Designed a new stereo/tablet mount

[Scotts Elle]

I am an industrial designer by trade and have a few resources that allow me to make things when there is nothing else I like that is available. I like the creature comforts of modern vehicles (especially the tech stuff). Android tablets are incredible for car stereo replacements and very inexpensive but they lack elegant ways of mounting them. I think this turned out pretty good. I am going to get this chromed and painted to match the gauge bezel. What do you guys think?







I have more pictures but you get the idea. It mounts with some door panel christmas tree pins and 2 screws. Easily pops off. The rest is just apps and bluetooth connections.

[Camaroguy]

I think it looks cool. Good, creative idea.

[A1971Blazer]

very nice....good idea....
3D printing is an awesome way to create one-off stuff!

[Coley]

...I love the ingenuity....plus, nice work on having a 'one off' interface.
nicely done.

Coley

[Ben_Yeaton]

This RULES! Love how it ties in with the bezel and the glove box. Excited to see it chromed and finished. Do you mind sharing the rest of your audio system as well, as I bet it's cool also.

[muley]

Now you're digging where there's worms! I like that !

[dfwright]

That totally rocks! In more ways than one!

[el_fantasma]

How does it look when you remove it temporarily. I mean is your original radio and ash tray untouched or do you have a couple of brackets holding it on?

[crazyjeenyus]

Yes. What kind of dash mods did you do? Did you use PLA or ABS filament?

[Scotts Elle]

I printed 2. One from ASA and one out of Nylon 12. You can achieve a nicer finish with ASA but Nylon 12 is stronger. This simply covers the stock stereo location and you keep the ash tray functionality. There are 4 small holes that I drilled. The top 2 use a plastic door panel retainer. The bottom 2 are for screws the same size as the dash bezel. Both can be easily plug welded or capped if I wanted to return to stock.




As you can see the previous owner cut a hole for a half DIN stereo but if you did this, its not needed. I didn't want to cut a double din hole in the dash but wanted the features of a full nav unit. There is tons of info on making a Google Nexus tablet into a car stereo/smart media center.

When the truck is keyed on, the unit wakes ups and charges (turns off when keyed off). This is a power management app. The launch screen is one of 50 or so apps built like Apple car play. When my phone connects via bluetooth, it stream music to the tablet. It also shares my iPhone data connection for Pandora, google maps, etc... Just like your modern cars.

The stereo is not installed yet but its all run off an Audison processor/amp that has blue tooth and usb audio. The fronts are Focal 5.25, a center channel Focal 4.5 and a JL 10" sub (skinny version). Not looking to thump around town, just want a quality sound. I am designing the box after I 3D scanned the back wall. Will vacuum form it in a poly and reinforce with fiberglass or carbon fiber weave (much like some factory European cars do with sub boxes). Never been fan of MDF

The rear view camera is a pioneer rear view USB camera (has a reverse wire hook up to turn on when you put it on reverse. Then a rear view app that turns on when the camera connects. The LS data interface is a bluetooth OBDII dongle and the app is ignition.

[matt.quest21]

Could I have a copy of the 3D file? I think it's awesome and want one!

[WB72]

Do you have a design for any apple products to fit in your bezel? iPhones do not talk nicely to android tablets. I would totally be interested in these if you offer them up for sale in any way of actual product or 3d file.

[Aberdare]

Excellent work there... 3D printing sure saves alot of time making custom brackets and covers. Well done.

Abe

[Scotts Elle]

Thanks for the kudos! I haven’t though about selling them honestly. This design gig is my daily job so the production machines we have are usually pretty tied up with other jobs. I have another one printing now with a few changes. If that turns out, I will see what’s involved in getting a few of these made.

I am an apple guy through and through so I hear ya about getting an android to talk to a apple phone. I did a design a while back with an iPad mini for a technology company that needed the iPad mounted in golf carts. iPads are tricky because you still need access to the side buttons and home button and the apps for mobile media centers were very limited. That said, if you jail break an iPad, you can run Apple car play and a few power management apps that will treat it like a normal media center but from what I have seen its very involved. I love apple car play and there is an app that will enable an android tablet to run Carplay. I am testing it next week but it requires you to get deep into the Nexus.

