|
Article by Menno de Gans
After searching for some time to find the perfect solution as a car mount the
obvious mount should be the Destinator/Brodit car mount. But unsatisfied
with price I'd decided to try and build one myself.
It
should be transparent, GPS/Power connected when the IPAQ inserted and no damage
to my car.
Ok
the material, polyester. It is great stuff, you can find it in a hobby
store, I already did have some for my scale airplanes. It can be bend when
heated to 150 degrees.
With a dremel (multi purpose tool)
you can round the corners and when
some heat is applied the raw corners became soft and the rough edged disappear.
After making a balsa model of
the IPAQ the polyester is heated in a hot air oven and simply bent around the
model.
In the first version the cable is visible but on the second version I used blank
wires that are somewhat melted into the polyester.
In this close-up you can see 4 thin wires
that are melted into the polyester. The car mount is attached to the
dashboard without any permanent connection, the top is bent into a 90 degree
shape that slides between the vent and the dashboard. At the bottom a screw
pushes a double plate and the attachment is made.
It is firm and shockproof without any
damaging evidence to the car.
Materials used
-
2 mm Transparent polyester
-
A 38xx/39xx IPAQ connector
-
A 'pyro pen' for heating
-
A 20 ohm resistor for current limiting
(250mA)
|
