Introduction: Binder Clip Phone Car Mount

About: I love doing projects and this site is great for sharing mine and finding new ones!

Yo, this instructable features one of the most undeniably, infinitely useful office objects ever made: The Binder Clip. You can find them almost anywhere, and their uses, both intended and repurposed, are limitless. In this little 'ible, I'll show you how I made a phone mount for pretty darn cheap (college and having money don't usually go together). Read on!

Materials:
1 Large binder clip
1-2 Rubber bands or hair ties
2 lengths 6 inches long of Paracord, color your choice

Notes on materials:
Binder Clip - size it to your phone, the handles should have to open a bit to fit the phone in
Rubber bands / hair ties - I used black hair ties (...no, not a girl, just have a sister) because i thought it looked more pro

Alright, grab your materials and lets start.

Step 1: Finger Prep

In this step, we prepare the fingers that will hold the phone. I am referring, of course, to the silvery parts of the binder clip.

Even though this is one of the more crucial steps, it is very easy. Just take the two metal 'handles' off of the binder clip. Put them in a vice and clamp the rounded end up to where it bends. Tap with a mallet of hammer until you have about 20 degrees of bend in the part. Repeat for both fingers.

Voila!

Step 2: Cover the Fingers

Next we prepare the protective sheath for the fingers. Nobody wants a scratched up phone! For each of the lengths of paracord do this:
- Gut it: remove the inner strands of the paracord to make room for fingers
- Fuse or Seal it: Stop the fraying of the sheath by fusing the edge, you don't want to shut it of, just melt the edges. another option is fray check, but I thought it was easiest to insert the hot end of a soldering iron into the end for a quick second, then going around the edges and melting them
- Fish the finger through the sheath like pictured: try and get the sides even, at least for aesthetic's sake ;)
- Reattach fingers to binder clip

Step 3: Install Reverse Tensioning System

That's fancy speak for put rubber bands on it. You may find that you have to take up some slack; in that case, simply put another loop over the finger, or find a smaller rubber band. When properly tensioned, the device should have a light tension with fingers resting on the sides of the binder clip, and should hold your phone snugly.

Step 4: Enjoy

One of the beauties of this mount is its easily reconfigured nature. If its not holding onto your phone, make the tension a little snugger. If you don't like where it is, find a different place. If you don't like people breaking into your car because they see a mount, take the mount down when you leave the car. If you don't like people breaking into your car because they see the ring that a typical GPS suction mount leaves, well...you don't have to worry about that with this mount! Hurray.

Placement: The phone goes between the metal fingers, you can rotate your clip for landscape or portrait orientation.

FYI: Mine is certainly battle-tested, as I have been on multiple GPS intensive trips (like 20 house calls in a different city...that was fun). I attach mine to the console air vent; no over-heating issues on my phone ;)


PS: Also, my girlfriend thought it was funny that I started with yo...so she made a rap:

Yo this is my instructable, its so cool and doable, make a neat phone clip, your street cred surely wont dip, youll need paper clip and vice, if you miss you might need ice, dont forget the paracord and hair ties, scratching your phone wouldnt be wise

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