A Wooden IPhone Case
Wooden iPhone case. Cut and rooted from an old stile from a cherry wood dinner table that I built in 1996.
Because I don't have a bandsaw I had to rip as well as resaw on the table saw. Don't worry: can be done safely, just set up everything slowly and act slowly once you start sawing. Make sure a riveting knife is attached to the table saw and you're pretty safe.
Of course you can start with a panel or a board that is approximately 10 mm thick so you don't have to resaw.
Once I had two blocks bigger slightly bigger than the iPhone, it was just a matter of building a jig for the router. The jig finished all I had to do was a little bit of measuring and tuning the working dept of the cutter.
Routing, and the rough case is finished. It took me a couple of hours, but now that the jig is ready and done, it'll take only a couple of hours more to make it a perfect jig.
The jig finished I'll be able to rout one in five minutes. It took a couple of passes on the router with another bit to round the edges.
In the corners of each half I've drilled 6 mm holes, slightly shallower than the thickness of each half, in which I've inserted and glued round rare earth magnets, 6 mm diameter. They love each other and close with a lovely click-clack.
I've finished this first case with sandpaper and a tin of clear laquer. Five or six layers, sanded in between, beautiful shine.
I love steampunk, but I decided to polish this one, to get a feel for it.
The next cuts will be used as a holder for the iPhone in my cars, and they will be polished too. Sanding, lacquering and polishing will take more time than routing.
P.s. Easy to make one for the iPad. All you need is a bigger board or panel to start with and set up a larger jig. Method and tools are the same.
Because I don't have a bandsaw I had to rip as well as resaw on the table saw. Don't worry: can be done safely, just set up everything slowly and act slowly once you start sawing. Make sure a riveting knife is attached to the table saw and you're pretty safe.
Of course you can start with a panel or a board that is approximately 10 mm thick so you don't have to resaw.
Once I had two blocks bigger slightly bigger than the iPhone, it was just a matter of building a jig for the router. The jig finished all I had to do was a little bit of measuring and tuning the working dept of the cutter.
Routing, and the rough case is finished. It took me a couple of hours, but now that the jig is ready and done, it'll take only a couple of hours more to make it a perfect jig.
The jig finished I'll be able to rout one in five minutes. It took a couple of passes on the router with another bit to round the edges.
In the corners of each half I've drilled 6 mm holes, slightly shallower than the thickness of each half, in which I've inserted and glued round rare earth magnets, 6 mm diameter. They love each other and close with a lovely click-clack.
I've finished this first case with sandpaper and a tin of clear laquer. Five or six layers, sanded in between, beautiful shine.
I love steampunk, but I decided to polish this one, to get a feel for it.
The next cuts will be used as a holder for the iPhone in my cars, and they will be polished too. Sanding, lacquering and polishing will take more time than routing.
P.s. Easy to make one for the iPad. All you need is a bigger board or panel to start with and set up a larger jig. Method and tools are the same.