Can I print blank phone cases with a 3D printer ?

[axool]

Hello,

I'm totally new to the 3D printers world and I am actually running a phone cases business.
Until now, we were buying our cases from China but we were wondering if we could 3D print our own phone cases to sell them after.

So my questions are the following :

- Is it possible to build blank phone cases with a 3D printer for any phone brands ?
- What would approximately be the cost for one phone case ?
- Will the cases perfectly fit the phones they will be created for ?
- What would be the cost for a "good" 3D printer for this purpose ?

Thanks for your answers!

[Mjolinor]

Look on thingiverse, there are loads of them.

[ralphzoontjens]

- Is it possible to build blank phone cases with a 3D printer for any phone brands ?
Yes it is possible to 3D print suitable items for end use - you will just have to decide whether the product quality is representative for what you want to achieve as a business.
Of course the unique aspect is that you can produce one-offs, customized designs.

- What would approximately be the cost for one phone case ?
I recommend using a professional printer like an SLS or SLA printer. The Sinterit Lisa costs $8k and lets you print about 10 cases in 6/7 hours for just a few dollars per case.
I printed phone cases on a simple FDM machine as well (I recommend Ultimaker machines which sell for $1k-2k) though the quality is not as good and parts will have to be constructed sturdier. It will cost about $1 to print a phone case and 1-2 hours depending on the print quality.


- Will the cases perfectly fit the phones they will be created for ?
Yes they can be made to fit perfectly.

[curious aardvark]

approximate cost - depending on what you pay for the filament - around 5 pence, 7 cents or 6 euro cents.

Any 3d printer will do the job.

Now to the reason you won't be 3d printing phone cases.
1 phone case will take around 1-2 hours to print at a good quality.

Now what you could do, is use the 3d printer to make special customised cases - but it can't and won't replace bulk phone cases, just takes too long.

printer wise - you could spend £400 and get a wanhao duplicator i3 plus, or £300 and get a makerbot replicator clone, or you could spend £10,000 and get an sls machine that prints with nylon.
Or spend £100,000 and get a full colour, multi material all singing and dancing industrial machine.

3d printer prices vary from under £200 for kits to over £300,000 for top of the range industrial machines - and more if you want to print metal objects.

I can't see you selling a customised phone case for enough money to make it worthwhile. But who0 knows, you might be able to :-)

[3dworkbench]

+1 on what the others said.
You would need a very good printer to match the quality of injection molded parts.
3D printers are not great for production, however I can totally see the possibility of a 3D printed line of phone cases, and of course, a custom option.