[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] Chief Geek:
Mount 2.0 W/ ChiefClip

Holster 2.0 Now With ChiefClip

Part I – Required Supplies

Part II – Making The Holster

Part III – The Swivel

Part IV – The Vehicle Specific Bracket

Part V – Final Assembly

Part I

Required Supplies

Tools

Heatgun

Gloves

Cutting Utensils – Boxcutter is primary tool for thin stuff

Dremel – Used to clean up edges and smooth out lines

Marker/Pencil – Carpenters Pencil works perfectly

Small T Square or ruler (or something to make nice straight edges)

Materials:

6” X 12” X 0.060" Kydex

Swivel Mount

Quality Permanent Double Sided Tape (recommend 3M, but swivel mount I listed comes with enough to do the job)

Part II

Making The Holster

I finally got my second batch of sheets of Kydex in after what seemed like forever. The second eBay vendor was far slower than the first, but he was a friendly honest guy who apologized for the delays. I wouldn’t hesitate to use him again, but wouldn’t expect things to be as fast as the other vender, who did not carry the thinner Kydex at the time of the project. This thinner Kydex is far easier to work with, so I highly recommend 0.060 thickness of Kydex. The cutting was easier as I was able to heat it slightly with the heatgun then run a box cutter blade right through it, or you can score it with the box cutter then bend it and it breaks right apart. Way easier than using a saw and snips making lots of ugly cuts that needed to be fixed later. Creating the mount was done along the same lines above. I used the same template and everything. The main differences is that I rounded the sides that wrap around to hold the phone rather than trying to make the squared right angles. This makes for a nicer appearance and is far easier to make and adjust. These steps are very similiar to the previous post, so I’m going to use those photos to get us started, only difference at this point is the thickness of the plastic we’re working with.

1. Cut Kydex to dimensions needed for your design. My design called for measurements of

(TBA)

. This can be done by either scoring with a razor/box cutter, or you can heat the area with your heat gun and use your box cutter to cut clean through the material. It’s up to you, both methods yield the same result.

2. Remove cut outs to allow your folds to be made.

3. Using your heat gun, heat the edges and big your folds. This will likely take a few attempts so don’t get frustrated. I’m estimating that I did each of the folds atleast 2-4 times to get them just right. I ended up using a medium size ratchet handle to get the nice curved edges. Keep in mind the plastic is very hot, so wear gloves and have a rag handy for holding down these bends for a minute or so while they cool.

4. Test fit the bends and adjust as you go. You will get the feel for the heat gun and learn how much heat is needed to make minor adjustments and when you need to heat the SOB all the way and make it flat to start from scratch again.

5. Use your Dremel to clean up all the edges of your straight line and round the top and make it look a little more refined and finished.

6. Once your happy with the fit and function of your holster, set it aside. You can always make adjustments to it later also if you’re not sure about something you want to do like trying to flatten out a side or what not.

Note: On this holster I plan to secure a 90 degree micro USB cable in to make for a “Dock” so I have one less cable to fiddle with. I’ll have more on this later once I pick up some epoxy and do a few trial and errors.

Total Time: 15-60 Minutes Depending On Luck/Skill/And Pickiness

Part III

Swivel Mount

I ordered my swivel mounts from ebay with a hope I could manage to do something with them. As it turns out, they were exactly what I needed and at $6 w/ free shipping you can't beat it. These are adjustable by turning a nut between the two pieces which is a common design on many GPS mounts, which is what this was intended for. This mount will allow you to rotate the mount to landscape or portrait mode. It will also allow you to tilt it towards you.

As you can see in the above photo, it does have a raised clip of some sorts on it. This is easily removed in a variety of ways. I chose to heat it up a little with the heat gun and lob it right off.

I then grabbed the Dremel and used it to grind down the remaining stump and the raised lines down and roughen up the surface overall giving the double sided tape a better surface to adhere to.

