This is a phone-case I designed for my Samsung Galaxy S4 phone a few years back (early 2014). The first thing I ever had 3D-printed, and my favorite phone case (huge LOTR fan)

This was designed years before I got my own printer, and the level of detail is pretty fine so the version in the photos was actually ordered from Shapeways using the strong & flexible plastic.

Lasted me about a year before breaking one of the retaining tabs on the front, but for an experiment in 3D printing it was pretty successful, it also proved to be a great conversation starter.

Originally came up with this design scrolling through photos online. Saw a sort of similar concept for an iPhone, but decided I could design my own for the Samsung Galaxy S4, which was my current phone at the time in 2014.

Initially drew a sketch by tracing my phone on a paper and laying out the general design placement, and how I wanted it to look. Then I found a CAD model of a Samsung Galaxy S4 on grabcad and downloaded it for dimensions, and test fits of the case in solid-works.

Initially I designed the case itself, how it would fit around the phone and retain. Once that was fleshed out, I started on the artsy side of making it look like the sketch. A couple of times throughout the process I printed out a 1:1 sketch scale of the part, cut it out, and placed it on the physical phone in order to make sure the design would look okay size wise.

When I finished it I uploaded it to the shapways website and excitedly ordered my first 3D printed part. I was really impressed with the quality and strength when it arrived.