The Uvoix cover case size L fits.
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@muon Thank you a lot for your effort! I just ordered a 3d print of your R7 variant using polycarbonate from a professional printing service after doing some research about the materials. I hope I will have some experience to share on this, soon.
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Oh cool! Pros should be able to print this successfully. If they can’t then apparently I need to revisit some things. I guess one bad side of having a newer printer means some of the older ones can’t always do some of the trickier tricks.
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Don’t forget that simply 3D printing a case without regard to the materials used, is likely to not work out well. If you use the correct materials in the printer, there is a chance that you might be happy with the results. The last thing you want is for the case to shatter and the phone being damaged in the process, the first time you drop the phone while it’s in its case. The Otter boxes are injection molded, hardened plastic.
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@SteveR Definitely. Not being an expert here, I still hope that a print that works with PLA should also work with polycarbonate.
And yes, I would have loved to get an Otterbox for it, but obviously there is none available. 
Yet, the case by @muon seems to be the best option I saw so far - and yes, I did lower my expectations regarding performance…
The other option I thought of was what I once tried for my Pinephone: Taking an existing Otterbox for another device and modifying it, e.g. by inserting a spacer. One could also make some cutouts and/or keep the outer rubber part but design a new "inner"part and print this one. However, this would be a lot of work. One the things that prevented me from daily driving the L5 was in fact the missing case. But with the recent GTK 4.18 issue and other unresolved issues, it remains unclear how long I would profit from a better L5 case. Hence, I wanted just a case that somehow works, and I hope this will do it.
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Yeah I’ve always been a little skeptical that a hard case does much to protect a phone from a drop. But I pretty much never drop phones so I wouldn’t really know. If that’s the main thing people are concerned with I don’t know why these things aren’t thick bouncy rubber or whatever.
But that design I did is pretty damn thicc and heavy duty. I think you’d have to work hard to break the thing… and if it does, there’s a physical gap between much of the case and the phone. Very little of the phone even touches that case because of the “standoff” parts. If the case did break from a fall, maybe the case itself would have the only damage? Not a drop test expert so this is all just wild speculation!
If someone was up for a bit of DIY and drop protection is the main focus (as opposed to heat control like my main goal), I suppose in theory you could try putting some soft material into the air gaps at the bottom and the edges before the case is closed.
Where does damage typically happen on a dropped phone? If it’s the corners - the corners of the phone are actually not in contact with the case at all. If it’s the screen, the front bezel is raised much more than an injection molded case.
If I had to guess what might happen, the main risk is that it’d fall off the phone (not broken, just unsnapping like when you remove it yourself). But at that point the phone’s already at ground level.
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The polycarbonate prints (20% FDM fill) of the v7-final model by @muon have arrived today. First impressions:
- overall, feels very sturdy
- grip could be improved a lot; not a big issue for me as I have some grip stickers at hand, but having knurled side parts might help as well - although with knurled sides, it would not be possible to attach the grip stickers anymore I guess.
- the small noses in the side parts have broken off very fast, others seem fine.
- just the big top+bottom noses keep the case together quite well, so just fixing the sides with some tape might be better than having these fragile noses.
- the print is too tight so you can’t get in the L5 in without applying some force, and even then it’s hardly doable. I will probably have to carve off some of the inner side parts.
- the material is a fingerprint magnet
It’s a bit what I was expecting. Otherwise I would have been severely disappointed after paying over 70 EUR for this print. But I see this rather as an experiment for learning and improving the model.
Before I try any mods, I plan to make some pictures first.
Yet, I think finding a volume case such as an otterbox defender for a device with similar shape and replacing the otterbox’s inner plastic part by a 3d model for the L5 could be a much better longterm result.
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Interesting, yeah I haven’t seen any of those issues at all! Not sure if it’s related to the material or what.
Yeah I should definitely increase the size of the side tabs. I was initially worried they might make it too hard to remove, but obviously that’s not working out for others. Mine haven’t broken… maybe PLA is a bit more flexible and that helps?
Fingerprints can’t be a problem on mine with the textured plate surface for the back. Not really sure how to solve that kind of issue otherwise.
I’m glad it seems like it’ll at least work out for a while. I’ll probably do an update some day so this will give me some ideas for enhancements to try out!
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Yeah that flat back cover would looks a LOT better when a textured plate is used. I’m actually a little shocked at the quality difference… maybe it’s due to the material used, but wow.
I’ve decided I dislike the company that made the printer I used (Bambu Lab X1 Carbon) due to their seemingly hostile approach to people who prefer privacy, etc etc… but they made some pretty good hardware.
Either that or that 3D print company seriously needs to clean their plates better… or get some new ones!
By the way, can you tell if the phone’s tight fit was in both directions, or just one? I’ll probably make a version with a bit more tolerance. It’s intentionally a tighter fit, but it shouldn’t be so much that it requires much force.
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I doubt you can do polycarbonate prints like mine with a 200-300€ printer…
Regarding the fit: I was unable to actually put the L5 in the case so far. It “almost” fit but I didn’t want to apply too much force as I was afraik to break the screen or scratch the L5 itself. Once I have the proper tools, I will try to remove some parts of the inner noses and see if it helps.
But as far as I can tell the issues are on the sides (left and right) not top or bottom.
Edit: No, it actually seems top and bottom are issues as well, will have to look closer into that.
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Okay, wow I definitely didn’t have that issue… hmm.
Apparently these things can! They sell PC filament, which I think means what it sounds like it means.
But I don’t think this printer is that cheap. If the “AI” did the conversion correctly an X1 Carbon goes for €1,269.99 to €1,349.00. Just to caution readers though - still not a recommendation. Bambu Lab’s lack of respect for privacy and ownership doesn’t meet the standards that most people here would want. Some day I’ll replace this with a Prusa so I don’t need to quarantine my printer. 
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Looks like I forgot that I made those side tabs much larger, and added some extra near the top too. But I’m pretty sure I never published it because it was untested.
I think I wanted to add some small screwdriver insert slots somewhere so that you can use a tool to open it back up. Because I was getting concerned it might be too hard to pull apart with these changes. Technically you could use the holes that expose the phone but then you risk damaging the thing that matters.
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Chinese puzzle box! Make secret combination slides you have to move in just the right order!
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This really is a great case, my daily driver in TPU
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Ha ha… I think I’ve over engineered this thing enough!
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After cutting off the side standoffs (I think they are still there in the latest draft?) I was able to put the L5 finally into my polycarbonate case. Here are two pictures:
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I also posted it on the latest L14 broken hinge thread but I suggested a case builder here could also do a sideline for L## hinges.
Backreference:
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So it was the side ones that were too tight… I wonder, do you have a different phone edition? I have an Evergreen model if I remember correctly.
I guess when I do another update I’ll loosen things up a bit and see how that works out. If it is loose, it’d always be easier to add some small part to close gaps than it is to remove material.
But I have a feeling that the tightness was more due to either the material used or the printer/nozzle used.
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