Wooden, Plastic Or Rubber Forms For Electronics?

[Urshag]

I want to make form fitted cases for various phones, e-readers, tablets etc.

I sure as hell wish I could afford to buy one of each and wrap in saran wrap to use as a form for wet or dry molding for the cases.

I even tried looking into buying broken one being sold on eBay "for parts", but those are still pretty expensive.

I looked but could not find anyone selling forms for these items. In other words, someone who would scan the item, then have a milling machine cut a form for the item, and then make a mold to pour plastic, rubber, resin etc into and sell them to those of us who need them.

Does anyone know of someone who does this already or has the tools and might be interested in doing this?

Thanks!

Dennis

Edited May 22, 2012 by Urshag

[Sylvia]

Dennis:

Have you tried contacting the local pawn shops? Or placing an ad on Craigslist stating you want their old broken ones?

[Matt S]

You can get dummies like they have on display in the shops from a 'certain famous online auction house'.

[TwinOaks]

I think the most durable mold you could make would be to get a local carpenter to make them out of wood. It would really be as simple as planing a block to the right thickness and using a shaper or router to round the edges to the radius you prefer. Once made, seal the wood and it's a mold. Better yet, most of the molds could probably be made from scrap which would reduce the costs.

[Urshag]

Dennis:

Have you tried contacting the local pawn shops? Or placing an ad on Craigslist stating you want their old broken ones?

Well I need the most current ones and people want a lot even for a broken iPhone or kindle fire for example.

[Urshag]

I think the most durable mold you could make would be to get a local carpenter to make them out of wood. It would really be as simple as planing a block to the right thickness and using a shaper or router to round the edges to the radius you prefer. Once made, seal the wood and it's a mold. Better yet, most of the molds could probably be made from scrap which would reduce the costs.

Well that would require giving the woodworker the actual devices to make an exact copy so that leads back to the initial problem. Just giving the dimensions to the woodworker doesn't give him all the curves, slopes, etc.

[Urshag]

You can get dummies like they have on display in the shops from a 'certain famous online auction house'.

Thanks! I was able to locate several iPhone and iPad dummies. Still need some kindle dummies though. None of those for sale as far as I could see. Great suggestion tho. Thanks again!