However, there was no good place to put my phone. I hate just about every phone mount out there, so for the last few cars I’ve driven, I’ve made my own mounts using my 3d Printer. This time around, I wanted to try something new, so instead of string a USB cable across the car, I picked up a wireless CarPlay adapter off of Amazon. I got the Carlinkit 2.0 Adapter, which has worked pretty well only needing the occasional unplug/re-plug routine.

And since I no longer needed to plug the phone in for CarPlay, I figured I’d also try adding a qi charger and simplify getting in and out of my car. So I set out to renew my phone holder design with the ability to wirelessly charge my phone.

My first task was to recreate my old phone holder in Fusion360, since I no longer have access to SolidWorks now that I’m out of school. This also meant I had to learn Fusion360 as well. Luckily, I’ve watched a lot of John Saunders’ NYC CNC videos on YouTube so I already had a pretty good feel for the program, not to mention moving from one CAD package to another is a lot easier once you know the basics (just like learning a new programming language).

From this I printed a few test pieces, as I had to get my 3d printer running after sitting unused for a few years. It took a little dialing in but I started to get some good prints after putting it in an enclosure to keep the heat in.

During these runs, I worked on dialing in the size of the hex cutout for a 1/4″-20 lock nut so I could connect it to the intended mounting arm. It is the same arm I used in my last car, a CAMVATE 11″ magic arm. These kinds of arms are used in film making and photography all the time to hold lights and other accessories (I actually use them for all sorts of projects, they make great helping hands for soldering with the addition of an alligator clip).

The next thing to figure out was how to add qi charging hardware. I discovered that PCB charger modules could be found on Amazon (of course) for not too much. I ended up grabbing this one which also added some status LEDs.

After receiving the module, I took it’s measurements and redesigned the mount with a slot for it to drop into and line up with the coil on my phone (iPhone SE 2020) for the most efficient charging.

Once I got a clean print, I connected the arm, dropped in the charger module, and rigged it to a temporary mount in the car.

After doing a little internet research, I couldn’t find a product that did what I needed and looked how I wanted. There were a couple close ones on amazon, but they lacked the XLR connections I love. Plus, who couldn’t use another personal project? So I started putting together an idea for a stereo, balanced, XLR splitter/volume control combo box that would look good on my desktop.

I started with the core of the circuit, the potentiometer. I chose the alps RK27114: a 27mm, 10kΩ, 4-ganged, audio taper pot that is very well regarded (Coincidentally, I found out it’s the same one Schiit is using in the the Magnius, the companion amp to the Modius).

For the connections, I picked up Neutrik’s “A” series male XLR and “Combo A” female jacks so I could accept balanced TRS as well as XLR input.

When it comes to project boxes, I’ve come to like the extruded aluminum boxes from Hammond. They have a clean look and are generally easy to work in (as long as you buy the right size, I’ve got a couple extras lying around due to that particular error). I ended up buying the 1455T1601BK and cutting down the length to about 4″.

It’s pretty basic, but here’s the diagram of the circuit.

So, I drilled out the case, made a mounting bracket to recess the potentiometer, soldered it up (3x due to some mystery short circuits…) and made sure it was working.

Only thing left to do was plug it in and start listening!

So starting from that idea, I opened up sketchup and put together a design for mine with a few modifications: I liked the idea of the wood blocks “floating” with a little more empty space, and I wanted a separate tray at the bottom that the tower could nest into for travel.

I started with picking up a 2″x2″x36″ piece of oak from the hardware store, along with a 0.25″x 4″x24″ plank. I had some aluminum wood screws and 0.125″ acrylic sheet lying around, along with some green felt I had bought to line my toolboxes a while back. I unfortunately forgot to take in-progress photos along the way, but construction went pretty quick.

After cutting the general shape of the blocks on the miter saw, I sanded them down, glued together the ones that had touching faces, and drilled the appropriate holes to mount them into the acrylic walls. I used super 77 spray adhesive to apply the felt to the top to keep the noise down (I have a couple cast metal dice that can get quite loud).

UPDATE (2020-12-27):

After an unfortunate fall onto pavement, the thin acrylic sides developed some nasty cracks. So, Ive since replaced them all with Lexan (polycarbonate), which is far less brittle.

I laid out a grid of circles in illustrator, overlaid an outline of NJ and deleted the ones outside. The file was then laser cut out of 0.25″ acrylic sheet and fit into a groove in the wooden box. It was backlit using a fluorescent tube and a shower curtain to diffuse the light. Later, rope handles and a removable cover to keep the pegs in (not pictured) were added.

The biggest challenge turned out to be the hole size as I did not originally have pegs to measure and my initial guess was slightly too big for the normal orientation. Luckily, lite-brite pegs are tapered so I enlarged the holes (by hand) using a step drill to allow them to be stuck in backwards.