Create FlipCover for Dual Screen Phone/ Uncommon Phone From Other Phone's Flipcover (No Sew)

Dual-screen phones are not exactly common in the market (there are currently less than 5 of them), and the market itself is not big enough, so it's understandable that the choice for accessories are rather limited.

I'm always a big fan of flipcovers (all my gadgets are inside their own flipcovers). Other than their ability to protect my phone and my phone screen, leather or faux-leather flipcovers are usually waterproof, and sleek in appearance.

There are flipcovers available in the market for the dual-screen phone, but design-wise they are the same with flipcovers for other phones, basically covering the back of the phone and showing only the front screen when you open the flip, dismissing the fact that the phone is DUAL screen.

You could buy those flipcovers and create hole in the backcover to access the back screen, but that will result on no protection for the back screen, which I'm not a fan of. So I decided to make one instead by "frankensteining" parts from other phone accessories. I could definitely make one from scratch, but considering my tools, I think this is good as well.

I actually made this at the end of last year (hence the watermark), but I've just renewed the back pocket of the cover + there was someone interested in building one, so let me retrace the steps. As the flipcover itself wasn't exactly new, pardon the "clearly staged" pictures.

If you don't have your own dual screen phone, no worries, this instructables could also be done if you want flipcover for your phone but you don't want to sew, buy the more expensive ones, or buy one for your uncommon phone.

Long story short, let's make one.

Step 1: Preparation

To make this, you should have:

1. Silicone case/ bumper case for your phone. I bought mine online, but you can definitely made your own, following instructables like this one by romanursuhack. Other alternative is two elastics for the top and the bottom part of your phone, but I'm afraid that they are not exactly the most secure arrangement possible. The other alternative is to create one using either foam (from the packaging when you bought a new phone/tv/laptop), or old books.
2. 2/3 screws. I think 2 is enough, but I went for 3 so that it's more secure. I only get the smallest ones the nearby workshop have (1.2mm if I'm not wrong), but you can go for bigger, flashier screws/ bolts/ nuts for steam-punk look, but my warning: they will be more easily to catch objects/ stray thread.
3. A flipcover for other phone in similar size. I use this site to estimate the phones with dimension similar to mine, and scrounge through online-marketshop to look for the cheapest ones in black. I actually had Samsung Galaxy Grand Duos one (brown) and Google Pixel XL one (black) and chose the black one because it's black. (Don't forget to add 2mm at the least for the bulk made by your silicone case). You can actually make your own leather case, but we are going for overall no-sew and lazy theme here, so yeah.
4. Stray leather/ faux leather sheet to fill up holes and make a back pocket. I got mine from a broken journal, which was also black. You could also go with other colour or other materials such as fabric or foam. You need a sheet at least 1.5 times larger than your phone
5. Duct tape/ sugru/ plasticine to protect your phone from the screws.

Needed tools:

1. Craft knife/ hobby knife.
2. Strong glue. I did mine with strong glue but all dried up when I created this Instructables, I ended up with my fabric glue which also worked if you don't have them. Other alternative is to sew, definitely, or to staple them if you're that lazy.
3. Drill. If you don't have one nearby, you can also use nail+hammer or heated nail
4. Clips or paperweight to help glue-drying process.
5. Pencil/ pen to mark pattern.

Step 2: ​Take the Silicone Case Out

Take the silicone case out from the original flipcover. It's better to take it slowly and carefully as it would take some surface off, we will cover them so they are not actually a problem, but better to be careful.

Step 3: Close the Holes in the Original Flipcover

Do it from the inside with leather scavenged from other project. We will make new holes for your phone camera later. Make sure that you have the good surface on the outer side, it's fine to have bad one on the inside. You can use similar colour to make it less obvious (black with black for me), or go with bold colour/ pattern for accent instead. Make sure to put not too much glue, they could be seen from the outside and makes it less tidy.

Step 4: Create You Back Pocket

It's not actually necessary, but you have the broken surface caused by the glue from the old silicone case + the patches to cover the old camera holes, so this step is necessary for more professional-looking end product. In this step, I cut the sheet a bit bigger than my phone (add roughly 5 mm), folded the edges to fit the back cover, refold back, glued the edges from the outside (the side facing you/ the outer side/ the good side) until the fold, then glued it to the back cover.

Make sure that it's pretty tight, as if it's bunched up it will get scratched up a lot and easily broken. For the best result, sewing is definitely better but gluing is enough.

For the corners, cut it in v shape to make the folds not bunched up. I just make it sharp, but for round corner you need to press bit by bit while shaping the circle.

If you're planning to do this for normal phone, you can just skip this step, or still do this if your silicone case is rather see-through and you don't want the uneven surface to be seen.

Step 5: Drill Your Silicone Case to Your Flip Cover

For three screws, you could make one in the middle first, then divide the half section into two. Because the screws are 1.2mm I drilled 1.2mm holes as well. Make sure that the holes aligned properly between the flip cover and the silicone case. I kind of winged it so they were not exactly symmetrical, better not to follow my previous experience and measure them exactly instead.

Step 6: Assemble!

Assemble the silicone case and the flipcover using the screws. This could be easily done by hand. Sometimes the holes aren't big enough, you can just lightly push the screw through in circular motion separately for both the silicone case and the flip cover, and when they are big enough then do for both.

Put duct tapes in the inside to protect your phone from the screw backs. If you have the mean, you could also lathe the protruding screws so that they're smooth. You could also use sugru/ plasticine but duct tapes did the job already, so…

If you're planning to do this for normal phone, you can just glue the silicone case back to the flipcover (if you don't want to make the back of the silicone case seen, otherwise, do the same thing.

Step 7: Create Holes for Camera/ Speaker/ Etc.

After assembling, make sure to sketch the location for the holes you want to make on the back cover. You need to ensure that the position for the camera hole is fitting for when you open the front cover at least (as it is hard to take picture while the front cover is closed, though you could ensure for both).

For speaker holes, you can ensure that the hole will be open for when you close and open the flipcover as you will need the speaker in both condition.

Step 8: Finishing Step

Ensure that the camera hole is perfect for your phone, you don't want black shadows over the edge when taking pictures like the example above.

At first the screws were rather weird, but I'm now used to them. You could make the steam punk vibe more pronounced by exchanging the screws to nuts/ bolts and gluing some gears, the downside is that your phone would turn more hazardous inside your pocket.

My next plan for this phone is to make a front light with LED strips between the silicone case and the phone (as the e-ink screen doesn't have frontlight while I like the e-ink screen more than the normal screen), not sure if it worth it (the weight+the battery life) though.

I don't know how many people will read this, considering the niche interest (dual screen phone + flip cover + no sew), but if you read this far, thank you. The idea is definitely applicable for other phones, especially the uncommon ones. Suggestion and correction are definitely welcome, considering this is my first instructables.