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Nokia To Release Lumia Case Design Files For 3D Printers
another random user sends this news from the BBC:
"Nokia is releasing design files that will let owners use 3D printers to make their own cases for its Lumia phones. Files containing mechanical drawings, case measurements and recommended materials have already been released by the phone maker. Those using the files will be able to create a custom-designed case for the flagship Lumia 820 handset. The project makes Nokia one of the first big electronics firms to seriously back 3D printing."
Once again, William Gibson was here first.
Apple fanbois not amused.
A seriously awesome move by Nokia. True innovators of the smartphone industry.
Nokia must be really desperate to try this in order to grow a community for the Lumias. Accessories such as cases are one of the most profitable businesses.
Nokia SUCKS! (sometimes I am known to say the exact opposite of what I mean)
Better known as 318230.
I'd rather say the 920 is their flagship, having better features and all that.
Thingiverse recently updated its service to include a "Customizer" app, where users could drop in a bunch of OpenSCAD code and get a customized version of any object already on Thingiverse. The 3D model, anyway. You'd need a 3d printer or a Shapeways account to actually get the physical object.
Within minutes Thingiverse's new "thing" stream was flooded with uncountable variations of iPhone cases.
3D Printing Tips and Tricks at Zheng3.com
Nokia has sold so few Lumias that the market size for people with 3D printers seems big.
Nokia is dead. ....
Huh? Did I misss something? Who produced my phone then?
Jolla is the actual Nokia.
Ah, ok. Now it makes sense. You mean Jolla is dead. Sad, but I'm afraid true. Anyhow, hopefully Tizen will life.
Trolling is a art!
Apple releases dimensioned drawings for it's portable devices so that accessory manufacturers can create functional products without taking their own tedious measurements. Shapeways, a 3D printing company, ran a contest to make iPhone 5 accessories.
...So the 5 people who still own Nokias will be able to print their own phone cases? Brilliant!
Openmoko opened the CAD models of their case (ok, not the coolest case in the world :-) ). People have also modified the design for 3d printing http://blog.slyon.de/3d-printed-gta04-case/ . There is also a wooden case https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_jRI7InTpE
Its not the cases that are the problem - its the fact it runs windows phone.
I would wager that most people using Win Phone 8 are ordinary consumers and maybe a few corporate types, neither of which seems like the kind likely to print their own phone case. They would likely buy one at the cell phone store or from Amazon, et al.
The people with the know-how and access to the equipment don't seem like the kinds of people who own a Windows phone, and even if they did and wanted a custom case, they are also skilled enough or have access to the equipment to come up with their own designs.
The only people this seems to benefit are people....who make cases for a living, and something tells me that they already have the specs for the cases or the scanners and other tech to rapidly create a case design simply by having a phone they can scan/measure.
They'd buy into the 3D Printing Game - Stratasys, Ideally.
When I visited Finland, I learned they got their start making tires and galoshes - so this wouldn't be as big of a jump.
There's a shop I walk past everyday where I could go and print something in 3D , a phone case would be perfectly harmless thing and cheap enough to just to try it out. At some point I imagine there will be more printers, both at home and in shops.
Even if I had a 3D printer. The cases of most phones are good enough for me. I have not modded my pc either.
But Nokia, want to do something really revolutionary? Give users the power to install their own systems. Lumia with android? Lumia with maemo? Meego? I would buy it at once. Lumia with Windoze? Keep it. Don't want it even for free.
Shapeways, which is the 3D printing company i have heard mentioned, seems to accept native SolidWorks and Inventor files. For this phone, I estimated the volume based on listed dimensions and estimated that it would cost about $60 to print. I think if you had you own printer it would costs less than $20 in materials. Some places seem to charge based on material and time in printing. That is the thing with 3D printers. They are slow the way inkjet printers were when they first came out. I recall printing a small chess piece when I had access to one and it took a few hours.
One nice thing about using a service is that they presumable will clean up the object prior to shipping. Sometimes the object does not come out of the printer in usable form, and there can be some loss in the clean up process.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Articles like this make me sad. They remind me that Nokia is still that great, innovative company that they've always been, knocking out great hardware and accomodating every niche.
