Gravity Cell Phone Holder for Car Vent

thingiverse

UPDATE 7/29/2021 This is my take on one of those gravity cell phone holders that snap into a car vent. It should fit most phones ranging in width from about 3.75 inches down to 2.75. The phone holder frame attaches to the vehicle via a ball-nose part that fits over a single vent blade. I include the design of the ball-nose in 3 sizes: small (03 mazda protege), medium (08 chrysler minivan), large (18 corolla). Each takes about an hour to print if you want to try it out on your car. If you message me with the size of your vent blade (thickness and depth) I may add the design to those available. Current values for thickness and depth are: Mazda (0.085in, 0.45in), Chrysler (0.115in, 0.7in), Toyota (0.15in, 0.88in). You can also get the CAD (see link below) and make any mods you'd like. NOTE: The spacing for the ball holder nose grips was the hardest to "fine-tune" and so it is probably a good idea to print that part first and check to see if it fits your car vents. If its too loose or too tight and doesn't fit properly, the link to the CAD is included below. Feel free to grab it and edit. The element that needs to be modified is called "Sketch 9 Holder Profile." After that right click on the "ball" part and export as STL. IMPORTANT: I would recommend not to print this using PLA. In the heat of the summer, the temperature inside the cabin of a parked car gets high enough that PLA becomes soft and begins to warp (see image). Similarly in the winter, the heat from the vent is high enough to allow for PLA-made ball-nose and the phone holder frame to soften and distort. ABS works real well, however. The ball-nose tension screw is a 1/4in #20 (>1/2in long) that can be purchased at a hardware store if the printed version is not up to par. I'd recommend that. The details of my print strategy are included in the 3mf file for PrusaSlicer. There are quite a few modifications and supports, which are difficult to describe in text. I printed this on the Ender 3 v2. The holder seems to work well with my cars :) (see photo) Oh, if your car vents are "floppy" like mine and "flop" down when the holder is attached you may want to use the support post on the back of the holder (also included and shown in the image) so the phone can be positioned in a better viewing angle. CAD is publicly available at: https://cad.onshape.com/documents/04246589176a04daaa7d167a/w/a5dc37472d113969c4e475a6/e/508f1b8c90aac17fc1916d15