IPhone Holder for PC

My name is Garrett and I curently attend York High School, in Monterey.

I created a bracket that attaches around the back of my Surface laptop display, originally so I could talk to people on Facetime during group projects. I wanted something simple and sturdy to hold my iPhone right above my display whenever needed. For my design: I measured my laptop display, designed the components in Fusion 360, 3D-printed them, and secured the components together with gorilla glue. It worked out much better than I expected and I am happy to share my design process with anyone else interested.

You will not use these exact sizes; certain measurements will change based on the size of your laptop and mobile phone. I suggest looking at the photos throughout the process. :)

1. Ruler
2. 3D printer
3. Fusion 360
4. Gorilla glue (or other superglue)

Start by making a box (create > box ), that is the exact length of your PC screen. Don't worry about the claws as we cover that in a separate step. The height I chose is 7mm. The width I chose is 35mm.

Make a new sketch (create > create sketch), then use the line tool (create > line), to make a line that goes straight down from one side to the middle. You do this by hovering your mouse over one side of the rectangle, and the line tool should auto snap to the center on the edge. Click on it once it does. Then follow this line until it stops in the center. After you have made the line, click finish sketch. This line is used as a reference.

To make this circle, create a cylinder (create > cylinder), and use the center circle as a reference point to where the center of the cylinder should be. Snap it onto the same lattice point the point is on and drag the cylinder out so that the diameter is 100mm. (or whatever diameter you want to use). The cylinder height should be a little bit longer than long rectangle. For me it was

Next, I created another sketch for a rectangle in the center of the circle we just made. This will be used to show the length of rectangle we want for the rectangle that hold the phone to the top. This is the piece that carries most of the weight. The rectangle should be about 1/2 of your computer from top to bottom of the screen. I made it 133mm X 60mm.

Make a center rectangle (create > rectangle > center rectangle ), and place the center point at the center of the piece, in the same spot where the center of the cylinder is. Click finish sketch.

This is the beginning of the short arm that holds the weight itself. Press E on your keyboard to extrude, and pull down at the same height as the cylinder. Go to the side menu and change the operation to join.

Select the face one of the sides and press E. Then push the piece inward until the the side is flat.

Next, we make the claws that stick out from the long side arms and grab the PC. I made the start of this claw 6mm on both sides. All you have to do is select the face, and press E. Make sure the operation is selected as 'new body', and click OK. Then, do the same thing, except select the newly created face on top, and make this length the exact same distance as your computer screen. Reference the photos for clarity. Next, select the top face from the extrusion you just made, and extrude again, for about 4mm. The last thing to do is extrude from the new face you created, so that it overhangs over the main joint. Make this one about 2.5mm. Honestly, just look at the pictures for the correct faces to extrude.

So now we do the same steps all over again for the short arm, just with different measurements.

I made the starting thickness 8mm due to the extra weight this arm has to carry. Again, make the second extrusion thickness 4mm (or whatever you computer screen thickness is). All other extrusions are the same length. Follow the photos if you are stuck.

This piece will be the part that actually holds the phone. Select the top face and press E. Make the distance the width of your phone plus a little bit of room for it to fit when you place it in. For me it was 85mm.

This is the Claw that holds the phone on top. Extrude the top by 6mm. Select the biggest face, and press E. Then push inward enough so that the phone can slide in. My phone is 8mm thick so I made it 10mm deep. Select the top claws face and extrude by 4mm. Select the inward face and extrude by 4mm.

Now we make the most important part, the bottom claw which stops the phone from sliding out. Start by extruding the small face in-between the center circle, and the phone holder. Make the length of the extrusion to be the same height as the other sides claw. For me this was 4mm in the previous step. Then select the new face inward, and extrude to make the claw itself that holds the phone. For me this was 5mm.

At this point, the bracket is pretty much finished. The last thing I would recommend doing is using the filet by pressing F, and chamfering (modify > chamfer ), and applying these tools to edges to make them smoother. Just select an edge and press the button and pull the slider to smooth it out.

Before 3D printing, make sure to set a high density infill in your slicer (at least 70%), because this a small amount of plastic that needs to carry a large amount of weight.

Also remember to slice the model because it's going to be way to big for most 3d printers. You can use the split body tool in Fusion itself, and export separately, or slice the model in the slicing software itself. I needed to split and print one of the long legs and the short leg separately.

Once the pieces have printed, carefully apply a small amount of the glue to the rims. Press the pieces together firmly and let it dry before applying any more pressure.