Foldable Phone Stand Made From Recycled PVC Pipe

Instead of throwing away an old PVC pipe, I decided to give it a second life by turning it into something useful: a foldable phone stand.

The goal of this project was to transform a piece of discarded PVC pipe into a practical, compact, and reusable phone holder using simple tools and a few basic hardware parts.

The stand can be folded flat when it is not being used, making it easy to store or carry.

In this tutorial, I will show you how I transformed the PVC pipe from its original cylindrical shape into a flat sheet, cut and shaped the different parts, and assembled them into a functional foldable phone stand you can make great stuff with just your hands and skill no need for 3d printer or expensive machines

Materials :

1. A piece of discarded PVC pipe
2. Small screws and nuts (M3) / 2 pieces
3. Super glue
4. Sand paper

Tools :

1. Hand saw
2. Screw driver
3. Heat source (i used lighter and gaz stove)
4. Two flat metal plates
5. Dremel tool with a small cutting disc ,or any cutting tool
6. Pliers
7. Measuring and marking tools (caliper)

First, I cut the PVC pipe lengthwise using a hand saw.

After making the longitudinal cut, I made additional cross cuts to open the pipe and separate the section I needed.

The goal is to turn the curved PVC section into a piece that can be opened and flattened.

At this stage, the material still has the original curvature of the pipe, so it needs to be heated before it can be flattened.

Next, I carefully heated the PVC until it became soft enough to reshape. As you see in the pictures i used pliers to hold the pvc because it could burn your skin .

While the material was still warm and flexible, I placed it between two flat metal plates and pressed it to flatten the PVC , you can use any type flat surface wood ,glass,concrete...

After allowing it to cool, the PVC retained its new flat shape, giving me a homemade sheet of recycled plastic that I could use to make the different parts of the phone stand.

Safety note: Heating PVC can release harmful fumes. This step should only be performed with proper ventilation and appropriate safety precautions. Avoid directly inhaling the fumes and use suitable protective equipment.

Once the PVC sheet was flat and had cooled down it only take 1 minute to cool , I started marking the dimensions and shapes of the parts needed for the phone stand.

I carefully measured and drew the cutting lines directly onto the PVC sheet.

Parts you going to need : the base , the upper part where phone sits , the joints two in upper part and two in the base , and the leg that connects the base with the upper part through the joints

Dimensions :

Upper part : 85 mm X 135 mm

base : 90 mm X 135 mm

leg (2 pieces glue them together for a strong leg) : 20 mm X 100 mm

joints 4 pieces : 20 mm X 30 mm

Note : you should make your own phone dimension because not every phone is the same size

I used a Dremel tool equipped with a small cutting disc to cut the PVC along the marked lines.

The Dremel makes it easier to cut the relatively thin PVC sheet and create the different shapes needed for the stand.

After cutting, I cleaned up the edges to remove rough or sharp sections using sand paper

Now it was time to give the flat PVC pieces their final shapes.

For the smaller sections that needed to be bent, I carefully applied localized heat using a lighter/torch until the PVC became flexible.

I then bent the heated sections using a small homemade bending tool, the first bend is where the phone sits (15 mm width) for my phone , your phone thickness maybe different !? If you don't have a similar tool, pliers can also be used for some of the bends. The second bend (10 mm) or less so you can see and use the bottom buttons . For the joints you can cut them 30 mm and bend them in half and make 3 mm holes in the for the screws place there is a drawing i provided , but you can use your own dimensions .

I repeated this process until the pieces reached the required angles and shapes.

To make the stand foldable, I drilled holes (3 mm) at the locations where the moving joints would be installed the hole should be exact size of your screws or else you have to use washers.l

These holes allow the screws and joints to act as pivot points, allowing the different sections of the stand to move and fold.

Drill a 3 mm hole in every joint as for the leg it should be 2 holes one in the phone holder base and the other hole connects to the upper part where the phone sits

There is 4 joints and one leg , every joint should have 1 hole in it , every 2 joints face each other and the leg placed in between them .,then you start assembling

I used Super Glue to secure the joints in place, then i connected the leg to the joints using small screws m3

At this point, the individual recycled PVC pieces started to become a complete phone stand.

And that's it!

I transformed a discarded PVC pipe into a functional foldable phone stand.

The stand can hold a smartphone while watching videos, making video calls,playing games i al play clash royal on this stand, or simply keeping the phone at a comfortable viewing angle.

What started as a piece of PVC waste has been turned into a useful everyday object with a simple design and minimal materials.

Why I Like This Project

The most important part of this project is not the phone stand itself, but the idea behind it.

Instead of throwing away a piece of PVC pipe, I reused it as the main material for a new product. This reduces waste while also giving the material a second purpose.

Waste PVC → Recycled sheet → Designed parts → Foldable phone stand.