iPhone engraving!

[rodcar125]

Hi all!

Wanted to see what you think about a risky project I did a couple of days ago.

It's my iPhone 6 Plus engraved! :S

I made the gcode with the engraving feature of F-Engrave and I loved the results. The bit missed some parts at the bottom which indicates the poor alignment of my S3 (working on that) and since I removed the phone after finishing the job couldn't re run the job (no fixture for this) but well, I think it looks good.

I used a 30 degree 0.1mm engraving bit from Amazon running at max on my 611 and 10ipm federate with 5ipm plunge rate. I did a very light sanding at the end with a 1200 grit wet sandpaper.

This could have gone so wrong messing up my phone real bad but since I'm taking it to repair next week form a cracked display I thought well...
Also knowing that there is the always safer option of laser engraving it.

It was tense but I think it's worth it. I love seeing my phone more now and it's a personalized item that took me over 30 minutes to completes it the S3.

I tried to use the auto level feature on chilipeppr as I do on pcb's but couldn't make a connection between the the phone and the bit while probing. (maybe a finishing lacquer on the iPhone?)

Here it is!




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[CastIrony]

I don't know if the layer of aluminum oxide from the anodization process is thick enough to prevent conductivity, but it might be.

[WillAdams]

Charming! Kind of surprised to not see more personalization here, and of phones in general.


Other options:

- cover in aluminum foil
- make/use a touch probe
- mill a pocket of the right size

An old printer once told me, “You’re a dummy if you don’t make a dummy.” I guess we need a similar saying for CNC work, maybe, “Don’t be surprised when you can’t fix it if you didn’t use a fixture.”?

[xfredericox]

tbh i do totally understand why most people don't put their 800 dollar phone under a 20000 rpm cutting bit

oh and btw, anodizing forms an oxide layer which is not conductive. But since the area is relatively small, you can easily manually set up the phone so that it is very level. No need for a probe for something like this imo.

[PollyMotion]

Cool project. You sure are brave

[JeromyReno]

looks good, throw some speed holes in it next. why use a camera when you can make a hole you can see threw