Bulletproof IPhone Case

Applying for a job with the secret services or just protective of your iPhone?

Either way this is an instructable for you.This holder can not only withstand  bullets and pellets from  low caliber guns and air rifles but is stab proof, protects your smart phone from falls, from hits by a  hammer and even will survive someone jumping on it , I have tried and tested these ( yes, I have even shot at it) as you can see from the second picture .
In fact you can make a holder for just about any phone (you could even make one for an ipad) its just that the dimensions which I will give in this instructable will be for an iPhone 4/4s. If you would like me to post an instructable to bulletproof  a different device please leave a comment.

In this instructable I will teach you how to build a bullet proof iPhone case from materials which are more readily available and cheaper than pre-prepared bulletproof materials such as Kevlar.
This case will cost you approximately $25 / £15 compared with about $90 / £60 for a pre-made bullet proof plate.



Materials:
-55 x 20 cm sheet of mild steel , 3 mm thick ( this is in total but you can easily get several smaller bits of steel as long as they are no shorter than 14 Cm and no less wide than 10 Cm )
-firm foam sheet A4 sized and at least 1 cm thick
-epoxy resin (I used Araldite)
-fairly tough cloth ( can use thick clothing etc)
- small neodymium magnet


Tools:
- metal file
-hacksaw
-glue gun
-black spray paint (optional)
-gun to test !

Step 1:

The first step will be to cut out to size your armor plating:
1) take your mild steel sheet 
2) draw onto it 5 rectangles each 13 x 6.0 Cm
3)using your hack saw (if you have a mechanized saw this will speed up the process) cut them each out
4) file down the edges until they are flat and smooth

These plates later on will be mounted on top of each other along side some further plating and will act as the main armor to stop the bullet. If you would like to bullet proof your phone to high caliber and velocity bullets you will need to cut out more of these plates.

Step 2:

Next stage is to make a container to house your plates.
1) draw on to your sheet of steel the net outline as shown in the photographs (the dimensions will depend on which phone you are making it for and how bullet proof you would like it to be. the dimensions from here onward will be for an iPhone)
2)cut this out along the lines 
3) place your cut out shape in a vice and bend the sides as shown in the photograph
4) when you have your sides all folded up you must then glue (using Araldite ) in place a rectangle of thick cloth 13 x 6 Cm onto the base of the shape with folded sides.
5) now on top of this cloth glue in place one of your rectangular metal plates 
6) again on top of this plate glue a rectangle of thick cloth and continue this pattern until all 5 of your plates and all 6 of your cloth pieces are sandwiched together. This constant layering of  metal will slow down the bullet while the cloth will be reducing the force of the impact on your phone.
7)when your layering is finished you should bend the protruding edges of the metal container around the layers to secure them inside ( you will need to use a hammer to bash the edges down)

Step 3:

Once you have your metal container of plates you will need to make yet another container to support this one.
1) using the images draw onto steel a net to fit around your first 'box' and cut out .
2)place glue on the cloth side of your first container and press it  against the surface of the new sheet ensuring it is directly in the center.
3) fold around the side pieces of the net when the glue has dried so that you have a box within a box

Step 4:

Now you have a bulletproof base you need to furnish the inside of the case with padding to ensure the iPhone does not get broken by the sheer force of the impact of the bullet on the case, as the actual penetration won't be a problem the bullet will now send a shock wave rippling through the case which if not tended to will destroy the phone anyway.
1) take your A4 sheet of firm foam and cut a rectangle which will fit perfectly on the inside of the case you have built
2)check it fits and then cut out inside this rectangle a space where the phone can fit snugly inside
3)using Araldite stick the foam into the case and leave to dry
4)place a thin layer of foam on the exposed piece of metal where the phone will be placed(I haven't done this in the pictures so that you can easily see what is going on because the foam, is all the same color. This stage is vital so do not leave out )
5)cut out a piece to act as a lid
6)cut out some foam hinges and stick on as shown in pics
7) Stick an Apple logo onto the top of the lid as an extra touch if you wish

Step 5:

1) check you phone fits in correctly etc
2) you now have a  bullet proof iPhone case, so use it... carelessly?

3) If you want to be able to use camera without taking out the phone you must wait for all of the individual components to dry and stick fully, then TAKE OUT THE iPHONE before you drill a hole in the place where the camera points out. This is all very well if you are just going to make this for fun but if you seriously want the case to be as bullet proof as possible I wouldn't advise it because it is possible for a bullet to enter through this hole created and this would obviously destroy the phone.

good luck agents !!

Comments

[FranckyV]

Do you have a video of this bulletproof case please ?

[kyle brinkerhoff]

Not to be rude or anything, but if you claim something to be bullet proof , it actually should be. 7.62 round would turn that into scrap. Just consider the fact that if you can cut the metal you used to make it with scissors it's probably not bullet proof, ( or even stomp proof)

[kyle brinkerhoff]

22 rifle vs road sign. which is made of thicker metal than your case. hmm, lest we throw kinetic energy out the window...

