Different kickstand design

[surfdock]

Unfortunately, slicing off part of the flipstand will only make the device marginally more stable in portrait mode. Using the touch screen still won't be much fun. The center of mass is just too high and without lateral stability, the whole thing will wobble. Instead of slicing off a piece you made a secondary hinge. Basically a small portion of the flipstand would fold out and sit flat on the table. But the flipstand would have to get quite thick at to accommodate such hardware and would go against the sleek design.

Here is something to try. Take an old text book and cut out a 2mmx10cm notch through the cover. The Surface flipstand will fit right in and be a lot more stable because of the lateral support. You really need a solid, heavy base to make it work or truss structure, so I don't think there is a good portable/lightweight simple DIY solution.


I have had some luck using stamped metal book ends as tablet stands:




To prevent the tablet from slipping off, I just clamp a binder clip on the front edge.


$2. Looks like crap, but works like a champ with any tablet in both Portrait and Landscape mode. Lightweight and simple surely, but not portable.

 

[the_new_normal]

Ideally it would just have a secondary kick stand dedicated to portrait mode.

This could be from the other half (which has the camera). It would need to kick out vertically first (vertically when oriented in portrait mode) then have another piece fold out horizontally to provide support across the entire base.

Not something we could retrofit, just something I thought of.

 

[olimjj]

with that design you'd have to mod the slots for the stand and the stand it self
View attachment 1579
AND how would that help portrait mode anyways?? the angles should be the opposite direction

Yes, you are correct, the angle should taper in from the outer left and right joint edges; and of course, then there would no need to modify the slots.

 

[Knuck111]

If you are going portrait for reading and don't need the type cover keyboard, place the SP2 on the touch pad area of the type cover with the stand open fully. Really stabilizes the SP2 even on a soft surface like a bed.

 

[Tsurugaya]

So I will have to get a Type Cover after all?
That is what I was trying to avoid, I think MS overcharges for those things.

 

[Tsurugaya]

with that design you'd have to mod the slots for the stand and the stand it self
View attachment 1579
AND how would that help portrait mode anyways?? the angles should be the opposite direction

I know the angles need to be reversed, I added that after uploading the picture. It was like 4am or something.
When in portrait mode I don't care if the pen holder/magnetic charge port and microSDcard slot is blocked, I can live with that limitation when using it in portrait.

 

[manonthebrain]

I know the angles need to be reversed, I added that after uploading the picture. It was like 4am or something.
When in portrait mode I don't care if the pen holder/magnetic charge port and microSDcard slot is blocked, I can live with that limitation when using it in portrait.

ok so even if you flip the angles and get it to work, the kickstand is not completely at a 90 degree angle making it a little unstable at the top of the device. you might want to use the left side too. i beleve the cpu is on the upper right side of the device, so you may run into cooling and overheating problems i think a case like this would be the best solution without ripping the thing apart

 

[surfdock]

i beleve the cpu is on the upper right side of the device, so you may run into cooling and overheating problems i think a case like this would be the best solution without ripping the thing apart

There are 2 small heatsink/fans in the Surface Pro series that share a heat-pipe:
Microsoft Surface Pro 2 Teardown - iFixit

Inside there is a an embedded microcontroller that monitors airflow and temperatures. It knows how you are holding the device and which air vents are blocked and will actually change the direction of the fan rotation to compensate. If you strategically block off some of the vents you may be able to hear one of the fans spin down and reverse direction. Pretty cool.

Basically you don't have to worry about how the machine is oriented as long as some something like 25% of the venting holes are unblocked. Some cases may obstruct the vents in order to get a good grip on the device and that wouldn't be such a good idea IMHO.

 

[olimjj]

ok so even if you flip the angles and get it to work, the kickstand is not completely at a 90 degree angle making it a little unstable at the top of the device

Since the sides of the surface are beveled, you can maintain the angles and improve stability by starting your taper about an inch down from the joint ends. The resulting kickstand would take on a non regular but symetric hexagon shape.