Magnetic Charging Car Phone-Holder

prusaprinters

<p>A car phone-holder with a <a href="https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07WMFM5N2?tag=thingiverse09-20">right-angled magnetic charging cable</a>. &nbsp;Just drop the phone on; easy one-handed release.</p><p>It’s sized for a phone wearing <a href="https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07B3DV9M8?tag=thingiverse09-20">this case</a>; you can edit it online <a href="https://www.tinkercad.com/things/7Tcsr7eVoFv">in Tinkercad</a> to fit your own phone (case).</p><p>NB The photos are of an older iteration, identical but for a wider bed which got slightly in the way when pressing the side buttons.</p><p><i><strong>WARNING</strong>: While my print of this holds my phone firmly during normal driving, I haven’t tested what happens during severe braking or a crash – and something the weight and hardness of a phone flying round the car interior during an accident wouldn’t help the situation. &nbsp;Plus the holder should itself be securely attached to the car (the holder has sharp corners, if it should go airborne).</i></p><h3>Print settings</h3><h4>Main body</h4><p><strong>Layer height</strong>: 0.2&nbsp;mm<br><strong>Line width</strong>: 0.8&nbsp;mm walls (and I used 0.4&nbsp;mm top/bottom and 0.26&nbsp;mm infill) (my nozzle diameter is 0.4&nbsp;mm)</p><p>Single <strong>wall</strong>.</p><p>I used three <strong>top and bottom layers</strong> and two <strong>initial bottom layers</strong>, with Lines as the <strong>top/bottom pattern</strong> and Zig Zag the <strong>top surface skin pattern</strong>, oriented so that the lines on the very top surface are vertical when the holder is mounted, for the phone to slide along. &nbsp;<strong>Extra skin wall count</strong> of 1, to guarantee something for the internal skin to end on.</p><p>To let the charger-holding loop cool between layers, I specified a <strong>minimum layer time</strong> of 10&nbsp;s (a bit less would probably have been fine). &nbsp;So printing pauses between layers; the little separate block in the STL acts as a wipe tower which collects all the ooze and underextrusion after the pause, drastically improving the quality of the loop. &nbsp;Put the <strong>Z seam</strong> between the tower and the loop, and make sure that for each layer the tower is printed before the main piece (you can do this in Cura 4.13.1 using <strong>Travel</strong>&gt;<strong>Layer Start X</strong>/<strong>Y</strong>).</p><p><strong>Infill</strong>: I used 6.5% Triangles with a line width of 0.26&nbsp;mm.</p><p><strong>Supports</strong>: none</p><h4>Spring clip</h4><p><strong>Line width</strong>: 0.4&nbsp;mm walls</p><p>Put the <strong>Z seam</strong> at the end of the long side, so its bulk helps keep it jammed into the slot.</p><h3>Post-printing</h3><p>Fix the spring clip securely into the slot at the top. &nbsp;For me, it pressed in very tightly; if in doubt, glue it in.</p><p>To mount the holder, I stuck <a href="https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07GK6F892?tag=thingiverse09-20">this adhesive mount</a> onto the back, and used it to replace the jaws of an older model of <a href="https://osomount.com/products/smart-plus">this suction base</a>. &nbsp;The adhesive mount’s socket is smaller than the base’s ball, but the socket’s locking ring holds it all firmly together anyway.</p><p>I spliced the <a href="https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07WMFM5N2?tag=thingiverse09-20">magnetic charging cable</a> into <a href="https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B073F4V7J5?tag=thingiverse09-20">this charger </a>– but if you didn’t want to cut the cables, you could probably just connect them with two adapters from <a href="https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07QS9SSQ6?tag=thingiverse09-20">this collection</a>.</p><h3>How I designed this</h3><p>In Tinkercad. &nbsp;<a href="https://www.tinkercad.com/things/7Tcsr7eVoFv">Edit it online.</a></p>