Plastic doodad keeps cables from falling behind desk
Nifty piece of plastic keeps computer cables from falling behind your desk. I wonder if there's an easy way to make something like this from plastic that most people throw away.
For sheer bang-for-the-buck, these cord management cards are tough to beat. They're cheap polyethylene sheets you either stick or screw to the edge of your desk and then snap the cables coming from your computer and peripherals into the recesses. I was tired of picking my iPod connector off the floor when it would fall off my desktop. With this, the ends of the cables are kept at the ready on your desk, which is especially great for stuff you are regularly plugging and unplugging. You can also use it to neatly route other cables coming from the back of a PC tower, like speaker and ethernet, which really helps cut down cable clutter.Link
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A gallon milk jug seems like a good candidate.
I was thinking of a hotel key card or similar, a paper punch and a pair of scissors with a little double sided tape hold it on.
Another thing to make with my soon-to-be built Rep-Rap!!!1one!1!
@ No. 1
I was thinking the same thing.
How about several bread bag clips stuck to a plastic strip (old credit card?)
"I wonder if there's an easy way to make something like this from plastic that most people throw away"
The clips used on bread bags and maybe some doublestick tape FTW.
They look exactly like the rectangular plastic tags used to hold the ends of twisted bags of sliced bread, except a group stacked in a row. It's the gluing or screwing that don't seem acceptable. A small broad clamp with most of the mechanism below view would make more sense than gluing, etc.
Now if only it would also keep my cat from thinking that cables are the most fun ever.
The Binder Clip does a fantastic job for me - Plus it looks really sharp.
Clearly anyone with a spade bit & drill can make this item. I'd also mount it UNDER the table, not on top to hide it.
i was thinking that those fake credit cards you get in the mail + a hole punch + a quick scissor snip = this, myself. but the bread bag idea is great, too.
With the thin plastic, I'd be concerned that it would tear/snap at the slightest stress.
I recently purchased a couple of "Cable Caddy" devices.These are under ten bucks, and are exactly as you describe -- not just a 2-dimensional piece of plastic, but a deep slotted wedge with both double-stick tape and also a clamp.
Works well if your desk is shaped right for the clamp.
At first glance I thought the headline was "Plastic doodad keeps CELEBS from falling behind desk" and I thought that would be a great invention for those klutzy actors and socialites out there.
I use either a strip of packing tape or I just group the wires together with a twisty tie (which works because they usually aren't all unplugged at the same time).
bah! the only proper aesthetic solution is to use a brass fireplace implement stand behind your writing table!
http://www.fireplaceantiquestore.com/images/miscellaneous/ToolStandsA&B.jpg
now,where can I source old woven fabric cable insulation and gutta-percha?
My (three) computers sit on a table runner on the back of my desk. Cables that I don't want to fall are clipped onto the back edge of the runner with binder clips (pop out a lever and run the cord thru that, then put the lever back in).
I used a piece of scotch tape, or else my old mouse would actually be dragged off my desk by the weight of its cable. Ditto the ipod. Who knew that someday someone would market the same concept, and that somewhere right now there is a factory worker toiling away on these landfill-bound doodads...
Why bother, getting up to retrieve fallen chords might be the most exercise some people get all day...
This isn't a problem in need of a disposable plastic solution. It's a problem in need of a polished brass steampunk solution.
and what was wrong with #16?
I was thinking more along the lines of spidery Luxo lamp arms made of chromed steel with brass pneumatic damping cylinders, lovingly polished. And now I'm going to be accused of subtext again.
I use binder clips for this, but have been thinking about buying plastic soldiers and routing the cables through a small scene recalling the battle of the bulge.
Supergluing a line of plastic soldiers across the edge of the desk for cable management - this really ought to be an Instructable.
1) Get a roll of sticky backed Velcro, cut off a strip and stick one side down on your desk wherever you want it.
2) Lay the cables across it, leaving some room between them.
3) Put the mate to the Velcro strip down over the cables, pressing down between the cables and on either end.
4) Have a Jolt cola, you're done.
5) Optional: I just leave the paper on so as not to expose the adhesive on the top strip, but I suppose you could take it off and stick something decorative on there. Plastic soldiers, even.
As others have mentioned, a paper binder clip does the job very well.
that's an excellent piece of kit, although srewing it to the desk isn't very appealing!
This is one of the greatest ideas since Glyphius.
My writing and computer desks have webs of wires and I find myself spending a lot of time on all fours searching for cords that have fallen (not a pretty sight).
I think I'll try the "fake credit card through the mail" idea since they seem to send me one every five seconds.
Variant on #25 buckofalltrades' idea. Stick 6 inches (15cm) of velcro (the less flexible half) on your table with double sided tape. The back edge of the table is nice. Not the top as in the picture above but actually on the vertical edge.
Cut 1 inch (2.5cm) velcro (the more flexible half). Wrap it around your cable, and glue it with double sided tape, or just staple it shut. Then just stick the cable to the table.