I'd like to have a mount that would insert into the cubby and then could expand with a lever or screw to "clamp" between the roof and floor of the cubby and allow me to mount my phone with very low projection from the dash.
I haven't found any ready made device to insert and clamp into the cubby. The actual phone cradle part is not the issue - I have a magnet mount system in other cars I'm pretty happy with.
I found this leveling mount on McMaster Carr, which does what I want... but it's also physically larger than the entire cubby and rated to hold 50,000 lbs, so not really scaled to the application. Plus, it's $540:
I found this on Amazon that might work If I could mount a plate to it, but I feel like there's gotta be a more elegant solution:
I already tried a different setup - the FM vent eyeball mount, but it broke almost immediately, and all the king's horses* and this one man could not put it back together again.
*horses in the form of output of the glue factory 
So, help me out, i figure this group will have some good ideas!
What kinda tools do you have at your disposal? 3d printer, milling machine (CNC or otherwise), welder/grinder, etc?
I was thinking a wedge like the first design that was screwed together using the phone mount section as the knob.
Is the cubby something that can be removed from the dash separately without disturbing any other parts? I'd think someone could whip up a new 3d printed cubby that has a phone bracket built in, to replace it.
In reply to WonkoTheSane :
Ha, no printer or mill, just a welder and grinder. Maybe, I should have said help me find off the shelf parts that can do this!
In reply to stuart in mn :
It just snaps into the dash. That would be cool, but I would think creating a design in CAD would be a fair amount of effort, and might need a couple iterations with samples to fine tune the fit. Plus the FM vent mount was 3D printed, and was not sturdy enough - quite brittle.
Follow-up question then: do you have a mount/cradle you can cannibalize for the phone holder part?
In reply to WonkoTheSane :
I have a plan for that. This Magnetic disk. I dont plan to use the ball mount piece, just bolt it to the face of the clamp insert that goes in the cubby.
Hmm. I could design this (and even have a couple NB1 Miatas to use for testing) but it would require a time investment I'm not quite sure I can easily find right now. Dammit.
Just a thought, but I would use a 2x4 pine board 1.5" wide to come up with something the height and depth of the cubby just large enough so that after you inserted it to the back of the cubby, it would drop down behind what looks like a lip on the lower outside edge of the cubby.
Then use a wedge on the top to hold it in place (back in the 8 track days we had to use a book of matches to wedge the cassette into the player to make them not squeak). Next screw some sort of phone holder into the wedged-in wood block. Amazon.com: Rubber Wedge
I like to use a drywall knife to do my wood whittling. Or a sanding block to round off the edges where needed. Painting is optional.
You could use double sided foam tape on the back and bottom of the block to really hold it in place and hopefully be able to remove the residue with paint thinner when you are done wanting a phone holder in that car.
I'd create something with expansion anchor like geometry.
Super crude 15 second markup:
Red = pads that grab top and bottom of cubby
Green = the flat spot/connection point for phone/ram mount/magnetic plate
I'd make the corners of this pivots as opposed to live hinges though. And use a hex/square nut + machine screw instead of a wood screw. I'd also measure the cubby and design it so the arms end up almost completely perpendicular to the pads when installed to minimize fatigue.
On my '99, I made an adapter for a satellite radio- basically bent a piece of sheet metal so that it wedged into the gap very cleanly. That way you can get a small screw to attach the magnetic holder to the plate- and it may even help hold the plate in place thanks to the lip on the bottom.
Worked perfectly using friction to hold it in, and no holes cut in the cubby.
Could you just use a jungle site stick on mount? I have https://a.co/d/92j7UrE this on a couple cars.
You could stick the mount on the inside of the cubby.
I spent a few minutes prototyping something with aluminum. I think something like this made with steel, some thin padding and with the furniture screw foot mounted between the top and bottom plate could work. I could tension it by turning the foot from the side once it is in place. Mount the magnet to the face.
Use 1/8" neoprene on the outside and a screw jack on the inside?
In reply to brandonsmash :
That's seeming like the most straightforward plan.
alfadriver said:
On my '99, I made an adapter for a satellite radio- basically bent a piece of sheet metal so that it wedged into the gap very cleanly. That way you can get a small screw to attach the magnetic holder to the plate- and it may even help hold the plate in place thanks to the lip on the bottom.
I like that, nice and simple. If I wasnt trying to still have some use of the cubby, I'd copy that approach.
No Time
UberDork
2/16/25 10:46 p.m.
Before seeing this I was going to suggest a CD mount and a block (wood, plastic, etc) at the desired depth to create a gap the CD slip mount would fit:
TravisTheHuman said:
I'd create something with expansion anchor like geometry.
Super crude 15 second markup:
Red = pads that grab top and bottom of cubby
Green = the flat spot/connection point for phone/ram mount/magnetic plate
I'd make the corners of this pivots as opposed to live hinges though. And use a hex/square nut + machine screw instead of a wood screw. I'd also measure the cubby and design it so the arms end up almost completely perpendicular to the pads when installed to minimize fatigue.
Another great idea. Wonder if a metal toggle bolt would work?
How’s your close-up vision?
I ask because I once got a dash mount for my phone. It placed the photo too close to easily read.
A windshield mount, though, positioned the phone in just the right location.
Why not just a piece of aluminum with a 90 bent in the front pop riveted to the top of the cubby? Hit the easy button?
Or did my reading comprehension fail and I miss it?
sevenracer said:
You could probably find a rubber ball or stress ball that would wedge in there easily. After you place some neoprene on the outside of the metal. And/or bend a downward facing lip on the bottom metal strip to rivet to the front strip that mounts to the phone to hold it tightly in the cubby.
alfadriver said:
Here are some pics of it
Is that a blender with a bottle of octane booster next to it in the background? Is this like a pre-workout thing? (And does it work?)
Sevenracer, I like your idea, but I'm worried about putting pressure on the insides of that cubby. That plastic is old, and a quarter twist too much on a tensioner could crack it. What about flipping the Aluminum creation upside down from the orientation you have it in, so that the weight of the phone does cause it to sag/droop under the phone's weight? All I think you'd need is a chunk of Velcro at the back wall of the cubby, mated to the Aluminum mount, to hold it in place.
In reply to confuZion3 :
LOL... the blender is to pulverize compost for worms to eat faster. This is out in my garage.