I will get the iPad mini model from Apple this week and play with it.

Sorry guys... I can’t share the 3D file. Its an IP work thing...

[PEDROSKI]

Subbed

[Scotts Elle]

Need a favor from the community since my dash is hacked up. Can someone measure a stereo cut out? I just designed a similar mount into an Impala and I used the radio knob holes as the mounting points.

Will need the hole diameters, the distance between the CENTERS of the holes and the radio face opening.

What should be ideal is taping a small ruler in the horizontal and one in a vertical position and take a full resolution picture. I can use this image in a software program to get exact dimensions.

Thanks!

[Ben_Yeaton]

Originally Posted by Scotts Elle

I just designed a similar mount into an Impala and I used the radio knob holes as the mounting points.

That's a great idea, and what I was hoping you would move towards to suit everyone w/o a hacked up dash. This will be VERY cool if it comes to fruition. Great work!

[Coley]

Yep...mine is uncut and stock and I'll try to get you some good measurements of the original holes, etc.
That said, ...are all those phones? or tablets or? I thought they were all basically different sizes?....
ie: apple would be different than Samsung or ....whatever other ones are out there. Do I have this correct??

Coley

[Scotts Elle]

These are tablets. I had an old Nexus 7 that I did some reasearch on. Turns out, it’s very common to use it as a vehicle head unit. Adjusting the size for an iPad mini isn’t an issue. The issues with iPads is that there is not very many apps available to make it behave like a smart car stereo and nav. I found a way to run CarPlay on an ipad but you have to jail break it. Lots of nerd stuff involved there. I will try it once I get one printed.

[Orange67]

Wow very cool! Looks great, amd as someone that has a hacked dash, I wish I could do this. Nice work!

[Fraud]

I'm a car audio guy from way back, but for older cars I've never been a fan of modern head units or screens at all, and had always planned on hiding it all away somewhere and putting some basic controls behind the ashtray door...

But this is exceptionally good, matching the instrument cluster/glovebox door is exactly what was needed to pull this off, I really dig it

Any chance you want to share the file?

[Scotts Elle]

Sorry. Can't share the technical files. It's a work IP (intellectual property) thing. Because I do this for a living and I get paid very well to do it, one of the draw backs is that anything I come up with (even if its for personal use), the company owns it. I will ask if I can file a public domain license to the drawings/files but I wouldn't count on it. Our average bill out here is north of $75,000 for product development and prototyping. If we eat that development time, the company takes perpetual royalties on sales.

I love these 67-72 C10s and have always wanted on since I had a paper route as a kid. I also like my modern vehicles with the tech features. I have been determined to get these features into my C10 without taking away from the classic look. Below is the MIL light bezel that replaces the choke bezel in the dash:


This is the fuse block mount for the LS under the hood (Tried to replicate the stock look of the 2004 Silverado user hood fuse block):





The MAF to Air filter adaptor:





I would love to see my ideas being used by enthusiasts on the open market (the how us designers get our kudos). If I can get approval for this to be shared, I will.

[Trackman101]

Very cool.

[Scotts Elle]

Wanted to post a follow-up... I was able to get a general license to distribute. I make no money off these. This site you order from sells the 3D printed models for hobbyists. I have the ability to mark it up but that is a big no no from work. This way you guys don't "pay" for all the crap associated with product development. This is also not the cheapest way to make these but if you want one, you can get one.

http://shpws.me/PdMV

Shapeways takes a while to ship. They are not fast but I use them when I can't use the printers here at work. Quality is generally really good.

[slowcpe]

That's pretty cool. I've been thinking about hiding a tablet under the dash or console but this would be very cool. I'm a home automation and a/v guy by trade so running everything off a tablet is the route I want to go.