Introduction: 3D Printed Gravity Powered Mechanical Car Phone Mount

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This is a phone mount I designed inspired by a phone mount I purchased.

If you have a 3D printer you can easily print and make this!

It uses the weight of your phone to drive a gear mechanism which pulls the arms on the side in to grip your phone. When you lift your phone up it is released. It works really well with any size of phone!

The video above shows how to assemble it. Alternatively here is an instructables guide.

Supplies

Printed Parts - Download here or here

8 x 6mm M3 screws

4 x 10mm M3 screws

2 x M3 Hex nuts

Rubber Band

Step 1: The Final Product

Step 2: Print and Gather the Parts

I printed all the parts at 0.2mm layer height, with 3 walls, at 10% infill. You can download the STL files to print this here.

Step 3:

Start by screwing a 10mm M3 screw into the base as shown.

Step 4:

Turn the base around and push the gear over this screw, twist it around a bit and make sure it can turn freely.

Step 5:

Put the lower rack mechanism into the base, it can’t be slid in from the bottom, it must be inserted from above.

Step 6:

Take the left and right arms and put them on the base,

making sure to align them with the gear. When the base is fully raised, the arms should be as far out as they can go. For easier assembly, once you do that you can slide the arms in and let the base lower a bit. This will stop them all falling out.

Step 7:

Take the top and push it into the base. Once you’ve done this, slide the bottom rack up and down and see if the arms move correctly.

If you have trouble, refer to the video and try again.

Step 8:

Put an M3 nut on the screw we inserted earlier, and turn the screw so that the nut is captured. Do not tighten too much, just turn until the screw is flush with the nut.

Step 9:

Screw in 4X 6mm M3 screws as shown. Make sure the mechanisms can still move freely, if not try loosening the screws. Either these four, or the one in the base.

Step 10:

Turn around the assembly, screw in the vent clip as shown using 2X 6mm M3 screws.

There is a notch in the vent mount for the back of the screw head to fit into as shown.

Step 11:

  1. Take a 10mm M3 screw and thread it through an M3 nut.
  2. Using this assembly, screw one of the longer conical posts into the lower rack as shown.
  3. Make sure to screw this into the left as shown. The screw will not go all the way, go as far as you can.
  4. After that tighten down the nut to secure everything.

Step 12:

Screw in the other longer conical post on the right side, using a 6mm M3 screw.

Step 13:

Place a rubber band between the two screws as shown. If your rubber band is too short, try using the lower screw hole for the screw on the base.

Step 14:

Next turn around the assembly. Using 2x 10mm M3 screws, secure the other two conical posts on to the left and right arms.

Aligning the protrusion with the centre of the phone mount.

Step 15: Finished!

You're done! Clip it into your cars air vent and try it out.