ZTE MC801A Tower

The only place in my apartment in which this 5G modem can have optimal reception (line of sight to the cell tower) is in a window on top of an unused radiator. Due to the structure of the wall below the window, wall mounting was not practical, so I used a shaky cardboard contraption for a while, which nearly led to the destruction of the modem on some occasions.

This modification of Masochisti's original model on Thingiverse adds a tower that elevates the modem on top of a stable surface (in my case the radiator). The tower doubles as cable management. For extra safety, zip ties should be used to tie the modem to the tower, and the tower to the base.

The modem generates quite a bit of heat at maximum load and features a chimney-style passive cooling design. This model was designed to ensure that the air intakes remain unblocked so cooling performance is not degraded in any way.

The modem this is designed for is commonly sold by Austrian ISP Drei under the name “Drei Maxxx”. It will only work with this specific model. If you have a similar use case, you can get the model for the tower alone (plus Fusion 360 design file) here and add whatever you need.

Printing notes

I originally printed this in one piece with supports, generating a lot of waste. In hindsight, I'd cut it up in the slicer along the horizontal beams to print each tower segment separately without supports, horizontal beams sitting on the bed. Then, glue everything together. It just looks a little better if printed in once piece.

The bay in which the modem sits was originally designed by Masochisti on Thingiverse. I cut off the wall mount to replace it with the tower structure, and reduced the side walls a little in height so the finished model would fit into the build space of my printer in one piece.