Ideas for a smartphone-monitor combo system - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: ThunderZed
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2025, 07:30:35 pm
content: I'm posting here because this is not strictly an electronics-related matter, in fact it's more of a do-it-yourself question!I need to devise a "system" of attachments (or something similar) between my smartphone and the monitor of my desktop PC such that the phone is normally "hidden" when looking at the monitor from the front but if need be one can easily pop it out so that it is adjacent by its long side to the bottom edge of the monitor, possibly in the middle position but right-handed is also fine.This is all because more and more often I am using them at the same time, that is, with my right hand I operate at short intervals with the mouse and the phone, using the capacitive stylus for the latter. I don't want the phone to be on display on the desk but it must have as unobtrusive a presence as possible, so I want it "hidden" and, even when I take it out, I don't want it on the desk.I attach the 3 following pictures:- the front area to operate on (still need to clean it up!);- the front area with the phone in question, which I leaned against the base just to show how big it is but it will have to stick out much more;- the back of the monitor (I will remove the clothespin!).It would be interesting to be able to hide it, horizontally, behind the monitor between the 2 rear cables and then slide it down, but I wouldn't know how to make such a system. Alternatively, I would also have thought of adding a hollow base (as if it were a drawer) not too high under the base of the monitor and put it in there and then, if needed, slide it out by positioning it so that it is adjacent to the bottom edge of the monitor.I welcome ideas, the more the better

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2025, 10:29:16 pm
content: Hmm; at first I thought you were trying to figure out how to electronicamagically combine the phone image with the monitor's.This probably won't work, but I offer it as maybe a starting point. As I understand it, you want to be able to swing the phone out from behind the monitor to see it, then be able to stow it back behind/under the monitor.Pardon the crude sketch:The dotted outlines show the visible and stowed positions of the phone.The thing on the side is a slotted metal plate; the round black spots are pins that slide in the slots.The phone could be pulled down and out to see it, then pushed down and back to stow it.There would need to be a spring that pulls the phone up against the tops of the slots to hold it in place.At first I thought of some system of pivots and levers to do this. Probably could be done, but it hurt my head trying to figure it out. (That would be a more elegant solution, though.)Is this even close to what you want?

author: jonovid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 22, 2025, 10:43:42 pm
content: get creative with magnets & a phone case

author: Nominal Animal
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 10:36:25 am
content: There are cabinet hinges you could use. Think of the monitor backside as being the side wall of the cabinet. When the cellphone is visible, the hinge is in the "open" position, 180° flat. When hidden, the hinge is in the closed or 90° position, with the cellphone in the horizontal plane, facing your desk. Many of these hinges have springs that keep them in the 180° and 90° positions, so you'd only need a way to attach the hinge to your monitor or monitor stand, and a cellphone case or cellphone holder to the hinge. That way, you'll also see the reflection of the cellphone backlight on your desk when it is active.Such hinges can also be 3D printed, of course, with an over-the-center spring pulling the hinge to either state, and probably some kind of a locking lever or button to stop it from flexing too much in the down position.For a straight up-down motion, you could use a single MGN9 or MGN12 linear rail and a single carriage. You connect the carriage to the monitor or monitor stand, and the end of the rail to the cellphone holder. Use a 28BYJ stepper and standard GT2 belt to move the rail up and down, connecting both ends of the belt to the rail, with stepper fixed with respect to the carriage. The 28BYJ has such a reduction that you don't need to power it when not moving, and USB 5V suffices with full stepping (although you'll want to heavily filter the supply or use an external wall wart, so the stepper noise doesn't affect the sound chip on your computer – otherwise you'll literally hear the stepper moving from your speakers). I like to use simple Arduino-programmable microcontrollers with native USB, so you don't need any special drivers at all, as the stepper controller looks like a HID device (odd keyboard or mouse or joystick), and your own userspace program can control it.Lots of mechanical options. If you're not above playing with Lego Technic (or the compatible cheap bricks you can buy from AliExpress and elsewhere), you can quickly prototype something. Beware: that can get addictive!

