My use case was mounting phone to the Mazda Miata dashboard using a RAM-style motorcycle phone cradle. I've replaced the RAM-style ball with the 17mm tightening ring to make it more compact. (in my case both used the same ¼ inch camera thread making it easy to swap).
the ball ends up with a cutout for the m4 nut, but this doesn't seem to affect the smoothness of operation of the mount.
The author remixed this model.
Uses M4 bolt and nut for the 177mm ball, instead of a threaded insert (I had spare bolts around but no inserts).