Scotty Allen
patreon
I hit a huge milestone on one of my secret iPhone projects!
🕑 Added 2023-04-05 22:02:35 +0000 UTCShhhhh - it's still a secret!
I have successfully milled an iPhone enclosure that has most of the internal features, and parts actually correctly fit!
This is a HUGE win, given that I was very uncertain whether I was getting accurate enough measurements with my milling/flatbed scanner approach (covered in this post: https://www.patreon.com/posts/long-overdue-and-79118526). But they seem to be spot on, and the Carvera is capable of enough precision to mill them well.
This was the big OMG moment for this project, or at least the first one. It was the moment that made me realize this is going to be WAY bigger than I was realizing as I was slogging through the design and machining work. This thing looks and feels like a real phone. And soon, anyone will be able to make one.
It hasn't been without drama though. I managed to burn out a winding in the spindle motor in the Carveraa week or two ago. To my surprise, I managed to successfully rewind it well enough to get it spinning again, but not well enough to get the necessary torque out of it. It either had another issue I couldn't identify, or I did something wrong when rewinding it (maybe got the polarity reversed?). Regardless, Makera sent me a new motor ASAP, and I was back up and running in under a week.
I'm also running into some issues with milling features on the sides of the phone, both inside and outside.
I'm running up against the height limit on the Carvera to mill the exterior holes on the bottom edge of the phone, for the speaker and lightning jack. I think I can solve this with some very short bits, and some creative fixtures/tool holding.
I also have been trying to figure out how to successfully mill/drill/tap features on the inside of the side walls. My current plan is make a fixture to place the phone at a near vertical angle, but tilted far enough off vertical that it allows the mill head access to the inside of the side walls. We'll see how that goes.
I've decided to punt antenna lines to a future video, as I've done so much already that I'm ready to share. This might mean that cell/wifi reception sucks in this initial version, but I keep reminding myself this is all a stepping stone to something MUCH more exciting.
The last big piece to this is polishing/surface finishing. I've been experimenting with buffing wheels, which give an amazing mirror finish without much work. I also am most of the way done with building a homemade sandblasting cabinet for bead blasting, but haven't been able to try it out yet. My current guess is that Apple is using bead blasting with tiny glass beads to get their matt finish on aluminum. I'll then anodize it, and it will hopefully be pretty similar to a stock finish.
That being said, I can't WAIT to try out other finishes and materials. I have so many ideas I'm itching to try, once I have all this basic design and manufacturing infrastructure in place. There is a super exciting road ahead!
Comments
Darth Mole
Coolness. It would be awesome to be able to mod an iPhone with a thicker case for a larger battery. I wonder if it would be possible to make the camera bump go away by making the back flush. Oh! It would awesome be cool to have a custom back that added a physical keyboard. Like a slide out, down, or always present like a blackberry. Kind of like that one accessory Ryan Seacrest tried to make back in the day but was sued by blackberry because of the key designs. It could be similar but an actual iPhone back replacement!
Scotty Allen
Yes! Making custom parts work within the phone will still be challenging from an electrical perspective, but this is a huge step on the mechanical side.
Darth Mole
Once you get the enclosure production finalized does that mean it would be possible to make custom ones that support different parts, like say a bigger battery? Or does apple block that sort of part switching in the software?
Scotty Allen
I wanted to add: Having the automatic tool changer is SO nice. I'm running at least 10 different tools right now, and will add an 11th when it arrives (for undercuts). So not having to change tools by hand is one of the only ways I'm staying sane on this. And even then, I'm still having to switch collets and tool sets multiple times to mill one enclosure...
Scotty Allen
Yep, I definitely am. Milling times would be a LOT faster on a bigger machine, and I probably would get a bit better surface finish. But in terms of quality, I'm reasonably pleased with what the Carvera is putting out. I just wish the Z axis was an inch taller:)
John Scherer
Incredible news Scotty. Especially when you consider your likely working at the top end of the carvanas limits.
Carl Trimble
Awesome!
