One-Handed Magnetic-Charging Car Phone-Holder (right-angled cable)

A car phone-holder with a right-angled magnetic charging cable built in.  Just drop the phone on; easy one-handed release.

It’s sized for a phone wearing this case; you can edit it online in Tinkercad to fit your own phone (case).

NB My photos are of an older iteration, identical but for a slightly wider bed which got slightly in the way when pressing the side buttons.

WARNING: While my print of this holds my phone firmly during normal driving, I haven’t tested what happens during severe braking or a crash – something the weight and hardness of a phone flying around at head height wouldn’t help.  Plus this holder, with its sharp corners, should itself be securely attached to the car.

Print settings

Main body

Layer height: 0.2 mm

Line width: 0.8 mm walls (and I used 0.4 mm top/bottom and 0.26 mm infill) (my nozzle diameter is 0.4 mm)

Single wall.

I used three top and bottom layers and two initial bottom layers, with Lines as the top/bottom pattern and Zig Zag the top surface skin pattern (oriented for the phone to slide down the lines on the very top surface).  Extra skin wall count of 1, to guarantee something for the internal skin to end on.

To let the charger-holding loop cool between layers, I specified a minimum layer time of 10 s (a bit less would probably have been fine).  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.  Put the Z seam 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 Travel>Layer Start X/Y).

Infill: I used 6.5% Triangles with a line width of 0.26 mm.

Update: Though a slight warp doesn’t affect functionality, in an attempt to reduce it I reprinted a similar model with just two top and bottom layers and 5% 0.4 mm–line-width Gyroid infill.  The print is more easily crushable but still fine for the job – and zero warping fresh off the bed!  Though the corners have curled a little in the few days since.

Supports: none

Spring clip

Line width: 0.4 mm walls

Put the Z seam at the end of the long side, so its bulk helps keep it jammed into the slot.

Post-printing

Fix the spring clip securely into the slot at the top.  For me, it pressed in very tightly; if in doubt, glue it in.

To mount the holder, I stuck this adhesive mount onto the back, and used it to replace the jaws of an older model of this suction base.  The adhesive mount’s socket is smaller than the base’s ball, but the socket’s locking ring holds it all firmly together anyway.

I spliced the charging cable into this charger – but if you didn’t want to cut the cables, you could probably just connect them with an adapter from this collection.

How I designed this

In Tinkercad.  Edit it online.