My cell phone is a bit fragile, and I want to not always be worrying about it when it’s in my pocket. I’d like to make a custom fitting metal case. (whether or not I ever get around to it is questionable, but I enjoy the process of coming up with a plan)
My current thoughts are to make a cast of the phone, dip the cast in wax to add a bit of leeway. cover it in foil leaf, and electroplate it until the covering is thick enough for my satisfaction. My only electroplating experience is with copper.
Before you get too carried away with this project, you might want to think a little bit about how much a metal case will interfere with your phone signal. Hard plastic may be a better route to go.
What sort of protection are you hoping to gain from doing this? Scratches? Because if you drop the phone, a metal case is going to transmit the shock to the internal components just as much as the plastic case…
That’s true. For protection against impact you’ll want some kind of plastic or rubber sleeve that can absorb the shock instead of transmitting it.
Motorola sells phones that have this feature, including the i305, which I bought. You can also buy this model in bright yellow, which kind of makes the phone look like a Fluke multimeter.
Kydex (holster material) can be formed relatively easily, check it out, I bought a slip on screen cover for my Dell PDA that was hand made out of Kydex and it rocks!.