Hey there, I was just wondering if there’s a STEP or STL file of the Librem 5. I just need something that has accurate dimensions so I can use it as a reference for 3D printing projects.
Thanks!
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Depends on the purpose.
There are other mentions e.g. Librem5 silicone cover Search is your friend.
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After several years and lots of asking, Purism has finally received 3D CAD files from manufacturing. It was originally created in software called Parasolid (.x_t file format), which is natively incompatible with FreeCAD. However, the Purism team was able to extract STEP files from it for viewing in FreeCAD, and has converted it into a variety of file formats.
I am asking the team now to see if we can publish these files here.
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https://social.librem.one/@dos/113176983614407776
Purism has released the Librem 5’s mechanical design, adding to already available schematics and PCB layouts.
https://source.puri.sm/Librem5/3D_designs/-/blob/master/Librem5-Chassis/librem-5.step
I think that may make it the first proper Open Hardware smartphone out there.
#purism #librem5 #linuxmobile #linuxsmartphones #openhardware #oshw #cad
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I know that some folks have cracked the back cover of their L5. Mine has been fine, even after a couple of hard drops and one drunken trampling (the 3D printed case did it’s job). However, I just discovered a different broken plastic part on my L5.
I last had the case off a few weeks ago and it was not broken and there have been no traumatic events since, but took the case off tonight and see that the bottom right corner (looking at the back of the phone) of the circumferential cover (the one with six screws) is bulged up from the frame. Closer inspection shows that the screw that holds that corner down has pulled through the hole allowing that corner to bulge up 1 to 2 mm. The only thing I can think of to cause this might have been an over-torque of the screw (I have never removed the circumferential back cover).
No finger pointing here – these things happen, but I would like to repair the problem. I found a step file for the L5, but it seems to be only the outer mold line (suitable for developing these cool 3D cases we have been printing). Does anyone know where I can find a 3D model file for my broken part?
If not, does Purism sell a replacement?
Barring the print or purchase of a replacement part, I could possibly use a screw with a bigger head, but I’d hate to strip threads or otherwise dork up my beloved L5.
Edit: Here is the screw…
The screen capture was from a Birch, but mine’s an Evergreen. Same screw.
The 3D model for the part you are looking at exists. I used this to make a modified back cover (“outer mold line”) with screw holes in it, so I could attach the battery extension with screws through its custom battery extension holes and also into the hole you’re looking at below.
I think it is here (Librem5-Chassis · master · Librem5 / hw / 3D_designs · GitLab) that they have a file called Librem-5.step that has a giant complex geometry file with each of the component parts that can be split out.
(If interested in the geometry I created that is described above, see included screenshots of this contraption)
Ah… I see. I’m new to the 3D modeling and printing thing. My son just bought a Flashforge AD5X printer and we are starting to play with it this week.
What software would you recommend for splitting the step file into its component parts?
What material did you find worked best for your custom part?
My experience with the 3D modeling CAD stuff is that FreeCAD works well on a Librem 14, but it took me multiple days to figure out what buttons to push. Previously, I had used a CAD program 15 years ago in a school setting (on a Windows computer) to do a bunch of stuff and at that time we used tools that were proprietary, which seemed to be much easier to use and much more intuitive to me at the time than modern day FreeCAD now 15 years later that seemed much slower and harder for me to get anywhere with.
But this could also be affected by other factors, such as my age, or by the fact that 15 years ago people were telling me what buttons to push and that now in the present day I did not see those same buttons, etc. Or even the sheer concept that something that felt easy as a school kid has been made harder as an adult due to software technology being squandered for profit making me extremely frustrated until a point where I would stop working.
(According to the front page website, the software that I used 15 years ago in the present day costs more than $2500 per year for a license, and more than $3800 per year if you do not subscribe for a full year at the start, so I will save you the trouble of me even mentioning its name.)
All things considered FreeCAD had all of the buttons to push to do the things that I wanted, I simply suffered from not immediately knowing which ones they were because of the number of available buttons and menus. (I installed it using sudo apt install freecad as I recall, from PureOS ppas.)
I am not skilled in this regard. I sent in the backplate to a 3D print website and asked them to make it with aluminum and they emailed me and said I was incorrect and should make it with Nylon 11 probably instead. I went with there suggestion and have not looked back. Their suggestion saved me from paying them, as their aluminum menus would have charged me $300 for a part that ended up only costing maybe $40 when 3D printed with the Nylon 11. Maybe that speaks to my lack of skill with this in recent years.
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