Binder Clip Phone Car Mount

Intro: Binder Clip Phone Car Mount

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

Comments

[80$man]

My phone is quite wide, thus I modded in a third supporting arm to hold the phone's bottom edge, but all arms are still moveable. This is quite a usable ibble, gonna make a few and pass they out to friends. Spread the DIY love...

[repeet13]

I'm interested to see a pic!

[80$man]

As per your request:

[stephreust]

This is by far my absolute favorite instructable!! Kudos to your girlfriend for creating a rap! You should create an advertisement and sell this product with the rap as the jingle! I would buy 100!

[MohammadV1]

I loved the rap ? ....oh.. and the phone holder too...

[abrown435]

I love this idea. I actually just used to top part of a selfe stick I found at the dollar store, unscrewed the handle from the top, and velcroed it to my dash. This isn't the same one I used but it would probbaly work the same: http://www.dollargeneral.com/product/index.jsp?productId=81757706

[Mo0k]

Great Instruct!

[mkaercher]

I love this phone clip. Very easy and adaptable. Thanks!

[hholland419]

Made it, like it a lot. Great for hands free in the car, charging port still available. Thanks!!

[SarahT2]

I found this post to be very informative and helpful. I will have to recommend you to my friends.I am very thankful to the you for giving this post.

http://winnergear.com/

[eilu]

I made one with a 2" binder and some silicone rubber hair ties. Don't have access to a hairdryer at the moment, but I'll be adding heat shrink tubing when I do. Also, since I don't have a vise, I had to use a pair of pliers (one long nose, one ordinary) and a LOT of effort.

[jbman2]

Heres my idea,

Affixing a paper-clip to a plastic iPhone case with a pop-rivet

Total cost $0 (Free iPhone case from a lighting and sound gear roadshow)

the metal arms slide into the gap between the console and trim

.

[Tomahawk92]

I just made one with shoe laces instead of paracord. works great. I have realized i am seriously lacking in my supply of large binder clips =[... Gonna work on that third arm like 80$man's before i use it vertically.

[ghwhitcher]

What a clever solution. This is a PERFECT instructable. Will do

[toiletbowl martini]

Ever since I first saw this many months ago I've wanted to make one of these, and now I finally have. But instead of paracord I used electrical tape. Works like a champ for my Galaxy S2. Any ideas on how to use mount this onto a tripod?

[repeet13]

Tripods are generally 1/4-20, so quick and dirty you could drill a through hole on one side, then capture the tripod bolt with a nut of your own. definitely a dirty solution though

[zachaquack1987]

Inspiring instructable. I used your base design to create a dashboard mount for my Navigator. I added a few of my own touches though: For cover I used braided rubberbands for better traction, and I needed to attach a couple of stops at the back to make the design hold the greater weight. But, It seems to be working out just fine.

[nedfunnell]

I was thinking of where I could get some paracord, but then I realized that heatshrink is the best thing since sliced bread. PROTIP! Put a drop of dish soap into the mouth of the heatshrink before working it onto the wire. The first heatshrink tube took 5 minutes to work on. The second one, with a drop of soap, was on in 30 seconds. While you're in the kitchen, shrink it over the gas stove. However, work your way in from the center. You'll get a bubble if you go the other way, like I did. It snapped and left me a hole. Good enough!

[damien381]

The paracord looks very nice, however the combination of that and my silicon case was causing the phone to slide out a bit. I replaced the paracord with heatshrink tubing and KABLAM, problem solved. This material has a much better grip on the soft case.

[girvster]

I love the look of this. i am thinking of making one later today.

It would be better if i could find a way to hold my phone both vertically and horizontally tho.

Any ideas?