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 12:18:49 pm
content: What problem are you trying to solve with the phone being tucked away and hidden? What's wrong with a simple USB-C cable plugged into the phone which enables external video, keyboard, mouse and charging via a single lead, and just have the phone popped on the desk to the side/in a drawer?

author: ThunderZed
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 02:16:52 pm
content: Thanks a lot to everyone who contributed.What do you think of a system that makes the phone pop up from low to high, like the "drawer" under the monitor base I mentioned? Would the hinge system be easier to devise or not?

author: u666sa
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 04:33:00 pm
content: What you need is a good and appropriate cell phone holder. They are made in many different styles.It can even be on extendible microphone arm if you want.

author: PlainName
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 06:36:59 pm
content: As an alternative, perhaps srcpy might work instead:https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpyIt's remote control from PC to Android. Run it an up pops your Android screen in a window on the PC, and you can use the mouse to do finger stuff. Connect either via USB or WiFi. I use it to do phone stuff without taking it off the wireless charger, so no cables or anything.Under the bonnet it's just a serial connection (via whatever means) using ADB, so very low resource usage.

author: ThunderZed
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 06:50:41 pm
content: I'm not authorized to make changes to the computer in question, so neither software that interfaces with the phone nor connection cables.

author: abeyer
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 07:23:32 pm
content: QuoteQuoteQuoteSo the X to this Y is "How do I read the socials/play games/post on eevblog at work without my boss catching me?"

author: ThunderZed
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 23, 2025, 07:41:55 pm
content: Come on... Do you think it's a company's computer? Did you take a good look at the photos I took? Look at the embroidered curtain in the background!

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 25, 2025, 08:53:02 pm
content: Having gotten no response at all from my idea, let me present it again, this time in a more generalized way:So are there any mechanical engineering types reading this? I'm guessing that this would be a pretty simple exercise one might run across in their ME201 class: how to articulate the phone to move in that arc. (This is looking at the scheme end-on, with the monitor on top.)The solution would involve whatever arms, brackets, levers, pivots and whatnot that would be required.The mechanism would probably have its own little stand to sit underneath the monitor.Anyone?(And OP, can you confirm that this is what you're looking for here?)

author: ThunderZed
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 26, 2025, 11:14:34 am
content: Yes, it's another good idea, like your previous one. I think it can be achieved with some hardware attachments, like perforated plates and/or plates with slots. Maybe the hardest question to answer is how to keep the phone firmly in place when it's positioned for use (when I tap on it with a stylus). I think I could just screw the whole system tighter, but the drawback would be that it would be harder to move (up -> down), at least with one hand. Anyway, it's worth a try.

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 27, 2025, 12:48:29 am
content: Quote from: ThunderZed on March 26, 2025, 11:14:34 amI think springs would be your friend here.So where are all the MEs? Should be a piece of cake for them.

author: ThunderZed
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 27, 2025, 01:53:22 pm
content: I think MEs prefer to have other kinds of "cakes"I googled a lot and maybe (!) I've found something interesting to evaluate in order to keep the phone firmly when I tap on it: the so called gooseneck wire (hereis an example of supporting a phone on a desk edge with a clip). Moreover this kind of solution doesn’t suffer from the motion "limitations" that hardware attachments do, I mean its degrees of freedom are unlimited (MEs forgive me for any inaccuracies!).In this case, I think the only issue to solve would be how to constrain the given "base" of the gooseneck to the back of my monitor. I removed the 2 pieces of plastic you saw in one of my previous pics (post #1) and 4 screw holes of 4mm diameter each one appeared (see attachment).

author: vidarr
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 27, 2025, 04:39:25 pm
content: Quote from: PlainName on March 23, 2025, 06:36:59 pmUse scrcpy, it is the best way to use your phone at the pc. You don't have to install anything; you just click the thing and it opens your phone's screen on your monitor. You use your mouse for everything your finger would do. It is so much more efficient than going back and forth to your phone.Anyway, all you need is a door hinge to do what you want.

