Developing My Own Magsafe Accessories

Think back to the reveal of CMF Phone 1, community members were really excited about the idea of customisability on a phone, and even some modularity. While Nothing were quick to introduce some of their own first party accessories; a kickstand, lanyard, replaceable back covers, and a card holder, some of us were thinking of the endless possibilities and how we could really push that idea out of the box and beyond.

I quickly got to work, whipping up a few ideas but i finally settled on one that really resonates with me, a trading card holder. While this has been explored in some capacity by Showcased Cards, the idea is still extremely limited. Shortly after posting my idea on my socials, Nothing released the STL and STEP files for CMF Phone 1, with an encouragement for the community to get creating.

Since i already had a concept, this meant i could quickly get to work with prototyping. I enlisted the help of @Dylan_B as i myself did not have a 3D printer, or the knowledge of how to use one. Some back and forth later, we finally had some working prototypes. For someone such as myself who has spent a couple of years exclusively making concepts and renders, it was such an incredible feeling to have a physical product in my hand that i had created.

Fast forward to much more recently, having taken some time away from the CMF project to enjoy more recent announcements, i decided to look back on CMF Phone 1 and my previous creation to see how i could build and improve on it. I had also just invested in my own Bambu Lab A1 Mini printer, and my passion for 3D projects has skyrocketed.

Suddenly my main train of thought became magsafe and the idea of having modules that could easily be replaced without the need of removing the whole rear plate every time. initially i started designing a magsafe plate that would attach to the back of the phone making it compatible with magsafe accessories. This was the relatively easy part, following the same size and shape of the phone to make sure the 2 parts complimented each other. Then came the more intricate processes, making the plate thin enough to not add any unnecessary bulk to the device, but also ensure that it was thick enough to house the magsafe ring and not be too brittle. Creating the intricate design below involved a lot of boolean work in Blender, and i had to do lots of research into the most popular and affordable magsafe rings to work out the dimensions.

After playing around with some funky designs, there was only one thing left to do, SEND IT TO THE PRINTER!

Once the main frame was finished, it was time to think about accessories. While there were many ideas to explore, including popular options such as a wallet, or some kind of kickstand, i couldn’t help but still be drawn to my previous project, the trading card holder. If i could make a much more refined version of this that also had magsafe, not only would it be convenient, and a more mature evolution of my first physical project, but also potentially a first of its kind product.

To ensure maximum nostalgia, i decided to base my magsafe trading card holder on a classic Game Boy cartridge. While this wouldn’t be a 1:1 in regards to shape, size, and details, i wanted to take as much inspiration as possible.

From the images above, you can see that i tried to incorporate important parts of the cartridge, such as the ridges at the top, the concave portion, the sharp edges and corners down the side, and also the bottom portion that would be the part of the cartridge that would be inserted into the console.

Unfortunately, including all of these details meant that the final design was quite large in size, almost taking up the entire bottom half of the phone, however, it felt very authentic.

I’m extremely pleased with the result, and i do feel the nostalgia really shines through. I also added a bit of customisation to make it that extra bit more personal. The card has no horizontal movement inside the holder, there is vertical movement but the card is snug enough to not fall out unless heavily shaken, and the card will not experience any scuffing or marking if used carefully.

Unfortunately there are some downsides to this design, firstly, there’s the size as mentioned above. This design, while staying true to the clunky nature of a cartridge, takes up almost the entire bottom half of the phone, and expands all the way to the edges. The second biggest downside of this concept is the intricate supports that are generated under the shelves when 3D printing. Because this area is only just larger than the width of a card, it’s extremely difficult to get the supports out, and i ended up having to carve them out with a craft knife, which not only is a lengthy process (and messy) but also causes damage to the print.

While the product is technically funtional, and looking great, it is only compatible with a small pool of devices, and certainly not ones that have large camera arrays or smaller phones like the regular non-maxes.

With this in mind i quickly created a much more compact version which does support a much wider variety of devices. Unfortunately, to get this universal form-factor, i had to sacrifice the cartridge design in favour of a much thinner frame, getting the tolerances down as low as possible. Although not nearly as cool, it still looks acceptable, and most importantly, its functional.

So this is where i am at, i have a magsafe plate for CMF Phone 1, a magsafe trading card holder inpsired by a Game Boy cartridge, and a much more slimmed down and simple trading card holder, that is compatible with more devices. Overall, i have absolutely loved working on this project, it’s been amazing to deep dive into designing a physical product and learning more about 3D printing.

I would love to hear your thoughts about this project, magsafe in general, and what future ideas you would love to see.