Instead of doing a “slide on horizontal” design like I was originally thinking, where I’d have to find a way to deal with the buttons blocking such a maneuver, I found that a horizontal slice works out much better for 3D printing. I was still concerned about how I’d attach the thing, but it turns out the software I’m using has a feature which generates these little attachment pegs for you. I will try some tweaks, but it worked out pretty good and is actually enough to keep the case on alone.
You can see I “cheated” a little and only added these little spacer tabs on the edges to adjust the fit after the 1st try. A little extra spacing between the phone and the case might not be such a bad idea anyway. And maybe I will try a design which expands on that more drastically.
The cutouts could be a little fancier I guess but I was eager to see if I could finish something usable. 2nd try I got the fit perfect. I know the back looks kind of weird, but that’s actually intentional. It’s due to the type of plate it was printed on, but it produces a very agreeable texture. I also have the option of a perfectly smooth back but this is nicer.
I used mostly these flat angles because it’d look cooler. For the buttons it’s fine, but still not sure about the side edges. Rounded is certainly the more intuitive choice and might be nicer when holding the phone for a long time.
This case is definitely a thicc boi (intentionally). The original test print had an even thicker back, but I reduced it slightly for the 2nd try. You can see if you look close that I broke one of the pins taking it apart too fast. I’ll have to experiment with that a little.
It took a lot of time and work to make this, but I’m a little bit in shock at how close to a commercially mass produced product this turned out to be. I really hate the plastic waste that trial tests and failed prints creates, but I don’t think I’ll be stopping here. Way too many enhancement ideas to try… sorry environment.
Wow. Nice. My head started thinking of enhancement ideas too (or more like, variations and additional feature potentials), but the only thing that really caught my eye were the sharp outer corners - with that mass they will make a dent if the phone falls (then again, we’ve had the discussion before of using L5 for self defense ).
Can you add printing tech specs that you used here too: printer model, printing settings, used material, after printing process (if any) etc.
Yeah I haven’t been too concerned with the protection aspects of the case, for me it’s more about reducing the feeling of holding a hot phone (and it does help). But I should probably look into protections too, because who knows if I drop it some day. (I pretty much never drop phones.) I’ll definitely be reducing the sharpness for next iteration. I think the non rounded bezel on the bottom edges works fine, but I was forced to be a little sharper on the top due to the button cutouts. I’ll have to think about what to do about that.
I guess you mean that it’d make a dent in a floor? Haha, I guess it might. I did think about falls a little bit, and I wonder if the tabs that I have (3rd picture) might actually help protect the phone due to a slight gap between the phone and the case. The corner of the phone is also more rounded than the internal part of the case, so a corner hit would probably protect the phone brilliantly. Not so much your hardwood floor.
This was printed with a Bambu Lab X1 Carbon. The settings were all defaults! (Which is why these printers are popular I guess - this thing just works. Also keep in mind that 3D printing is new to me.) But if people need that info for other types of printers I think I could get specifics if I know what to look for. Layer height .2mm, 2 walls loops, 15% infill. Not sure what other settings are commonly sought after.
I did nothing at all after printing, this is how it came out. Material was just the PLA Basic that Bambu sells. I don’t know if a different material would be more suitable. I didn’t think I’d get an actual usable thing by the 2nd print!
I can promise that the final version’s going to look amazing. I have some cosmetic ideas that I’m totally excited about but I won’t put spoilers here just yet.
If you’re just printing drafts at this point, I suggest using more coarse settings to speed up printing and save environment. On the final ones you maybe can even increase infill a bit for more hardness (though, I wonder if making case intentionally brittle might actually make it safer for the phone: transfer of kinetic energy to case instead to phone - though, it depends on the overall design, bumpers etc.).
Yes, I was thinking of the floors. Also, feet and toes
Print speed’s definitely no big issue for me. Not sure what’s typical for something like this, but it’s just a bit over an hour. I could up the speed for this thing, but I’ve spent way more time in Blender. My thinking is I want it decently accurate so I don’t get any surprises when tightening things up later.
Yeah I have thought about the infill like you are. This case is pretty frikkin hard and very thick. I might make the sides thicker to keep heat away and possibly allow for some airflow if I can figure out a good design that allows for it. But with the low infill - air has a lot less mass than plastic to absorb heat energy, so I think I’m aiming for as hollow as possible thinking that’ll help. Maybe I’ll switch to PETG which might be better for a case but for now, PLA is a bit cheaper.
When I said this is a thicc boi I meant it! The outside frame of this beast is 4mm. So I guess comparable to those ‘Otterbox’ things. I’m probably going to go a little thicker on the edges, especially the left edge where I still notice a bit of heat.
Oh, if anyone has a thermal camera, or anyone from Purism is reading, I really could use a shot of the Evergreen edition under some load. I think the ones posted in this thread were for older editions.
This case, with the red cutouts, saved my L5 the other day. Fast spinning fall from about 1.5m. Landed flush, face down on debris-free concrete. Zero damage!
Revision 2. I must say, the heat is drastically reduced even when I get the numbers up to where they seem to max out most often. The temps have climbed a bit since the picture to 45. Maybe this is due to the case trapping heat (uh oh!) or I’ve just left it active longer than I typically do. Still the case doesn’t feel warm though so as long as it doesn’t keep climbing I think this is a success for my thermal goals. Too early to say yet.
More rounded edges, reduced thickness where the buttons are so they’re easier to reach. We don’t want the kill switches easily toggled and this solves that problem perfectly. Without a case I constantly would hit the HK switches by accident.
I decided to use a flat plate for the front since the textured effect looks a little odd to me on the front. Some very minor cosmetic glitches if you look close under light, but nothing very noticeable really without a close inspection. I suppose that could be cleaned up or sanded out, especially if I switched to ABS.
Back with the same ‘commercial product like’ texture. Added some fancy ‘ventilation’ diagonals for the (probable) hot spot. They are flush with the back, but not as thick as the case, so it’s still just air up against the back of the phone there (Is that where our theoretical “heat sink” might go? Hmmm…).
Here you start to see where I screwed up a little. I got a little too aggressive with the larger pins, and many of them ended up cutting through the outer edge. I did add a different type of “snap” connector for the corners only, which hold it together much better but still allow the case to come off. (Should I add small flathead screwdriver slots on the sides to make that easier? Hmm… maybe those could double as tiny heat air ventilation intakes?)
I also added a large void area on the left side where I tend to notice heat more, you can see the larger tab up at the top left. Makes the edge slightly thinner, but the thinking is that the gap reduces heat transfer to the edge of the case.
You can see the pin cutouts much more obviously here. Pretty sure I can fix that reliably by dialing down the pin size, moving them inside a little deeper, and/or making the case edge 1mm thicker or something. But no pin breakage on disconnection this time.
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