The swivel came with double sided tape on one side (side without nub) and a second piece that was unused, along with some odds and ends that you wont need. I left the applied piece where it was and only used my trusty 3M tape on the ground down side. So far it’s been in my truck for a week and it’s been fine so you can probably get away with using the included tape. If it fails, just scrape off and replace with 3M, but I doubt you’ll have issues with it.

Now set this aside and move onto the 3rd piece of this three piece mount.

Total Time: Approx 5-10 Minutes

Part IV

Vehicle Specific Mount, AKA ChiefClip

I like how ProClip approached the mounting solutions by making highly customized mounting options without a bunch of crazy drilling. I just did not have the $100 for the complete mount. I am sure they are worth every penny, but you have to have those spare pennies to find out. I don’t consider this a knock-off as the only thing I really copy is putting plastic between the molding cracks. They contour their brackets and use a slightly different approach then what I took by utilizing screws and such for mating the parts.

I did everything on the cheap for this project because the point of it all was that I wanted a quality rock solid mount without paying out the rear for a proclip and one that would fit my phone in my preferred case without using a “one size fits all” generic that, in my experience, failes after 6-12 months. A side effect of using this Kydex is that it's re-moldable, so if you get a different phone down the road, there's a good chance you can reheat and reform this to fit your next phone so long as it’s the similar or smaller dimensions.

Making this mount was surprisingly easy, it just took lots of test fitting and minor adjustments to get it just right. Watching ProClips installation video gives you an idea how it works and it’s quite simple. It simply slips into the gaps in the dash molding. This 0.06 Kydex proved to be the perfect thickness to provide a tight, but workable fit. Follow these easy steps for a similar fitting.

1. Test thickness of Kydex with your gaps using a scrap piece you cut out earlier when you made the holster part. If its somewhat difficult to get into the cracks, but once in doesn't cause any ill effects to your dash but stays put rather well, then you're good to continue. I am using the thinnest available. If this is still too thick, consider that you can still use your Dremel to thin it out some. If you go this route, do so very slowly as Dremels tend to remove plastic pretty quickly if you’re not cautious. Even at proper thicknesses it can be difficult to get into the gaps, gently using something to spread this gap will help, I imaging if you had a plastic screwdriver ( to avoid damaging anything) would work well.

2. Measure gap between two panels. See ProClips site for ideas of where to place it for your situation, but I recommend holding your phone there and thinking about this first. Is it viewable? Reachable? Does it block anything you may need such as vents or buttons? Can your turn your wheel without hitting it? Does it obstruct view to anything such as gauges or clocks? Using a ProClip location helps you get an idea what already works for others.

3. Cut a flat strip of Kydex to span this cap, plus and inch or so extra to insert into gaps, more if it'll fit. I cut extra that I knew wouldn’t fit then trimmed it later once I got a solid idea where exactly it was going elevation wise and how deep I could go.

4. Heat and bend one side, rough side out (towards you not dash, this is important)

5. Test fit it in car. Mark approximate location of next bend.

6. Bend second fold. If you’re lucky it'll go right in with a little persuasion. I had to heat and adjust a couple times.

7. Test to make sure it’s nice and snug and not going anywhere. I am covering one of the vents for my design, but in the summer I have the windows down and winter prefer the heat on my feet, so this won’t likely bother me much.

8. Ensure rough side of Kydex is indeed out (will explain later)

Total time, 20-30 minutes.

Part V.

Final Assembly

1. With the ChiefClip in place, peel the backing top from swivel and press onto it. The reason for the textured side out is to give a great surface to adhere to. Press long and hard to make sure it’s nice and secure.

2. Peel the second strip off and press your holster onto it. Again press long and hard. Now is not the time to be in a hurry and have your phone drop to the floor later.

3. Let it sit for about 15-20 minutes for the tapes glue to “cure” and get a nice solid bond to all the parts before test driving it.

Links:

Kydex:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/370596885506...84.m1439.l2649

and

http://www.ebay.com/itm/120858959138...84.m1439.l2649

Swivel Bracket:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/350551742207...84.m1439.l2649

90 Degree angled cablehttp://www.ebay.com/itm/390403412667...84.m1439.l2649