How to Make Your Own Tripod Smartphone Mount

To start this really easy project, all you need is a piece of moldable plastic, an oven, high powered hair dryer or heat gun and an old camera or web cam that you really don’t use anymore…

Plastic
I used a piece of kydex for this project as I had some lying around, Kydex can usually be picked up fairly cheap in small batches from knife/sheath makers or pop into your local hardware store. You can also use slim chopping boards.
But in a real pinch, you can make your own by ironing, shopping bags, one at a time on top of each other with a regular iron on an ironing board with brown paper between the iron and bags. Just keep them flat and they will shrink and mold together nicely, you will need a fair few layers though, Keep the iron on hot but take your time.

Mount
Force apart your old camera, I used an old webcam logitech bubble style, it came apart really easy.

Drilling it out
Once you have your plastic cut to the size you need, I used a one inch strip about four inches long, There is usually a round section on the mounting plate, measure this and find a drill bit a tiny bit smaller, you want it to be a snug fit. Drill through the middle about three quarters of an inch away from one end.

Shaping
Heat the plastic strip slowly, I used the grill on my cooker on high, and placed it under for about 30 seconds, Use gloves as it holds the heat for a while, then pop the tripod mount through the hole, flash shrink it again by placing under cold water.
Place the strip under the heat again and slowly curve it around your phone, try to keep things at right angles where the mount comes out but the rest keep curved a little.
Hold it in place until it’s settled and cool.
Heat it once more and slightly tighten up the curve so there is a springy action to the mount.

Once you’re finished take a dremel or a piece of sand paper and clean up the edges, to the size that suits you best and start using it.

With this sort of set up, getting panorama pictures can be easily controlled, long exposure shots for fireworks, or low light scenes are a breeze. Even just for general use it makes a huge difference. Or, if you find this too difficult, head over to Amazon and buy one – but it will cost you around $20!

Now go out and start taking better pics!