A home 3D printer turns old phones and gadgets into useful gear

A writer at How-To Geek says the most useful things he makes on his 3D printer are not whole objects. They are mounts, grips and cases that let old gadgets do a new job. He has turned an old tablet into a car display, an unused phone into a game device, and a spare phone and speaker into a kitchen radio.

What was made

Joe Fedewa drives a 2009 Chevy Silverado, which has no built-in Android Auto screen. Android Auto shows your phone's maps and music on a car display. His cheap portable display started having connection problems, so he used an old Amazon Fire Tablet instead. It worked well on a long summer road trip.

To hold the tablet, he measured the mount from his old display, which was already on the dashboard. He then printed a simple grip that fits it. In his words, two things got reused: the tablet and the mount.

Phones and watches

His Unihertz Titan 2 Elite phone has a physical keyboard he never warmed to, so it sat on his desk for months. A free project called Titan Boy gave it a Game Boy-style gamepad cover. It fits with or without a case and comes with settings files for RetroArch, a retro game app. He now plays old games on it.

He also built a case for a Pixel Watch that changes how it feels in the hand. After several attempts, it has a working scroll wheel and two buttons. It follows the idea behind products like the RePod, Miniphone Ultra and TinyPod, which turn a watch into a less watch-like device.

A kitchen radio

He used to have a Google Nest Hub in his kitchen but was not happy with it. Starting music by voice worked with only a few apps, and casting from his phone was slow to connect. His fix is a vintage-style printed radio. A phone serves as the screen and an old Google Home Mini handles voice commands.

An automation connects the phone to the speaker over Bluetooth whenever he opens an audio app. The setup has run for over seven months.

What to do

• Before buying new or tossing an old gadget, ask if a mount or case could give it a new job.
• Look for existing designs for your exact device, as with Titan Boy.
• Measure any mount you already own, since it can be reused.

The article does not say what the prints cost or how long they take. It also assumes access to a 3D printer.