USB Hub Vertical Caddy

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Small request: If anyone has the 7-way version of this hub, I would like to have the measurements so I can draught a 7-way version too. Thanks, Cargy.

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I've got one of those budget 4-way Chinese USB hubs, with switching for the individual ports.

Although it can be temperamental at times, and the supplied wall wart died pretty rapidly, it's not a terrible piece of kit. It's small and ergonomic, and provides a means of switching off cameras and mics that could be hijacked by the naughty folks that abound in our civilisation.

But one of my biggest bugbears with it was the fact that the power and USB-in ports are located on one end of the case (in my case, the wrong end too!). This meant that, no matter how I tried to position it on my desk, it would always rotate around, and end up falling off the back of my desk under the weight of the leads attached to it.

This wasn't helped by the fact that I have my desk a few inches from the wall, to prevent the desk marking the wall (and vice-versa).

So I sat down with the intention of making a simple caddy that would prevent it performing its lemming-like leap. My initial plan was to have it flat on the table (as it was designed to be), BUT to add a small bracing foot that would rest against the wall and (hopefully) this would brace it.

But my first design didn't work; The caddy did stop the thing sliding towards the wall, but I had the same issue of the weight of the cables drawing it down, so the front would just pop up at a jaunty angle.

Whilst I was playing about with the mark one version, it suddenly dawned on me that placing the caddy on its end was very effective at overcoming the tendency to slide away under the weight of the cables, and consequently there was no longer any need for the wall brace.

On redesigning it to act as a vertical stand I hit a problem: It was now a very awkward shape for printing. I tried printing it at an angle, which worked quite well, but it left lots of droopy filament strands at the rear of the caddy, which I was unable to live with.

Splitting the print into two interlocking pieces sorted that, and I ended up with (what I hope is) the final design, which seems to have worked perfectly for a few days.

The only thing I MIGHT do is to add a piece of old mouse mat, covering the whole base. This would aid its stability, but more importantlyit will prevent it scratching the polished surface of my desk.

I can now see the hub's status clearly, I can reach and operate the switches with one hand from my chair, and all the cables are nicely routed instead looking like black spaghetti.

Job's a good 'un!

Category: Computer