. But the creation of segmented elastic by weaving it into an existing basket for the sake of cable management is new (at least as far as I know). 

Bonus: the basket provides an obviously suitable container for a charging station. 

And it's very deployable because I have nothing to produce. Nothing to market. Nothing to sell. Just string some elastic in a basket and boom you're done.

So, enjoy this simple instructable and be sure to watch the short video at the end. 

You'll need 3 things:

1. Scissors * Wescott 2 Pack
2. Elastic * 3/4"
3. Basket * See note below re: Walmart

(*affiliate links)

Tips on each below:

Scissors: You don't need good scissors for this project, but this is a cheap project, and cheap projects are good projects to rationalize getting nice things. I bought this 2 pack of Wescott scissors for less dollars than the quantity of digits on my hands.

Elastic: Get a width that matches your basket weave, or is a little smaller. My basket had weaves a hair larger than 3/4", so I got 3/4" elastic. Elastic that's narrower than 3/4" probably won't hold cords very securely, but hey, I'm not gonna tell you you can't have that 1/2" elastic you keep daydreaming about.

Basket: The baskets in the video are from Walmart. I'd recommend running up there to see if they still sell them. If not, I linked to an Amazon model that appears to be the same thing but in a larger size.

Cut 2 segments of elastic - long enough to tie them off.

1. Loosely wrap the elastic around the basket
2. Cut it ~8-10" longer to have plenty of room to tie a knot.

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You can always cut off extra later and feel well-prepared. But if you cut it too short now, later you'll feel like a doofus.

Weave the elastic around the basket. One on the outside, one on the inside.

I found the center of the elastic, then started shoving one side through the weaves beginning at the side opposite where the bow will be tied.

Tips:

• No tension (but no slack either!). Before tying the bow, wiggle and pull the elastic around each weave to make sure there's no pre-tension going on. Things will tighten up when you start loading cables in there. (see this in the video)
• Corner trick: Inner corners are funky business, and I don't feel like jamming this instructable trying to tell you how. I'll again refer you to my video or your own intuition (you got this!) but basically you're gonna need to thread it through to the outside, back in, then do some wiggling.

Elastic Location / Height:

• Outer elastic works really well on the bottom half of the basket.
• Inner elastic works better towards the top of the basket. That allows room in the basket for random stuff.

It's what's inside that counts.

Avoid pre-tensioning the elastic. The cables will provide all the tension you need.

It's a basket. Who cares what you do with baskets? Think outside this Instructable. What do you use alongside your cords? Put whatever you want in there. Batteries, notebooks, etc. Usually cords have associated devices. Load 'em up.

Also, it's just elastic. stretch it around whatever you want. I like to stretch the elastic around my iPhone tripod clamp.

Run a power strip through the handle. OR....

I'm a USB power supply nerd who finds a great deal of comfort in knowing I have plenty of USB power for whatever juice-sucking lemons life throws at me.

Enter the Anker 63W 4 Port PIQ 3.0 & GaN PowerPort Atom III

It's expensive. And it's amazing. (affiliate link)

• 18W USB-C
• 45W USB-C
• 2x USB-A

I'll just let you read about it on Amazon.

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But seriously you don't need this.

Just throw an extension cord in there and plug in whatever power adapters you already have.

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Thread your Apple Watch (or whatever) charger up through one of the elastic weaves.

This is really really convenient when the basket is used on a night stand.

Yes, you can have your cake and eat it too.

I travel with it.

It didn't take long to realize the unintentional value of the Whizbang Charging Basket 2000.

It's on my night stand at home anyway, so I just unplug ONE CORD, throw my unmentionables in there, and pack it in my suitcase buried under jeans and shirts. At the hotel, it goes on the night stand, just like at home.

Everything's there.

...

You wouldn't believe me if I told you how much time this saves me each time I pack for a trip.

I have 2 baskets, typically set up like so:

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Basket One (for my night stand)

With the properly overkill USB power supply (affiliate link), I can charge the 4 following devices at full speed at the same time:

1. iPhone 11 (USB-C)
2. USB power bank (USB-C)
3. GoPro (USB-A)
4. Apple Watch (USB-A)

Bonus, it has a 45W USB-C port for charging our M1 MacBook Air (stock supply is 30W)

Also:

• Small tripod
• iPhone tripod mount
• GoPro clamps, parts, batteries
• Various adapters

This basket is magical and I use it daily - whether home or away.

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Basket Two (audio recording gear)

Sometimes I do voiceovers in the garage. Sometimes in the house. It depends. With the Whizbang CB 2000, everything's portable. All at once.

Quick video that illustrates some of the awkward maneuvers.

Thanks for reading (or scrolling!)

To follow more problem-solving prototyping projects in their pre-Instructables phases, follow me on Instagram @KeithsTestGarage and subscribe to my YouTube channel (Keith's Test Garage).

Oh, and check out my other Instructables.