I was rather upset when I opened (actually AT&T representatives) my iPhone 3G and there was not a dock included. I figured, ok, my old iPhone dock will work… Not so much.

If you look closely, it is even more upsetting that the iPhone 3G is just shy of fitting in the dock which made me think about manipulating the old dock in a way that the iPhone 3G could fit.

Stephen Beals of iPhoneFreak read my thoughts.

He lists four steps that could turn that old dock of yours into a nice iPhone 3G-welcoming dock using three simple tools no more that $5.00 tops:

-Clear packing tape Sharp tool or a pocket knife
-A small flathead screwdriver
-100 Grit Aluminum Oxide sandpaper “(found in the Paint isle of any home improvement store for about $2.50)”

I’m a little reluctant to try it seeing as how I don’t have much faith in myself to make it look as good as his. I may end up creating something that I brought home to mother when I was four.

However, if you are looking to save $29.00 plus tax, then this is a great, Green way of reusing the old dock.

Here are the basic steps, but he has included detailed steps on his Flickr page.

Step 1: Cover the male (inside cradle) and female (on back of dock, along with the Line out input) dock connectors. Don’t want plastic shavings to ruin the connectors!

Step 2: Start carving out the inner sides and back of the dock with the sharp tool of your choice. Cover your desk with something for easy disposal of all the shavings. Carve for 5 minutes at a time, and then take the tape off the male dock connector to test out your progress as you go. Use the small flathead screwdriver to help take the tape off of the male dock connector. Don’t forget to re-cover the connector with tape after each test. Do not worry about making your carvings even or smooth. We’ll worry about that on the last step.

Step 3: Once you think the iPhone sits nicely, test out the connection to make sure you iPhone 3G syncs (taking the tape off of the connectors, obviously.)

Step 4: Reapply the tape to the connectors. Step 5: Sand down your carvings with the 100 grit Aluminum Oxide sandpaper. This is pretty messy, may want to do this part over a trash can with safety glasses.