Initially, I made thin plastic holders that were not meant to be removed from the car. The sun killed them. Then I replaced them with thick, but ugly wooden ones. They look eternal, but in reality, they are fragile. And today, I made an exact replica of the wooden ones, but so far from PLA plastic. It is biodegradable, does not like UV and direct sunlight, but unlike the first holders, it is still thick and, hopefully, stronger. Now the hooks are removable, so they can be taken off and not left under the scorching sun when not needed. On Monday, a new photopolymer printer will arrive, and I can try to print them from transparent green plastic.
Of course, all these experiments are not so much about making another phone holder. In general, the wooden one was enough for me. It’s just that in the process, I get to master new skills and abilities that would not have been acquired without the project. For example, to make this holder, it was necessary to figure out how to transfer the curvature profile to the computer (a cardboard that I scanned and outlined in Inkscape, saved in SVG), then transform the profile into a three-dimensional part (Autodesk Fusion 360), then refine the profile in Blender, figure out how to transfer it back from Blender to Fusion as a solid body (non-trivial), then conveniently cut the large part into sections connected by a screw and nut, virtually drill holes for them so that the nut is recessed, and eventually paint it all to protect the plastic from UV rays. Blender turned out to be a very interesting tool; I will continue to explore it further.
On Monday, they will deliver the photopolymer (stereolithography) printer, Creality LD-002R. So today I already have a phone holder model, I’ll try to print it on that as well. Unlike my existing printer, it prints with resin and the resolution is ten times higher (though it doesn’t matter in this case). Resin is not as strong as PLA plastic, but it is less vulnerable to UV, and there are no loads to worry about anyway.
Hi, I'm Rauf Aliev. 