Printing a phone case

[lukem96 0]

Hello everyone, i am looking for as much advice and tips for printing phone cases.

So how to get the best quality?

How to get the face that is touching the build-plate as smooth as possible?

How to people print phone cases that go onto curved phones, as the back isn't flat?

Best way to stick it to the build-plate when using abs?

Best way to reduce warping?

And if anyone has any experience with printing phonecases and have any information that might be of use to me please fire away!

Thank you very much

Luke

[martin-bienz 36]

Hi Luke

Hard to answer it in one go, i'll try:

- the face that is touching the buildplate is printed on the glass surface, right? So it would be rather glossy and smooth anyway?

- you would print it standing up or design it that way that it still has a flat bottom to be placed on the bed.

- can't really comment on ABS as I only print PLA but I guess heated bed and gluestik / brim would def. help and also preventing the model from warping

- Look at the instructions for the fairphone cases (Ultimaker specific) and also the models on their website, that will give you a great first look at how it's done efficiently. You can donwload and print them no problem (after finetuning the settings as described)

http://shop.fairphone.com/zubehor/3d-printed-cases/community4-1-1.html

I hope that will get you started.

[cloakfiend 996]

Whats wrong with using PLA, I mean if you're not gonna leave it laying about for ages in the sun, then i don't see a problem, seeing as you shouldn't leave your phone lying around in the sun anyways. At least you don't need to worry about warping, and PLA prints stronger on the Ultimaker as well from what I've noticed. Just my experience.

Someone just printed a case if you go to print in the menu, its the print of the month or whatever, done in PLA and looks very clean if i say so myself.

Edited August 12, 2015 by Guest

[lukem96 0]

Hi Luke

Hard to answer it in one go, i'll try:

- the face that is touching the buildplate is printed on the glass surface, right? So it would be rather glossy and smooth anyway?

- you would print it standing up or design it that way that it still has a flat bottom to be placed on the bed.

- can't really comment on ABS as I only print PLA but I guess heated bed and gluestik / brim would def. help and also preventing the model from warping

- Look at the instructions for the fairphone cases (Ultimaker specific) and also the models on their website, that will give you a great first look at how it's done efficiently. You can donwload and print them no problem (after finetuning the settings as described)

http://shop.fairphone.com/zubehor/3d-printed-cases/community4-1-1.html

I hope that will get you started.

 

Excellent! thank you very much for the reply, i really appreciate it! I'll have a look at the link as well:)

Yes its printed on a glass surface but its a bit patchy in areas which is a bit annoying.

I will try doing some standing up,

Ye i am using an adhesive and brim but in some cases I'm still getting a warp unfortunately,

Thank you for the help though!

[lukem96 0]

Whats wrong with using PLA, I mean if you're not gonna leave it laying about for ages in the sun, then i don't see a problem, seeing as you shouldn't leave your phone lying around in the sun anyways. At least you don't need to worry about warping, and PLA prints stronger on the Ultimaker as well from what I've noticed. Just my experience.

Someone just printed a case if you go to print in the menu, its the print of the month or whatever, done in PLA and looks very clean if i say so myself.

 

I'm using a UV sensitive material which i can only obtain in ABS, and i would rather learn with ABS and use both, than learn with PLA and then get stuck on ABS, thanks for the reply!

[cloakfiend 996]

ok well good luck. if you dont want it to warp you need to put a cover over your ultimaker to stabilise and contain the heat dissipation otherwise you need to get the thinness of the abs paste right. and always apply it stone cold and not to a warm printer bed. to make abs juice just melt some abs in acetone, and keep putting more in untill it goes red, Then you pour it onto a tissue and wipe it across the glass in sections untill youve covered everything, if its thick youve put in too much.

Edited August 12, 2015 by Guest