[gibbage]

For those who have not been following my project, I have been working on a 3D printed cell phone case for the HTC 8X with the help of this forum and community. Im REALLY happy to say they are now finally available for order!

The designs all follow 3 principals. Protection, Design, and Function. They all protect the phone, without covering the design, and add function.

Protection: The HTC 8X has a soft outer coating that absorbs dirt, scratches easy, and wears off. The design of my phone cases protect the 4 corners, keeps the phone off of harsh surfaces, and keeps the coating for wearing off pre-maturely. Currently I have NOT done any drop testing, but it should help impact resistance. If you truly want a drop proof phone, get an Otterbox!

Design: The minimal design complement's the HTC 8X's great curves, not hide them. Let your color shine through! Currently 5 designs are available, with more to be added later. Also the designs are customizable with your name or logo's for a little extra.

Function: If your an 8X user, you know how hard that power button is to hit with 1 hand. NO MORE! The integrated side grips allow you to hold onto the phone and power it, easily with 1 hand. Also the minimalistic design allows the phone to "breath" during taxing operations like GPS navigation while charging. This case will also not interfere with Verizon's wireless charging! All buttons and ports (except SIM slot) are free and clear for easy operation.

You can order yours from Shapeways.com at gibbage by gibbage on Shapeways! Price is between $25-$30 USD for a stock design. Customization is extra and determined by the clients needs. Im currently very busy, so im not taking custom orders at this time.

To read more about the 3D printed case project, please visit my blog at www.gibbageart.com/case and check often! I also plan on offering Lumia 920 and 820 cases soon!

****PLEASE NOTE****
There is a limited selection of colors. The dye used to color some 3D printed models WILL LEACH INTO THE SOFT CASE!!!! I found this out with my own phone. I will only offer white, and alumide, with acrylic options later. You can spray paint the white case very easily and the material accept paint very well. I spray painted my original prototype black and used it for over a month without any color transfer! Just use good paint and your set! Also you may want to use a sealer to lock in the paint. On the Shapeways forums, people have had good luck with acrylic floor wax and Tompsons water sealer for decks. If you would like more tips, feel free to visit the Shapeways community forums or post your questions here. I wont be held responsible for what you do to your case or phones, and I do not guarantee anything. This is a garage project that im sharing with the Windows Phone community.

If your unsure about a 3D printed case, I understand. Its not for everyone, and I have review cases for WP Central editors printing for them to review it. This is for people who truly want a unique case, and is willing to accept a few drawbacks (like having to paint it yourself)

Kevin "Gibbage" Miller

[Shane Knutson]

Heck ya dude, these are looking great. the trick with 3D printers is repetition and experimenting. I'm a mechanical engineer and was at a seminar not too long ago where there was a 3D printer booth set up. You can do so much with them its ridiculous! Keep us posted and put me on the list, I want one!

[Sam Sabri]

I want!

[xboxonthego3]

Very Cool!

[gibbage]

They are for sale now at Shapeways.com. If anyone has any idea's or suggestions, please let me know! Im always looking for idea's on new case designs.

You can buy the case at www.shapeways.com/shops/gibbage

[gibbage]

Things hit a snag. Shapeways cant keep the quality high enough for me to sell this as a product, and I cant currently find an alternative that wont brake the bank.

[xboxonthego3]

Bummer.. Sorry to hear that. Let me know if things change. You are definitely doing something really cool.

[muness]

So I ordered the case before you pulled them. I got it last Friday and it looks *great*:8x_case.jpg

I had picked the third material which I think was the most expensive. I think it was "Alumide", but I am not sure because the order confirmation email didn't list it. The quality seems good enough and didn't exhibit the issues the video showed, maybe because the other material doesn't suffer the same issues.

Have you tried all the materials that you had put on sale?

[gibbage]

Wow! That looks awesome!!!! I tried to print al Alumide case for myself but it was rejected due to the materials more strict standards. Its a lot more brittle then the white nylon so will break easy if the case is too thin. Also expect it to break if you drop it. Typically this shattering will redirect the energy away from your screen and out, but you will be out of a case. Also if you bend it too much, it will break. I had another customer who ordered the same organic case, but it broke in production and they refunded his money. Im surprised yours turned out so well! That's why I pulled the material. Im SUPER SUPER happy your case turned out great, and your happy with the quality.

Im still working on fixing quality issues, and I found another company to print the cases. The problem is the cases would be significantly more expensive, but will be made with a carbon fiber infused nylon that's 4x as strong and naturally black. Another problem is, to keep the price down, I need a minimum order of 25 cases. I need to see if I have enough interest in these cases to do group buys. More info once I get the case back, but thank you SO MUCH for showing me how your case turned out! It means the world to me that someone is enjoying something I made.

Kevin

Also, aluminum is non-ferris, so it should NOT interfere with the wireless charging. Can you verify this?

[xboxonthego3]

Sweet, carbon fiber infused nylon sounds great but slightly expensive. Im still interested. Thanks for the update!

[luk3ja]

want it

[gibbage]

The cases are back on sale. I got the recent batch from Shapeways (one is on the way to WPCentral for review) and everything is great! Shapeways is standing behind there quality and has come through every time!

http://www.shapeways.com/shops/gibbage

[gibbage]

As for the carbon fiber case, its not going to happen. I would need to order 50 units at a time just to get the price down to $40 each, and I simply cant ask that much for a phone case.

[xboxonthego3]

SWEET! I think I'm going to wait for the review to see what they say. But if I was to order one of your cases which material is best for painting? Im thinking about painting the spider case red to go with my black HTC 8x.

[gibbage]

I like the idea of red and black for the spider case. Also I was thinking of blue on a Verizon red in the spider to match the classic Spiderman colors, or a high contrast white on black, with the high contrast setting.

That's the cool thing about this is you can truly make it your own, and the material SOAKS up paint AMAZINGLY well. I hit my original case with a can of black spray paint from a plastic kid store and it took a few coats to cover the case. Once on, it never flaked off or chipped! That was after about 2 months of abuse! Recently I used a new method of soaking the case in wood/concrete sealer and letting that dry before I paint. It took a less coats and the paint dried evenly with a nice finish. Better then spray painting the bare plastic. After that you can hit it up with an acrylic clear coat to give it a nice glossy finish.

I will be developing a section on painting tips, but this nylon material takes paint very well.

[perseides]

Im living in malaysia, is there any service to post the casing all the way here? how much is the postage fee?

[gibbage]

Im living in malaysia, is there any service to post the casing all the way here? how much is the postage fee?

I think Shapeways delivers all over the world. They even have a 3D printing factory in the EU (France). The best way to check is to go through the checkout procedure and see if it accepts your Malaysia address.

[perseides]

The postage fee including tax is almost the same price as the case... 19.99 =( anyway i can get cheaper postage?

[gibbage]

Sorry about that, but I don't control the postage from Shapeways. Once the review hits WP Central, I will have a discount that will help knock the price down a bit, but not the postage.