wbuschman
Member
So this upgrade isn’t quite as extreme as some of the other stuff I’ve read about here, but it solved what was a bit of a problem for me and I’m quite pleased with the end result. Thought others might be interested in it.
Just picked up my 2012 Jetta TDI and I love it. This is the first car I've ever owned that wasn't a used rust heap, so I’m very concerned about not making any irreversible modifications to the interior.
I use my cell phone for navigation quite frequently, so I did at least need a way to mount the phone in the car. I have a Droid RAZR MAXX and purchased the standard Verizon car dock for the phone which consists of a suction-cup base and a pivoting bracket that holds the phone on the base. I’m not a fan of the suction-cup mount, as I don’t want to mount the thing on the windshield and have the power cord running all the way down to the center console. Also, the suction-cup base comes with an adhesive-backed plate that can be used to mount the thing on uneven surfaces. I wasn’t really a fan of this idea either, as I didn’t want to go sticking some ugly plastic plate on my brand new interior.
Looking around for other options I noticed 5 little caps right in front of my gear shifter that looked like they were probably removable. I carefully pried one loose and found a square hole beneath it that I assume is for mounting after-market accessory switches or something of the like. Whatever they’re for, I’m glad they’re there because they were in a perfect location for a cell phone mount – right in front of the storage compartment with the 12v plug and aux in cable. By mounting the phone here, I could keep the wires completely hidden and out of the way!
Here’s a picture of the accessory holes that I’m talking about:
I took the cover cap that I pried loose and sketched it up in SolidWorks (3D drafting software). I printed a couple versions on my 3D printer until I had a plug that fit snugly but was easy to remove. If you noticed some white chips in the first picture, that’s because my first plug prototype fit a bit too well… After clipping it in, I couldn’t remove it without pulling harder than I cared to on the center console of my car. So, I carefully drilled it out to remove it safely. I can’t tell you how nervous I was wielding a drill in my 3-day-old interior!
Anyway, once I had a plug design I was happy with, I held the phone about where I wanted it and took some quick measurements to determine how high and how far back I wanted the pivot point in relation to the plug. I went back into SolidWorks and drew the rest of the mounting base up. Here’s a photo-render of the final version of my SolidWorks model:
Once I was happy with the design, I fed the final model into my 3D printer, waited about an hour, and presto – I had a cell phone mount I could live with. Here is the printed part right off the printer and mounted in place:
Next order of business is to give the part a solvent bath to help bind the printed plastic layers together. After that cures I’ll hit it with a little flat-black paint to help it blend in with the interior a little better. Once I’ve finished all that, I’ll take another picture of the finished product and post it up here.
If anyone else has a RAZR MAXX with the same mount and would like me to print one of these for them, let me know. I would even be willing to make other custom mounts / parts to fit in these accessory holes if anyone has any other ideas for accessories. Assuming I don’t get a huge rush of requests, I would be willing to make the parts free of charge. I have fun designing and printing anyway.
Just picked up my 2012 Jetta TDI and I love it. This is the first car I've ever owned that wasn't a used rust heap, so I’m very concerned about not making any irreversible modifications to the interior.
I use my cell phone for navigation quite frequently, so I did at least need a way to mount the phone in the car. I have a Droid RAZR MAXX and purchased the standard Verizon car dock for the phone which consists of a suction-cup base and a pivoting bracket that holds the phone on the base. I’m not a fan of the suction-cup mount, as I don’t want to mount the thing on the windshield and have the power cord running all the way down to the center console. Also, the suction-cup base comes with an adhesive-backed plate that can be used to mount the thing on uneven surfaces. I wasn’t really a fan of this idea either, as I didn’t want to go sticking some ugly plastic plate on my brand new interior.
Looking around for other options I noticed 5 little caps right in front of my gear shifter that looked like they were probably removable. I carefully pried one loose and found a square hole beneath it that I assume is for mounting after-market accessory switches or something of the like. Whatever they’re for, I’m glad they’re there because they were in a perfect location for a cell phone mount – right in front of the storage compartment with the 12v plug and aux in cable. By mounting the phone here, I could keep the wires completely hidden and out of the way!
Here’s a picture of the accessory holes that I’m talking about:
I took the cover cap that I pried loose and sketched it up in SolidWorks (3D drafting software). I printed a couple versions on my 3D printer until I had a plug that fit snugly but was easy to remove. If you noticed some white chips in the first picture, that’s because my first plug prototype fit a bit too well… After clipping it in, I couldn’t remove it without pulling harder than I cared to on the center console of my car. So, I carefully drilled it out to remove it safely. I can’t tell you how nervous I was wielding a drill in my 3-day-old interior!
Anyway, once I had a plug design I was happy with, I held the phone about where I wanted it and took some quick measurements to determine how high and how far back I wanted the pivot point in relation to the plug. I went back into SolidWorks and drew the rest of the mounting base up. Here’s a photo-render of the final version of my SolidWorks model:
Once I was happy with the design, I fed the final model into my 3D printer, waited about an hour, and presto – I had a cell phone mount I could live with. Here is the printed part right off the printer and mounted in place:
Next order of business is to give the part a solvent bath to help bind the printed plastic layers together. After that cures I’ll hit it with a little flat-black paint to help it blend in with the interior a little better. Once I’ve finished all that, I’ll take another picture of the finished product and post it up here.
If anyone else has a RAZR MAXX with the same mount and would like me to print one of these for them, let me know. I would even be willing to make other custom mounts / parts to fit in these accessory holes if anyone has any other ideas for accessories. Assuming I don’t get a huge rush of requests, I would be willing to make the parts free of charge. I have fun designing and printing anyway.
