Apple iPhone and Watch Dock

Years ago I bought this fancy Studio Neat charging dock, made out of wood and cork. 

It was my bedside charging dock for my phone for years. While I loved the dock, I knew its days were numbered because it was built around the Lightning charging cord and not terribly flexible for larger phones. Unfortunately, Studio Neat doesn't sell an updated version for USB-C. I knew I needed a new solution, so I started recreating the dock in Fusion 360, while adapting it for 3D printing design and fixing some things that I didn't like about it.

You can use the charging cables that came with your devices for this dock. Apple's USB-C and Lightning cables are very compact, which is helpful for design, but I cannot be sure that it will work with a 3rd-party cable or watch charger. In fact I'd be surprised if it did. The tolerances are fairly tight, but a decent 3D printer should be able to handle it. But if you need to change the settings to fit, I’ve made the model easy to update!

You will need the following items:

• Apple USB-C or Lightning cable
• Apple Watch charging cable (USB-A or USB-C will both fit)
• 5x M3 threaded heat-set inserts
• 4x M3x20 screws (18 will probably also work, but I only had 20 available)
• 1 M3x8 screw
• Anti-slip sticky pads for the underside of the dock (optional)

There are 4 components that you will need to print. None of the models need supports, assuming you print them in the proper orientation:

• The charging base. Print this with the face down.
  • There are two versions: USB-C and Lightning. Pick the one you need.
• The adjustable phone rest. Print in the normal orientation (flat side down).
• The watch holder. Print in the normal orientation (flat side down).
  • There are two versions: small and large. I have a 40mm watch and the small is perfect. I made a large version that is 1cm taller for a larger watch; use this for the Ultra or 44-45mm versions. Give me feedback if that doesn't work well, because I don't have a large watch to test with.
• The cord retention clip. Print on the side, with the open end of the cord clip facing up.
  • There are two versions: USB-C and Lightning. Pick the one you need.

For print settings, 0.2 layer height and 10-15% infill is plenty. Consider variable layer height for the watch holder and phone rest.

Assembly instructions:

• Install the heat-set inserts. 
  • One in the underside of the dock
    
  • Two on the underside of the phone rest
  • Two on the underside of the watch holder
• Insert the charging cords into the dock.
  • Place the phone charging port out the top of the dock enough to where it can charge your phone
  • Place the USB end of the watch charger through the dock. Insert the charging end into the watch holder you printed.
• Attach the watch holder using the M3x20 screws
• Attach the cord retention clip using the M3x8 screw to the insert on the underside of the dock. Adjust it so there's some tension holding on the USB cord end. Place the cable in the retention clip, then feed it out through the back.
  
• Attach the phone rest using the M3x20 screws. Do not fully tighten yet.
• Now the tricky part. Place your phone in the dock, and adjust the height of the USB-C/Lightning port so it makes a good connection, and then tighten the screws for the phone rest as you push it up to your phone. If you do this right, the phone will fit snugly in the dock, yet be easy to remove.
• Refer to the photo for how high the USB cord should sit. It's unlikely that you need it to protrude out by more than one or two millimeters.
• Optional: install some anti-slip pads on the underside.

Enjoy your dock!

I attached the f3d file, which includes parameters for the sizing of the USB-C/Lightning cables (in case yours is different, or you need a bit more tolerance). If you need to adjust the sizing of the heat-set inserts, there's a parameter for that too. Feel free to remix/adjust as necessary.