[SirCooksalot]

Hmmm, lest we actually READ the Instructable before flaming it with condescending, patronizing, yet ironically inarticulate comments. Only the outside, shaped case is made from thin metal, otherwise the average DIYer wouldn't be able to form a phone-shaped box from it. What you failed to notice is that the thin outer box is holding several plates of thicker steel. Sound like it might work? It should, it's exactly the way many bulletproof vests function- a thin, flexible 'carrier' stuffed with steel plate.

[kyle brinkerhoff]

also, if your being shot at, chances are you made allot of bad decisions consecutively, if your not government personnel, in that case if they happen to get your phone, your employer will more than likely compensate you for damages anyways.

[SirCooksalot]

You'd didn't even read the instructions... The scissors were used to cut the fabric/foam materials.

[bobert610]

I agree. This may be able to stop a .22, or maybe even a 9mm, but anything bigger will tear right through. Also, you've made it to be hammer proof etc. There are already cases made out there that are half as slim and can protect even more.

[dave17]

Half as slim?That would be twice as thick.

[bobert610]

lol oops...

[paupi]

I'm sure there are cases out there that do the same, but wouldn't that defeat 90% of this page? I mean, it is all about home projects. Mainly stuff you can find in stores.

Good work man. Just one thing. If you haven't shot at it, don't say it's bulletproof. False advertising and all.

[CanWire]

I do appreciate the time and thought that has been put into this, but I agree with the criticism over false advertising. I don't have the silly thought that bullet proof requires one to fire the largest common calibre found in war, but some evidence is required, but we have not seen the .22 test yet. The deformation, and lead splatter would be visually (and probably functionally) significant. A solid metal box would also act as a Faraday cage and significantly reduce the signal.

[DisplacedMic]

yeah you can buy something similar or better - but doesn't that cover about 90% of the instructables out there?

[randomray]

Chuckle , there's always a bigger/stronger gun , where do you stop ? After all it is just a phone . The nice thing about the case is it's a little big and heavy making you spend less time talking and giving you more time to pay attention whats going on around you . Called situational awareness .

[Tinworm]

Guys, I really cannot believe how pedantic you are all being. If it stops a low calibre bullet, it is bullet-proof. How many readers here are going to be facing high calibre rounds anyway? When we say something is bullet-proof it is a euphemism, usually, for "very tough"....and clearly this design is very tough.

And so what if there are other things out there that do it better? The whole point of Instructables is to do it yourself. Give credit where it is due.

[shannonlove]

1) You can cut kevlar with scissors. It's all about composition. Just as a glass block can support hundreds of pounds/kilos under compression but be shattered by a few pounds concentrated by a punch, Certain types and weaves of kevlar stop different types of penetrations e.g. vest that stop bullets won't stop knives. Prison guards wear different vest than do police or soldiers because the former faces knives and the latter guns.

2) Technically, no one claims to be "bullet proof." If you look at the trade materials, the legally approved speak for all types of armoring is "resistant." The reason is that if you want to, you can shoot through anything. "Proof" implies impervious and there is no such thing. In common speech, however, "bullet proof" is used.

3) A standard civilian deer rifle with a hollow point hunting round will punch through almost every body armor out there. If you use a hardened bullet, easily made, it will punch through most of a steel engine block. Yet in common speech we don't say, "whoa, you can't call that police vest 'bullet proof' because there are 3 million civilian weapons in the US alone that can shoot through it front to back."

3) Even if you restrict the issue to just a single bullet, at a single caliber fired from a single model of weapon, there will be in the real world a vast spread in the energy and thus lethality of all the bullets flying around a battle field. The penetrating power of rounds is a laboratory abstraction set under fixed ranges, temperatures, pressures, winds, DISTANCES, age of munitions and maintenance of the weapon. In the real world, you deal with spent shots over distance, ricochets, crappy ammo and guns that haven't been cleaned since Eisenhower is president.

That's why there are so many documented instances of people being saved by bibles, badges, dog tags etc. The round the caught didn't have the energy to penetrate such an object under those conditions even though in the lab, it probably would have.

4) The utility of armor is all about what it protects. Not even tanks are equally armored all around. You might reflect that armor disappeared almost entirely from 19th century battle fields because of all the high energy line of sight shots would punch through any armor a man could carry. Armor only returned in mid-WWI in the form of a helmet whose sole intent was to protect against low-mass, low-velocity shrapnel. Any military bullet of the age would go right through any helmet, yet soldiers still found the minimal, single purpose protection it provided worth the humping weight and they have ever since.

Likewise, even a small increase in protection for a vital tool like a smart phone is worth the effort. Just because it won't stop laboratory ideal common rounds make it useless.

This is a very useful field expedient.

[anode505]

So a class II bulletproof vest isn't? Really? (the joys of youth and 'internet experts')
(most BP vest are NOT knife proof)

[SpareiChan]

If it can stop a low caliber bullet only then I would say it is more of a Flak Case. Also to those saying how many people need to worry about rifle rounds... How many people need a "bullet proof" iphone case... People being shot at that's who.

[sibuadvancetech]

Interesting

[marcos4141]

Thanks, the bulletproof iPhone case makes my life so much easier.

[Lucky7x7]

The metal with the red circle does not show signs of any bullet impacts. A .22lr would tear straight through that sheet steel, padding, and your phone. sorry. good luck