3D Printed iPhone Cases with Open Source files

http://www.fraemes.com/hn

by nemild • 12 years ago

27 15 12 years ago

A friend [0] has worked with these guys and showed me a prototype, pretty interesting idea, and the case definitely looks cool. The bumper quality was a bit off iirc, but I guess the final product will be better.

0: https://twitter.com/46bit

jonhohle4• 12 years ago

Neat, but none of these really show off the advantages of 3D printing over other manufacturing processes. All of these could be injection molded for a significant fraction of the price per unit. Overhanging or concave features, enclosed voids, interleaved materials - those are things which would sell me on 3D printing for this application. I would imagine you could even do these on a CNC machine for lower cost at higher resolution with all of the customizations highlighted.

gonzo2• 12 years ago

I agree, Neat.

I'm the guy who reverse-engineered enough about LEGO to build a iPhone case with LEGO-compatible studs on the back (smallworks.com). It was the kid's idea.

injection-molding is more difficult that it looks. Yes, you can buy it as a service (we make ours locally just outside Austin).

Let's put it this way. I own several high-precision molds, a CNC mill, a membership at Techshop, and two 3d printers. I have tens of thousands of iPhone cases at my disposal, and I still think this is neat.

Not a business, but neat.

nemild• 12 years ago

The brick iPhone cases are pretty cool!

jonhohle4• 12 years ago

Awesome. I had one of your cases for my iPhone 4! [Edit] Also, I really enjoyed your blogpost on getting the case to build within tolerance. That's what put me over the edge to get the case.[/Edit]

Not a business, but neat.

That's what I was attempting to say. I spent three years working in a 3D printing lab around the turn of the century. I cannot fathom why a company (startup or otherwise) would attempt to sell products made from 3D printers that could be made with a much cheaper process. Certainly, none of our customers did at the time (or if they sent us something to build which could be milled, that's how we would do it to save time/money - actually, most of our clients would have just done it themselves).

fudged71• 12 years ago

All of these could be injection molded for a significant fraction of the price per unit.

They're selling iPhone cases, not a manufacturing process.

They seem to have so many different designs that 3D Printing actually appears to be a great method for this with little waste. The benefit is on-demand manufacturing. CNC could work too I suppose.

And with 3D printing hype, some people just want something that has been 3D printed, regardless of its drawbacks.

andrewmb• 12 years ago

Customization is the immediately obvious one and a central point of their campaign.

jonhohle4• 12 years ago

Which could be done with a CNC mill.

sp332• 12 years ago

I thought injection molding had a much higher upfront price for each design? One advantage of 3D printing you didn't mention is that each piece can be customized.

TaylorAlexander• 12 years ago

I respectfully disagree; the advantage over injection molding is clear - you can have any design you'd like. I'm not sure how much is online at the moment, but they've designed a system that lets you design cases in illustrator and convert the files to a case design on the fly in your browser. This means you can design any case you want and have it delivered to you quickly.

That is a fundamentally different value proposition for the consumer than injection molding. Any individual design seen here could be recreated with injection molding, but the point of this company isn't to provide you with a cell phone case, it's to provide you with any cell phone case design you want.

That's not something a company doing injection molding could offer. Molds for injection molding cost a minimum of a few grand and usually tens of thousands of dollars. You can't deliver a unique item to each customer with injection molding.

Disclaimer: I know one of the creators, and I have helped give mechanical advice over the past year. I think its a really great product. I'd be using them if I had an iPhone!

Zak• 12 years ago

I'd be using them if I had an iPhone!

It seems odd to only support one phone given that they're using 3D printing to support a great deal of customization.

jonhohle4• 12 years ago

See the last sentence in my comment. I was attempting to address two points:

1) the designs highlighted on their page do not take advantage of the reasons why 3D printing might be chosen for this application (designs which cannot be manufactured using any other technique). In the examples provided, all could be injection molded _for example_. 2) it would seem that there are cheaper ways to get the customized designs they are building and offering customers by using a reduction process without sacrificing any of the customizability or time to market.

icinnamon• 12 years ago

I've been using one of their iPhone cases for my 5S and it's been really great. Everyone is always surprised when I tell them it's 3D printed- it definitely gets a lot of (good) attention. The case is also super light and non-invasive. Definitely like what they're doing!

3D Printed iPhone Cases with Open Source files

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