Pancake Case For Phone Too Tight...

[thekid77]

Hi friends,

I recently made a pancake case for the Galaxy S3...

It is really tight...

Is there anything I could do to stretch it a bit on the inside? or break it in a lil better?

The phone almost fits but not without a bit of forcing...thanks!!!

[Itch]

I first would try a thin plastic shopping bag over the phone and then see if it will go in to your case if it does let it sit overnight..If it is still to tight dampen your case with water and try the same..

[TomG]

If you used Veg-Tan, you may be able to wet the inside and force something inside that is slightly larger than the phone.

But I'd try it on a piece of scrap of the same leather first....

I've had bad luck with brown dye shifting if I wet from the back, but since this looks black.. you'll probably be OK

I don't know if they still make it, but there used to be a product made for stretching shoes. You wet the shoe and wore it. I only tried it once, and it didn't work... Smelled like alcohol and someone told me that was all it was.

Tom

[thekid77]

Okay, thanks for the input everyone...i had an idea to just let steam get to the inside of the case, so it gets damp enough to stretch but not sopping wet...

Don't know if it will work though...hate to experiment on finished projects :/

[Dwight]

The guaranteed fix: go out to your wood shop, . . . create a blank piece of pine the size of the phone, . . . wrap it in a plastic bag, . . . force it into the holder.

Do not wet or steam it, . . . leave it dry, . . . wake up 12 hours later, . . . remove the pine, . . . try the phone.

If it doesn't work the first time, . . . put 2 bags on it and do it again. By bags, . . . I'm not talking about those throw away things from Meijers or Walmart. Use a good quality freezer bag.

We do this all the time with holsters and other items.

By the way, . . . that is a good looking case. I make cases also, . . . but mine are more the heavy duty, . . . rough service types. They're usually 7/8 oz leather, . . . and have a fortifying strip around the top.

Yours is much more the "genteel" variety.

May God bless,

Dwight

Edited May 13, 2013 by Dwight

[thekid77]

Thanks for always sharing your insight Dwight, will do!!!

[thekid77]

Thanks for the kind words Dwight, I followed Ian Atkinson's tutorial on youtube (thanks Ian) for the case...it's good practice..

May I ask, what is a fortifying strip?

[Dangerous Beans]

That's a nice looking piece of work there Brendon, Ian will be made up with that, you'll have to show him!

See how you get on with the form and the bags.

If its still to tight, a last resort is to unstitch it and incert a strip of 3mm into the seem as a welt.

Nige

[Dwight]

Thanks for the kind words Dwight, I followed Ian Atkinson's tutorial on youtube (thanks Ian) for the case...it's good practice..

May I ask, what is a fortifying strip?

It is a simple reinforcement piece, . . . I make the body out of one piece of leather, . . . wrapped around the form, . . . coming together at 12 o'clock.

The fortifying strip, or reinforcement, . . . again one piece of leather, wrapped aroung the form, . . . comes together at 6 o'clock, . . . so the seams are opposite each other.

It makes it beefy, . . . but it also provides some pretty heavy duty protection for the phone. I'm pretty hard on all my tools and toys, . . . so I have to think about protection, etc.

May God bless,

Dwight

[thekid77]

Thanks for the compliments Nige, it's very encouraging!!!

Great information Dwight, I will have to try that technique out some time....cell phones keep getting bigger so it's a great challenge to come up with something that will offer protection and still fit comfortably in the pocket

[Dwight]

Borrowing from a current buzz phrase, . . . "think outside the pocket".

This is my personal phone case, . . . something in the 5 years old bracket, . . . lotsa hard miles.

I personally detest my pockets having a bunch of stuff in them, . . . as well as carrying anything in my hands. Maybe some sort of OCD

I put snaps on the bottom so I don't have to take my belt on or off to remove the case or put it on.

May God bless,

Dwight

[ebdavison]

This is my personal phone case, . . . something in the 5 years old bracket, . . . lotsa hard miles.

I put snaps on the bottom so I don't have to take my belt on or off to remove the case or put it on.

I really like that phone case. Good character and construction looks simpe with no stitching. I had something like the in mind for my Leathearman. Would you mind sharing the pattern and construction method of that case?

[Dwight]

It's a simple case to make, . . . for my Motorola phone it took the following:

1 piece 5/6 leather, 4 x 6 inches, . . . the main body

1 piece 5/6 leather, 1 3/4 x 7 inches, the belt loop

5 pieces of scrap leather, 3/4 x about 2 inches, . . . forms the plug for the body of the case.

First cement the scrap leather together to make a plug, . . . one piece on top of another, . . . stack em up, cement em together, . . . one solid plug, about 2 inches by 3/4 inch by 3/4 inch. Take it to a sander and even up your pieces, . . . round the corners a bit.

Pop the holes in the bottom of the main body and the bottom of the belt strap for the snaps and glue the snap stud to the main body.

Contact cement the main body to the plug, . . . with the snap studs pointing up.

Contact cement the belt piece to the back of the main body, . . . aligning holes for the snap studs, . . . put the male pieces on the snaps and set the snaps.

I used a center punch and an ice pick to slowly and gingerly get the snaps set, . . . it was the hardest part of the whole job. If you pull the main body tight around the plug, . . . (cutting it so it really fits good first is a really good idea too), . . . the plug will withstand the "tap-tap" beating you do to set the snaps.

After that, . . . pop and set the four rivets, . . . then the female portion of the snaps, . . . finish, . . . VOILA, . . . you are done.

I also made one using basically the same pattern for a Galaxy phone some time back for a customer. He all but danced out the door he was so happy.

I have another case, leather, got it for 50cents at a yard sale, . . . it's my "Sunday go to meeting" case, . . . but I don't like it any where as much as I like this one.

The only finish it has ever seen is a neatsfoot oil / beeswax mixture.

May God bless,

Dwight

Edited July 13, 2013 by Dwight

[silverwingit]

Here's a trick sometimes used to break in leather pistol holsters. Instead of plastic bags, use waxed paper. It has a slight "lube" effect that it deposits on the leather. This in addition to the main purpose of slightly enlarging the object being forced into the pouch, whether it be the phone itself or better yet, as someone suggested a wooden "dummy" of the appropriate size.