I have no idea what you tried for your prototype, but I find it kind of interesting that almost nothing ended up with nice parts. They won't always be nice, but

I have no idea what you tried for your prototype, but I find it kind of interesting that almost nothing ended up with nice parts. They won't always be nice, but if they're designed with the constraints of 3D printing in mind, they can be significantly better than just a generic part without any care in mind for the characteristics of 3D printing. > Most plastics were too brittle and would crack when you snapped them on the iPhone. In fact, only 1 ABS was usable. I haven't injection molded anything yet, but I have made some 3D objects with my home made fused deposition printer. This may not hold for other types of printers, but selecting the correct infill orientation, fill percentage, and pattern can drastically change the properties of the final printed part. > The consumer models had a hard time with the curved surfaces and felt much grainier in the hand. I'm not sure what kind of printer you have, but if it's correctly calibrated you can print some pretty nice curved surfaces. They'll always feel grainier because the "normal" direction is on the Z axis. With something like injection molding, as you get 'flat' faces everywhere as you have normal surfaces on every part of your mold. SLA does a little better with the layer heights, but the plastic isn't as strong. > 3D printers are great for prototyping and hobbyists doing 1-offs. But the tech has a way to go before being useful to the average consumer. That's absolutely what they're for. What if every piece of tech you had came with a CAD drawing that you could load up and make that thing you wanted but can't buy yet? What if you just wanted one, but someone wanted to buy them from you, and would be willing to skip the design step completely by letting you design it, and them buying it from you. Freelance engineering is getting a little closer (instead of having a full blown design studio, you can make the parts you need for a project in the comfort of your home no matter how bizarre they need to be). Nokia isn't trying to get anyone to mass produce cases with their designs (although they could be used that way), they're trying to entice people with access to a 3d printer and their phone to make something cool. Just check out the search for 'iphone' on thingiverse [1]. People are making anything and everything for them that enhances the functionality of the phone. Nokia wants in. [1] http://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=iphone&sa= http://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=iphone&sa=