Magnetic Holder for Gamin DashCam Mini

Because I often travel to countries where using dash cams is strictly prohibited, I needed a smart mounting solution: fast removal and repeatable replacement.

I use a Garmin Mini DashCam (https://www.garmin.com/de-DE/p/621281). The original holder is a ball joint with a flat surface to be glued in the windshield. It serves its purpose, but removing it just to replace it later is definitely the common usecase it was designed for, because either the holder will break or the glue will give way at some point.

So I created a two-part holder, where the parts are held together by strong neodymium magnets. One part (the base) is glued permanently to the windshield, and the second is a ball joint that stays with the dashcam. Like this:

The two magnets are inserted in the printed parts during the print, by pausing in the right moment (manually or by adding in the slicer a PAUSE command).

As a bonus, I added a cable hook that might prove useful to organize the USB cable that feeds the camera.

BOM (Bill of Materials):

• two round neodymium magnets, 6mm diameter and 3mm thick
• some double-sided glue tape

Printing

I printed this in black PETG, 4 perimeters, 0.2mm layer height. It prints without supports, but your overhangs cooling must be well tuned. Also the flow (extrusion multiplier) must be properly tuned, or else the ball joint will not work as intended.

I recommend printing without brim, but since the parts are very small, please mind for proper bed adhesion.

Installing the magnets

The magnets must be added during the print. You have to stop the print just before the layer that covers the magnet hole. I did this in the slicer, by placing a PAUSE command at layer 17. When the print job paused, I put the magnets inside the holes in the parts (see pics).

Please mind the orientation of the magnets! You want that the two parts atract each other when you are done ;)

PS1: Garmin is now selling a newer version of this dashcam, the Mini 2. From what I saw online, the ball joint remained the same, so there is a big change that my holder will work for the Garmin Mini 2 Dashcam.

PS2: If you have problems with layer adhesion, you might want to print the ball joint part with a different orientation. As in this case is not possible to insert the magnet into the part during the print, I created another version, featuring a side-slot. You can print it in the orientation you consider, then insert the magnet through the slot:

I'm not gonna ask for a coffee, but please make sure you give me a like if you find this model useful.