Introduction: Heisenberg Blue Meth Iphone 5 Case Made With Silicone Mold and Clear Blue Plastic
you can now order one of these hand made case here
http://nuproto.com/blueicecase.html
I been Designing cases for a long time.
You can see my cases and my slim wallets here https://www.shapeways.com/shops/amznfx
I always wanted to make a silicone mold so i can make my own cases using pourable plastic. The Problem with my iphone cases are a bit more complicated to make a mold out of since they have a lot of components that a regular case.. The mechanism that keeps the credit cards and ID separated, the part that keeps the bottle opener in place, the part that works as a money clip, etc are extremely hard to accomplished with a silicone mold.
Anyways i been thinking about this case since i made my blue meth charging station throne. The beautiful thing about it i that even though it looks extremely complicated because of all the crystals and the small details its actually a lot easier to be duplicated via silicone mold than my other cases
http://nuproto.com/blueicecase.html
I been Designing cases for a long time.
You can see my cases and my slim wallets here https://www.shapeways.com/shops/amznfx
I always wanted to make a silicone mold so i can make my own cases using pourable plastic. The Problem with my iphone cases are a bit more complicated to make a mold out of since they have a lot of components that a regular case.. The mechanism that keeps the credit cards and ID separated, the part that keeps the bottle opener in place, the part that works as a money clip, etc are extremely hard to accomplished with a silicone mold.
Anyways i been thinking about this case since i made my blue meth charging station throne. The beautiful thing about it i that even though it looks extremely complicated because of all the crystals and the small details its actually a lot easier to be duplicated via silicone mold than my other cases
Step 1: 3D Model, Clean Up Model and 3D Print
So 1st step was designing the case.. This step took several hours and a lot of cleaning up. Sadly the most efficient way to boolean and merged all these crystals while keeping the geometry clean and watertight (essential in 3d printing) is by doing it by hand. Almost every other software we have tried generates bad geometry, non-manifold geometric, warps or damage the detail of the model, created millions of unnecessary polygons, etc.
The 1st case i printed i keep it to straight meth crystals.. we had it printed it on clear PLA and glow in the dark Blue PLA. Clear PLA lacked appeal but we loved the glow in the Dark blue. However, the problem with PLA was that the printer (makerbot replicador 2) used to print these cases left support material thats when removed damaged the detail of the print.
We own an ABS 3d printer (Up mini!) Our in house printer doesn't print PLA only ABS so using glow in the dark blue PLA was not an option.. However, this 3D printer makes a smart support material that doesn't damage the detail of the print. Which yield us the best looking prints in white ABS.
Both of these Printers have stuff i like and i don't like. As a matter of fact we had to return the Makerbot Replicator 2 because the amount of failed prints was just ridiculous and their customer support sucks. I don't recommend any of those printers so dont take this instructable as an endorsement.. As a matter of fact we are looking for a new 3D printer so if you recommend one please let me know.
White ABS looked ok but it was missing something.. all the crystal meth cases didn't stand out as much i liked.. I wanted this case to stand out.. So i decided to take some of the detail from my Bad Wally figurine and merge it with this case.. and voila!! Now the case stood up and look amazing.. added some color to the face using a black sharpie and wow.. exactly what i wanted.
You can buy the 3d printed case from shapeways in white, light blue, red, black and white (click here). or you can buy the white 3D printed ABS print from our website (click here)
The 1st case i printed i keep it to straight meth crystals.. we had it printed it on clear PLA and glow in the dark Blue PLA. Clear PLA lacked appeal but we loved the glow in the Dark blue. However, the problem with PLA was that the printer (makerbot replicador 2) used to print these cases left support material thats when removed damaged the detail of the print.
We own an ABS 3d printer (Up mini!) Our in house printer doesn't print PLA only ABS so using glow in the dark blue PLA was not an option.. However, this 3D printer makes a smart support material that doesn't damage the detail of the print. Which yield us the best looking prints in white ABS.
Both of these Printers have stuff i like and i don't like. As a matter of fact we had to return the Makerbot Replicator 2 because the amount of failed prints was just ridiculous and their customer support sucks. I don't recommend any of those printers so dont take this instructable as an endorsement.. As a matter of fact we are looking for a new 3D printer so if you recommend one please let me know.
White ABS looked ok but it was missing something.. all the crystal meth cases didn't stand out as much i liked.. I wanted this case to stand out.. So i decided to take some of the detail from my Bad Wally figurine and merge it with this case.. and voila!! Now the case stood up and look amazing.. added some color to the face using a black sharpie and wow.. exactly what i wanted.
You can buy the 3d printed case from shapeways in white, light blue, red, black and white (click here). or you can buy the white 3D printed ABS print from our website (click here)
Step 2: Make a Silicone Mold, Make Sure You Reinforce the Walls
However, the end point of this case was not to make a white case, glow in the dark case or a pink case.. The end result i was aiming for from the beginning was to make a silicone mold in order to make a crystal blue meth case.. I had done it before with my blue meth throne. (click here for instructable) but now i wanted to do it again with this case.
As you can see i attempted a couple of times to make a couple of cases but the silicone was not strong enough and was to flimsy to keep the pressure necessary to keep the shape of this case.. pretty much the liquid will gather at the bottom of the mold.. push the walls out and leak out of the mold..
After realizing the problem was that i needed a strong box that keep uniform pressure around the mold in order to keep the shape of the case. I went and bought an electronics case with similar dimensions to my iphone case..
Re-did my mold and carved small openings at the bottom of the case.. or top of the mold.. made a funnel like system to be able to pour the plastic.
Step 3: Pour the Clear Blue Plastic.. I Mean Blue Meth
tinted the clear plastic using less than a drop of coloring.. in order to give it a blueish look.. put the mold together and poured the liquid plastic.. couple of minutes later.. you get an awesome blue crystal meth case.. add some sharpie to it and voila...
the most unique case .. the one of a kind case that no one can own.. oh wait.. i have a silicone mold.. so i can make copies!!..
Each of these cases are handmade here in the United states and poured each time this is ordered.. these take about a day to completely harden.. so i can only make 1 or 2 a day.. so quantities are limited.. You can order them here
http://nuproto.com/blueicecase.html
the most unique case .. the one of a kind case that no one can own.. oh wait.. i have a silicone mold.. so i can make copies!!..
Each of these cases are handmade here in the United states and poured each time this is ordered.. these take about a day to completely harden.. so i can only make 1 or 2 a day.. so quantities are limited.. You can order them here
http://nuproto.com/blueicecase.html