And yet they insist on loading their devices with the still-born Windows Phone.
What an utter waste of a great company.
I still don't want a Lumia, and this won't make me want one... but I think it is a cool thing that they did. Hopefully other manufacturers will follow suit.
I've always liked Nokia. Just bought the wife a Nokia X2, which is apparently a good seller in areas of the world where they cannot afford hand held computers and need suffice, therefore, with phones. I need a keyboard on my phone, and paid full price for the BB 9900. I love the phone, because of the keyboard--I don't use any apps outside of the browser (opera) and email client--and find navigating the user interface better than I did when I tried out Android on the Nexus S I got this phone to replace. Well, I do love the phone but this will be the very last time I pay 700 hundred dollars for one. Playing with my wife's X2 and with the Nokia desktop app, which is pretty polished, I'm thinking that when it comes time to replace my BB, I might just buy the $60 X2 and spend the balance on tablet computer. As long as Nokia is viable, I know I will be able to pick up an inexpensive feature phone that only does what it does but does what it does well. I've trusted Nokia quality for years, and would be very, very sad to them fall off the map. That they are thinking out of the box to please purchaser, doesn't surprise me in the least.
Does anybody know where the website is to download the CAD/CAM files? Also, do they offer the Lumina 800 so it can work on my MeeGo N9?
I've been dying to get a 3D printer for quite a while. Maybe this will be the final push I needed. I just wish they would release the designs for the 920.
I have a tablet produced by Palm and a sword produced by a 17th century master. Both dead. The only person who "will live forever" is Lenin (you can check out his mummified body at Kremlin), pity he did not produce anything, mostly destroyed things.
Could somebody who actually knows something about 3D printing comment on the suitability of this material for a phone case? How rigid and/or brittle is the material that comes out of a 3D printer? Is it actually going to offer substantial protection to a phone? Is it durable; will it become scratched, warped, or discolored sooner than more conventional materials?
That that is is that that that that is not is not.
That makes perfect sense for a reasonable chunk of Android and even some iPhone users, but the userbase for Windows Mobile 8 phones is really small, and I doubt the people with the technical sophistication to download a model and print it at even a walk-in 3D place are Windows Mobile 8 users.
Sure, there are some die-hard Windows devs or people with a lot of money who might do this, but it's a vanishingly small group of people.
That makes perfect sense for a reasonable chunk of Android and even some iPhone users, but the userbase for Windows Mobile 8 phones is really small, and I doubt the people with the technical sophistication to download a model and print it at even a walk-in 3D place are Windows Mobile 8 users.
True, we all breathe through our mouths and haven't been known to download stuff off the intarwebs.
My exception safety is -fno-exceptions.
Ok, before anyone cries astroturfing: Yes, I work for Nokia, I mentioned it earlier in other posts.
Trolling is a art!
Now we just need graphics drivers, the OS source, datasheets and schematics and it might actually be as useful as it ought to be.
ahhh, i imagine printcrime ;)
(search for it if you haven't read it)
Rich
stephen, didn't expect you here. most visitors around here don't like your decisions, you know...
Rich
"The N900 might have been this neat little device but clearly it sold poorly or Nokia wouldn't have ditched it."
Your entire post starts from a false assumption. Actually, it sold really well considering. Some estimates are over 1mm. Here's some substantiation:
http://www.intomobile.com/2010/06/01/how-many-n900-units-has-nokia-sold/
This was a phone with no subsidies, no marketing or advertising, not compatible with anything else...
OK, then of course, the N9 must have been a sales failure, right? Nope.
http://www.quora.com/Is-the-Nokia-N9-MeeGo-handset-still-outselling-Nokias-Windows-Phone-7-handsets-February-2012
Again, no subsidies, no advertising - and Elop shitting all over it, disowning it, etc.
If anything, it looks like Nokia made the absolutely wrong decision. It's almost as if there was an agenda that wasn't primarily motivated by profit or unit sales. Hmmm.
"Those using the files will be able to create a custom-designed case for the flagship Lumia 820 handset. "
The 920 is, and it's 185 g, so ~50 grams to heavy for my interest.
Looking forward to an early realization.I hope a Nokia Lumia recovery!