

3D Printed iPhone Cases with Open Source files - nemild
http://www.fraemes.com/hn

======
ansimionescu
A friend [0] has worked with these guys and showed me a prototype, pretty
interesting idea, and the case definitely looks cool. The bumper quality was a
bit off iirc, but I guess the final product will be better.

0: [https://twitter.com/46bit](https://twitter.com/46bit)

------
jonhohle
Neat, but none of these really show off the advantages of 3D printing over
other manufacturing processes. All of these could be injection molded for a
significant fraction of the price per unit. Overhanging or concave features,
enclosed voids, interleaved materials - those are things which would sell me
on 3D printing for this application. I would imagine you could even do these
on a CNC machine for lower cost at higher resolution with all of the
customizations highlighted.

~~~
TaylorAlexander
I respectfully disagree; the advantage over injection molding is clear - you
can have any design you'd like. I'm not sure how much is online at the moment,
but they've designed a system that lets you design cases in illustrator and
convert the files to a case design on the fly in your browser. This means you
can design _any_ case you want and have it delivered to you quickly.

That is a fundamentally different value proposition for the consumer than
injection molding. Any individual design seen here could be recreated with
injection molding, but the point of this company isn't to provide you with a
cell phone case, it's to provide you with any cell phone case design you want.

That's not something a company doing injection molding could offer. Molds for
injection molding cost a minimum of a few grand and usually tens of thousands
of dollars. You can't deliver a unique item to each customer with injection
molding.

Disclaimer: I know one of the creators, and I have helped give mechanical
advice over the past year. I think its a really great product. I'd be using
them if I had an iPhone!

~~~
Zak
_I 'd be using them if I had an iPhone!_

It seems odd to only support one phone given that they're using 3D printing to
support a great deal of customization.

~~~
nickff
It seems like the customization is very limited, and will not allow the
customer to modify the basic shape of the case. If the company is trying to
test a MVP, it makes sense to select the single most popular phone, which
happens to be the one with the spendiest customer base.

------
icinnamon
I've been using one of their iPhone cases for my 5S and it's been really
great. Everyone is always surprised when I tell them it's 3D printed- it
definitely gets a lot of (good) attention. The case is also super light and
non-invasive. Definitely like what they're doing!

