One of the first things I noticed when I got my car was the lack of place to set my phone for navigation purposes. Didn't care for having it on my lap, and setting it under my e-brake handle wasn't the best. Googling around, I saw a picture of a cellphone holder that sat in the painfully small driver-side cupholder, and I figured something like that should be really easy to make. In the end, I spent $5 for a bunch of PVC pipe bits from Home Depot, *though I will admit that I already had a bicycle handlebar phone holder with a broken bracket that sat in a drawer for several years. Had gotten that for maybe $4 from eBay, shipped directly from China.

These are the pieces I purchased:

-one 2" PVC cap
-three 3/4" PVC caps
-a 3/4" PVC running trap




I then used a 1" hole saw to cut out the center of the 2" cap. I used a hack saw to cut the running pipe next to one of the curves and to remove the top off of one of the 3/4" caps to create a ring. If you use a vise to hold the caps, be careful not to overtighten it!




I tried to cut close to where the curve started on the running trap because the PVC is distorted out-of-round on the curve itself, which could make fitting a cap more difficult.




You'll have to use your imagination for some of the assembly steps. I used a 1/8" drill bit to make a hole in the center of one of the 3/4" caps so I could disassemble and reassemble the phone mount onto it. How this is done will depend on what mount is used. I suppose you could also use some sort of powerful rare earth magnet and plate to as a mount (though I suppose something like that could just as easily be available for mounting to your dash or elsewhere).




I then slid the 3/4" ring onto the running trap then forced the pipe through 1" hole in the 2" cap (it was a tight squeeze because the pipe is actually just over 1" OD). On the underside of the of the 2" cap, I placed the remaining 3/4" cap onto the modified running trap until it bottomed out, then pushed the running trap back up until the smaller cap was flush with the underside of the 2" cap.




I then slid the 3/4" ring flush with the top of the 2" cap so the 2" cap is wedged between the ring and the 3/4" cap underneath. I then placed the final 3/4" cap with cellphone mount on the top. I didn't use any glue on any of the pieces, mostly because the fit was tight enough that it wasn't necessary. The phone holder cap can also easily rotate between portrait and landscape phone orientations without loosening the lock ring on the phone mount.

Here are some pictures of the nearly finished product (I haven't had a chance to paint it yet):








I'm not claiming this was the best phone mount, especially considering that it still requires looking downward to see, but it was a fun, cheap, and easy project to solve my immediate problem.

Let me know if you make one or something like it!

 

Not too bad at all. If you painted it with a flat black or gray paint would look even better.

When I retired I turned my iphone in. Now I have an old style flip phone that does not have internet. For me, I will never need your phone holder but then I also remember party phone lines, a pack of baseball cards was a nickel and the pre-color TV era.

 

I was thinking the same thing, paint it back and it should match the interior.

 

hehe thats awesome. might do the same.

 

Some satin black or flat black paint would finish it off

 

It's a nice little project, but you can buy those from Amazon for $10.

 

really? I thought I looked for these on there