Glue Cover

Intro: Glue Cover

Hello

I am very pleased to present you my very first instructable, my turn to give back to the community. I was making christmas gifts with a friend when I got this idea. The 'On a budget' contest persuaded me to get started.

The glue cover you (hopefully) are about to make is just as good as one you buy in the shop, but you will get more satisfaction from making your own, and its a conversation starter.

The cover you see in the pictures is actually the second I made, the first one didn't have a robot, and I forgot the charger and camera holes. Also, I am convinced that you can make a prettier one if you are more patient than I am.

STEP 1: Tools and Materials

For this project you will need

-A glue gun (I don't know the price as it was a gift, but they are fairly cheap in general)

-Extra glue (I used 6 sticks, but to be comfortable, I would reserve about 10)

-Paper painter's tape (This tape does not leave glue on your phone)

-A phone (or an other device, I'd love to see idea's)

I had all these things lying around, I predict you won't spend more than €10/$10, and you'll have a glue gun, which is nice.

STEP 2: Protecting Your Precious Phone

You have to protect your phone, use tape that wont leave glue stains. Experience taught me it is best to start with the corners, because in the final step when you peel of the glue, some of the tape will tend to stick, especially in the corners. Make sure the tape goes well over the corners, also protecting your screen, because the glue will come over the edge.

STEP 3: Marking

Because you want to be able to charge your phone and take the occasional selfie, you have to provide holes. I was able to look through the tape, if this is not the case, you can make a template in advance. You don't have to provide holes for the volume and hold buttons, as you can push through the cover.

STEP 4: (Optional) Draw Your Design

I chose to make a picture of the incredible instructables robot on the back, during the gluing process I regretted this a little bit because making the details was difficult. A more simple design, or a steadier hand might have been a better idea.

STEP 5: Gluing It

Now you can start gluing. First I glued the outlines of the camera and charger holes, and then the robot. Afterwards I glued long strips in length, but I'm shure someone can get creative in this step. After the back, I glued the sides, and I went a little over the front (dont go to far, as you wont be able to break off the glue afterwards).

Pay extra attention that the strips of glue align without openings, this wil improve the strength of the case.

If you go faster, you will have thinner lines, but in my opinion, the thicker, the better.

STEP 6: 'Breaking Off' the Cover

This might be the most difficult step, be patient, and control your anger. Slowly crack the front edges off (I use 'cracking' because this step will make a cracking sound). When these are loose, choose a side to peel off the back. This should go fairly easy, but you might have to use some force (don't break your phone). Depending on the tape you use, some tape can be glued in, you cannot remove this, testing your tape might be smart.

STEP 7: Result

There, your cover is finished, sit back and enjoy!

Comments

[midnight lightning]

I'm going to burn myself making this..... but that's just me. I'm extremely accident prone...☺ ;-) :-P

[customboss]

Great idea! I made this and really helps when taking the tape off to put some sort of oil all over the tape before you start putting the glue on. The tape comes off a lot easier!

[pucksurfer]

Lol. I tried making something like this, except with a different method a couple months ago. It didn't work out very well. ?

[avocadostains]

Yea, the 3d printing capabilities of the glue gun are in a word, limited.

[avocadostains]

Were you using a high temp or low temp glue gun? This would work a lot better with a low temp.

[pucksurfer]

I think I was using a high temp, but I didn't use the phone as a mold like you did, I just free handed it. So it was a little tough.

[avocadostains]

I didnt make this though it is cool and I do practice the art of hot glue. Are you saying that you used no mold at all? Like you tried to 3d doodle it with a glue gun?

[pucksurfer]

Yep, I can tell you that it didn't work very well. :)

[Kozmicblues69]

Yeah! As a glue gun's fan, I have to said it's a very good idea! So cool! I'll try it when my phone cover die! Thanks for sharing!

[MatthiasBSS]

Nice!

[olahola]

cool

[ralonzo2]

Brilliant! Does it protect against a fall!!? If not still an awesome idea very clever.!

[Kafukai]

Why don't you use pure silicone or resin?

After it you should sand it with fine sand paper to make it smoother.

[matthijs_melsen]

Well, I didn't think of that, but it's actually a great idea, and you wouldn't have the heat 'problem'. If I make one, I'll make sure to post a picture here, feel free to do the same :)

And about the sanding, I did think of that, but I think it would make the glue matt (exept if you polish it very good) and I wouldn't like that.

[Kafukai]

Due the fact that phone covers are very cheap, I don't think I'll do it ;-) But if you want to upgrade yours I would love to see it :-)

You don't have to sand it, if you can coat it well you won't get rough surface - this is like coating/glazing candy or cake with chocolate. Anyway, good luck and share with us another great ideas like this one :-)

[NathanSellers]

very clever. Hopefully the phone doesn't heat up too much and then melt the glue.

[matthijs_melsen]

Thank you! I don't think the phone heats up that much, but I'll warn you when it happens :)

[Ludvic]

The idea behind this project is awesome! But the creation it's not really beatiful! Nice work :D

[matthijs_melsen]

Haha, you're right, and it's even less beautiful in real life. But I am convinced someone can do honour to this project

Thanks for the comment!

[Majornav]

This is great and I can't wait to try it.
Use low temp glue and glue gun
I wonder if you could rub the tape with a very thin layer of baby oil to make it release. At least in the trouble spots. Wash it off the case when it's done.