IPhone Cover for Engineers

 by Danny Tas
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With everything going digital these days I started to think that current and future Engineering/Mechanical students are going to rely a lot on software to solve problems, it's happening now, I do it. When something new or something that we haven't done in a while in Engineering arises we always look for the easy/lazy way out, we either search the internet for an online calculator, software or look through the app store for a solution, but there's one thing missing, you can't touch it, feel it, assemble it, that's why I came up with, I believe, the first analogue Iphone app.
You get this baby printed, you get a sense of achievement because you assembled it, you spin those little 1.25 module gears and admire it in awe.
The gears are all embossed with the number of teeth so you can work out ratios, there are even and odd number of teeth gears just to make it that bit more challenging, it's a great visual to see what direction what gear is going in a gear train. You won't even have to turn on your phone and it still works. 
Come up with your own funky colour combination.........see! the fun never stops!  There's even a corney video
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iPhone 5 version can be found at http://www.shapeways.com/shops/saurus



Cheers! -Danny
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Danny Tas (author) says: Apr 18, 2013. 6:43 AM
Hi Instructables fans, I've got the iPhone 5 version up at Shapeways to see how it goes. I'll post the V5 model a little later.

Shapeways Shop

Cheers!
dh405 says: Jul 31, 2012. 3:22 AM
I like this case! If I might, I'd like to throw an idea out there for you.

Would it be possible to redesign this such that a gear would be positioned over the camera lens? The gear you could manufacture for that spot could have multiple lenses which could change by just rotating the gears. Normal, zoomed, macro, and maybe blocked? I think it would be a really neat upgrade.
Danny Tas (author) in reply to dh405Jul 31, 2012. 4:21 AM
Thanks for the comments dh!
That's a great idea, I'll look into for V2 once I have a chance.
Cheers!
lslonim says: Jul 16, 2012. 12:35 PM
Can I just buy one from you? Or are they on etsy or something?
Danny Tas (author) in reply to lslonimJul 16, 2012. 6:46 PM
Hi Islonim, Thanks for your interest, I'm hoping to set something up at  Shapeways soon.
Danny Tas (author) says: Jun 5, 2012. 5:31 AM
We've had a few people print this baby for their beloved Iphone's and received some great feedback and pictures......thanks for that! I've uploaded another version of the main body which has the side button holes cut out completely for those people having trouble in this area during printing, there are now two main bodies in the zip file, the original and one with the suffix 'cutout' ......Enjoy!

All votes appreciated :)
Mr. Noack in reply to Danny TasJun 29, 2012. 7:53 PM
I just printed this on the UP 3D printer, and everything came out pretty good. The only problem is I don't own an iphone and I broke the thin side walls when I put it in my pocket. Doh! I think as long as it's put on to the iphone immediately, the thin side walls should be supported by the phone itself. I had no problem printing the rivets.
Excellent instructable. 5 stars!!
Danny Tas (author) in reply to Mr. NoackJun 29, 2012. 11:06 PM
Thanks for the feedback Mr Noack!
I'm glad you like it, yeah the phone does support the walls.

Cheers
Danny Tas (author) says: Jun 14, 2012. 6:12 AM
It finally arrived!

yamayka says: Jun 3, 2012. 10:12 AM
wow! Great design, brilliant idea!
Danny Tas (author) in reply to yamaykaJun 3, 2012. 2:48 PM
Thanks yamayka!
mangomango says: May 31, 2012. 3:16 PM
I printed a couple off in black and red then mixed and matched, 8 cases in all, but as you can see the button hole was a problem every single time. great design on the gears, I just wish the case itself was a little thicker
case2.JPGcase3.JPGcase1.JPG
Danny Tas (author) in reply to mangomangoMay 31, 2012. 9:58 PM
They look great mango! Thanks for posting them.

mmm.....I see what you mean about the cutout, maybe if I can eliminate the bridging around the buttons and just have an open slot, would that be easier to print ?

Cheers
Danny
mangomango in reply to Danny TasJun 2, 2012. 7:33 AM
I think that something like this would be your best bet
case4.JPG
Danny Tas (author) in reply to mangomangoJun 3, 2012. 12:12 AM
Thanks mango, exactly what I was thinking.
I'll upload a side cutout version soon. It'll be the same zip file but with two versions of the main body.

Cheers!
hwarang5 says: May 21, 2012. 4:12 PM
do you have an auto desk inventor version?
mangomango in reply to hwarang5May 25, 2012. 8:26 AM
I'm currently trying to make one. When i printed it out, it was realllly thin and broke so i figured id beef it up a bit. I'll update you when I'm finished
Santorican in reply to mangomangoMay 29, 2012. 6:38 AM
I printed it out and the problem I ran into is that the rivots are too small for the stereolithography printer to print. What can I do?
Danny Tas (author) in reply to mangomangoMay 25, 2012. 11:44 PM
Hi mangomango,

Thanks for the feedback, which area was thin ? I'm still waiting for mine for assessment.
The last photo above was from someone else that had printed it and said there were no issues and the Iphone fitted perfect, anyhow what ever has to be done I'll soon find out once I have one in hand.
mangomango in reply to Danny TasMay 26, 2012. 2:53 AM
The side panel with the button hole was filled with support material so it snapped when trying to get it out, i tried printing your file a little differently so im waiting on that but other than that small piece it works fantastic. I already have 9 people asking for one. Great job!
Danny Tas (author) in reply to mangomangoMay 25, 2012. 8:11 PM
Cool! Thanks.
Danny Tas (author) in reply to hwarang5May 21, 2012. 4:54 PM
No I haven't, sorry.
stumitch says: May 23, 2012. 12:30 PM
VERY cool! now..... where did i put the transmorgifier so i can build a bunch....
rocketguy says: May 21, 2012. 11:09 AM
Well done sir! I suspect that I'll be driving myself insane until I can print this on my Replicator, looks like it may be a fairly challenging build, but totally worth it.