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 27, 2025, 11:06:28 pm
content: Quote from: vidarr on March 27, 2025, 04:39:25 pmSo how would that work?Seems to me that all you'd be able to do with a single hinge is to let the phone either stand upright or flop down. And how would you keep it in the "up" position?

author: ThunderZed
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 28, 2025, 10:55:35 am
content: This is an idea anyhow though @Nominal Animal had already suggested it ("cabinet hinges"). I have to realize this "system" starting from nothing so... from these ideas onwards I know it's a puzzle for me

author: vidarr
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 28, 2025, 01:39:05 pm
content: Quote from: Analog Kid on March 27, 2025, 11:06:28 pmSome hinges allow you to adjust the friction. If not, you can use a hammer, or wrench, and lightly tap on the gudgeon until it is the tightness you want on the pintle.The one I show you was adjusted to be with more friction. The vice is a little heavier than a normal phone.Also, if you want to go further, you can try to find a different kind of hinge. This hinge is from an old computer monitor. You can adjust the nuts to adjust the friction.You can see how easy it would be to mount a phone holder to either of these hinges, or come up with your own holder.I don't need one, so I am not going to design/build the whole thing. This should be enough to get you going.edit: That is paint on me, not dirt, lol. I am painting speakers now. Also, I have Master of Arch degree from Yale, and I also design products and medical devices. If you get stuck on this, just keep posting, I'll check up on this thread. I like the idea.

author: vidarr
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: March 28, 2025, 01:45:11 pm
content: Quote from: Analog Kid on March 25, 2025, 08:53:02 pmYou could build this for sure, but it is too complicated. If you just want to do it for the coolness factor, I get it. If you did it right, it could look pretty cool.edit: Just think about hinges and swivels. Look at the TV/Monitor swivels that let you pull a TV out from a wall and turn it on angles. It is the same thing, but you are wanting to mount it 90 degrees clockwise/counterclockwise of the TV swivel.

author: Fendy911
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: April 02, 2025, 07:05:21 am
content: If you're planning to outsource development, I'd suggest clearly defining your requirements first.

author: ThunderZed
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2025, 11:08:20 am
content: What do you mean by "outsource development"?The only thing I thought of improving compared to everything I mentioned in my first post is that I'd like this system to be able to move the phone with total freedom, so I had suggested the gooseneck arm. I'd also like the phone to be positioned higher, meaning it'd reach the top part of the monitor.I went to the store and found thisLinq HD-1508gooseneck phone holder but honestly I didn't expect it to be so hard to move, impossible with one hand.I need something that's easier to move but it's firm in place when I position it and tap on the phone. I think I'll try first with 2mm (0.08in) diameter iron wire, bent over itself several times until I get the right "consistency". Let's see if I can get an arm that is both soft and firm at the same time.

author: Analog Kid
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 02, 2025, 10:37:15 pm
content: Quote from: ThunderZed on April 02, 2025, 11:08:20 amYou can probably get that to work, but it'll eventually break due to constant flexing.Good for a proof-of-concept test, though.You never said: what do you think of my mechanical arms idea?

author: ThunderZed
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 03, 2025, 10:33:33 am
content: Of course your idea was good, so I added a "thank you" to your post from March 25thNow I'm considering a sort of "middle" ground between the thick solid alloy gooseneck like the one I tried with my own hands in that shop and the weak iron wire: the gooseneck tube. It's used both as athird hand in electronicsand tosupport microphones(tough a japanese buyer said it cannot support a 100g camera!). It can also be found in table lamps and I have one at home. I can check that it's both flexible and firm, so I think it's the best material to use for my goal so far.