How to Create an Iphone Case
This tutorial will go through the basics of creating an Iphone Case, but will use the Iphone 7 as an example. To complete this tutorial it is trivial that you understand basic parametric CAD features. The features that will be used are sweeps, extrudes, extruded cuts, and fillets. These instructions can easily be adapted to any Iphone. I personally use Solidworks, but Onshape, Fusion 360, Inventor, or any other parametric CAD program should work great.
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Step 1: Getting Your Model
The easiest way to do this is to get a model of your device off of Grab Cad, but you can model it yourself, but I will not cover that. Make sure your model is a STEP, SLPRT, SLDASM, or another 3D model file that carries the vectors and bodies, not just a mesh.
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Step 2: The Sides
To create the border that surrounds the phone, you need to make a sketch on a plate that is perpendicular to the flat face of the phone. Then in the sketch create the profile of the phone and then off set that. For 3D printing the offset should be around 2.5mm to 3.0mm. You will also want to include some tolerance, so you case will fit nicely, usually 0.1mm is enough. Once you have your profile make sure in is enclosed. Then you will need to create a path for your sweep. There are many ways to do this, and it is fairly simple, but I created a mid plane on the phone's body and captured the profile of the phone in that sketch. Then Sweep your profile along the path, and you should have something similar to the image above.
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Step 3: The Back of the Case
I started out by creating a sketch converting the edges of the sides into my sketch and then extruding it to a vertex. Extruding it to a vertex ensures that the if you change the wall thickness of your sides your back thickness will change too. Next create a sketch that will have enough room for your camera, and then use an extruded cut to remove the space.
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Step 4: Speaker and Connector Holes
We next need to create the holes for our bottom speakers and ports. A sketch on a plane that is parallel with this side of the phone should work fine. Create a few slots that will go around the ports, and give enough space for the connectors to be plugged in, and then extrude cut and remove the material. Once again make sure to use a through all cut to make your design adaptable.
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Step 5: Power and Volume Button Holes
After making the holes for the speakers connectors, I repeated the same steps for the power and volume buttons. After doing that I added some fillets to make the case more comfortable to use.
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Step 6: Making the Case
I them printed my phone case with TPU, however any flexible material could be used. Below I will list my print settings. I only had to add supports on the overhands that go around the inside edge of the case, and holes. I printed on glass with glue, but I would imagine that painters tape would create a better back surface finish.
Layer Height: 0.15 mm
Bottom Layers: 3
Side Layers: 3
Top Layers: 3
Infill: 20%
Extruder Temp (C): 208
Printing Speed: 2800.0 mm/min