Serious geek cred here.

Do you have any thoughts on layer height etc, necessary for a successful build?

Danny Tas (author) in reply to rocketguyMay 21, 2012. 4:52 PM
Hi rocketguy,

Thanks!
I've just started getting into the 3d printing world so I wouldn't be much help on your layer height question, maybe the 3d printing forums would be a better place to ask the question.

Cheers.
rocketguy in reply to Danny TasMay 21, 2012. 5:12 PM
Now that I've generated the S3G files from your STL's, it' looks fairly straightforward.

Going to try tonight and see how it goes. Will post results on thingiverse if I manage to get it to work. I'm using defaults to start with, just for simplicity and we'll see how that goes.

-RG
Danny Tas (author) in reply to rocketguyMay 21, 2012. 6:33 PM
Sounds great RG! Thanks for keeping us up to date.

Cheers ang good luck!
rocketguy in reply to Danny TasMay 22, 2012. 9:29 AM
Very sad, total fail last night. It's something with my machine settings, insufficient fill for the gears and the case itself needs support (which is an easy fix, but I ran out of awake before I could get to it).

Not sure what to do with the gears yet, I may just stab in the dark on the various fill settings in skeinforge to see what happens.

Going to keep trying, if I get it to a good place I'll post a derivative on thingiverse.
lheitkamp says: May 22, 2012. 1:14 AM
I really love the design! I want to have this printed for my boyfriend since he's obsessed with gears. But, I really don't know anything about 3D printing. I searched through google and came up with a site in my country that offers 3D prints.
They have two options for printing. I don't really know the English names so I used google translate.. :/
The first one is "powder coating print" and the second one is "FDM-plastic print".
Which one would you recommend?
Also, how do I change the colour of the gears?
And is this suitable for iPhone 4S or only the iPhone 4?
I apologize for my many questions and my bad English but I hope you can help me :)
Have a nice day and create more stuff like this, it's really nice! :)
Danny Tas (author) in reply to lheitkampMay 22, 2012. 2:44 AM
Hi lheitkamp, Thanks!

FDM (Fused deposition modelling) is the most common method for 3d printers, I'm not sure what 'powder coating print' is maybe it's a misinterpretation by Google, there is a form of 3d printing which uses powdered plastic and forms up the part by binding (glueing) the powder together layer by layer this gives more detail and has a uniform surface finish but I think the part isn't as strong as FDM.
I'm still new to 3d printing myself maybe someone with more experience could chip in here, I'd say go for the FDM.
If you can post the links to the websites you found I could probably investigate further.
Cheers!
lheitkamp in reply to Danny TasMay 22, 2012. 4:30 AM
I don't think you'll understand what the site says since it's in German but here it is: http://objectplot.de/
There are some other sites but this gave me some information about the printing :)
Danny Tas (author) in reply to lheitkampMay 22, 2012. 5:27 AM
Not to worry Google translate does a pretty good job.
I see, the company offers FDM and powder layer printing, the powder layer method would look nicer not sure about the strength though.
Why don't you just send them the model that's zipped on this post and ask them what they would recommend at the same time ask for a quote.
Good luck and I hope your boyfriend likes it :)
Lindie says: May 20, 2012. 6:12 AM
Love it!
Danny Tas (author) in reply to LindieMay 22, 2012. 2:47 AM
Thanks Lindie!
derte84 says: May 20, 2012. 2:47 PM
You could add a gear that cover and protect the camera lens when not used
Danny Tas (author) in reply to derte84May 22, 2012. 2:46 AM
Not a bad idea derte84, I'll put that on the wish list for the next generation :)
robertallenpayne says: May 21, 2012. 6:56 AM
Amazing case! Thanks for Sharing. I'm going to order it in stainless from Shapeways I think. Will be my first attempt at stainless. We'll see how it goes.
Danny Tas (author) in reply to robertallenpayneMay 21, 2012. 5:21 PM
You're welcome Rob.

The gears in stainless would be awsome but I'd leave the main body in plastic because it would be physically impossible to clip your phone in, also might interfere with the arial.
Stainless steel would be a bit weighty too, make sure you have your pockets reinforced ;)
robertallenpayne in reply to Danny TasMay 21, 2012. 8:08 PM
Yeah, but I was willing to give it a go. Unfortunately, it seems like the gears don't meet Shapeways requirements for stainless printing. So I may do the alumide instead. That will be a lot less expensive too, and still have some flexibilty.
Danny Tas (author) in reply to robertallenpayneMay 21, 2012. 8:47 PM
Sounds good Rob.
Funny the gears don't meet Shapeways requirements, I thought being flat and fairly simple geometry it would of been a piece of cake to print....mmm.
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