A couple of years ago, I assembled a steampunk styled belt http://mike.creuzer.com/2013/11/i-have-had-a-belt-for-over-10-years.html and I have been using a blank belt buckle with it. Today, I made a custom steampunk/blacksmith styled belt buckle. A bit of leather work, a bit of computer work, and my 3d printer. So much fun!
It only took a minute to print, but a long time to design and layout. It’s my Initials MJC arranged so the shapes look like “Me”.
I scaled the file, but forgot it was radius and not diameter, so the first print came out too big. A bit of scaling in Slic3r fixed that quickly enough.
Glued up the belt with contact cement.
A few minutes ‘clamped’ curved the printed emblem.
I think the emblem under the leather works.
I cut a bunch of darts into the leather so I can fold the leather over.
I love binder clips. They are great for clamping stuff.
The finished buckle, waiting for the contact cement to finish drying or whatever it does.
I like the raised effect on the leather.
The finished belt buckle. It’s a ‘kids’ buckle and not a full size one. I am not big on huge buckles. So it pinches the belt a bit. Steampunk styled belt, with a custom belt buckle to suite.
I made a custom leather belt case for my custom wireless charging flip cased Galaxy Note Edge. It's been a fairly drawn out project getting the two cases made – from March until now. But the results are worth the effort.
The main design goal was to not bend my phone when I sit on it in my pocket as it is HUGE I also wanted to show off the nifty 'edge' feature.
I bought all the materials for both aspects of the case at the same time. I will also be making a matching Leatherman holster as well as a 2nd iteration of my home made wallet – http://mike.creuzer.com/2014/07/i-made-a-new-wallet-last-night.html. There will me more scrap leather after that, so I am sure some more projects will come of that 1 piece of leather.
I had made a phone case for a different phone with details found at http://mike.creuzer.com/2014/01/i-made-a-phone-belt-case.html This other case has a built in solar charger which is pretty darn cool. That feature didn't make it into this case as it's not really worth the effort as the solar panel that small takes 3 days to charge and gets me 30 minutes of usage.
Lots of pictures to look at with descriptions for each image with this project.
The finished product. The case is designed to make the edge display visible on my phone while it is in the belt case.
A little bit of planning. The black leather is very stiff so I have a strong back to attach the belt clip to.
A bought belt clip and leather, and a pair of 3D printed sides. There are holes in the printed parts so I can sew through them to sew the leather onto the ends.
I drilled holes in the heavy leather for sewing and punched holes for the belt clip. The big hole in the printed plastic is for a hinge for a retaining strap which I don’t think I will need.
The green leather is bonded to the heavy leather. Glue it and sew it. I find my stitching looks neater if I am not fighting the pieces moving while I am trying to sew.
Riveted the belt clip on. I like the fancier rivets.
My rivet job is less than perfect. The flap of green leather on the right is folded over to protect the phone from the rivet bits seen here.
Phone is now protected from the rivets!
Yeah, I make stuff using trash. The green plastic is a bit of Mt. Dew 2 liter soda bottle. When the curve seen here is flattened, it wants to curve 90 degrees off of the main curve. I glued it on so the curve tips the top front out so it’s easier to get the phone in.
You can see how the plastic wants to curve. Big Binder clips are the best assembly tool ever!
2 needles, 6 foot of thread on each side. I really need to make a stitching horse. You can see here how the phone case matches my phone case.
I sharpen my glover’s needles on my diamond sharpener. You can see I have 1 side stitched up. Looks pretty good!
The Galaxy Note Edge in the custom flip case, next to the the custom belt case.
It slides right in, like it was designed for it! Oh, wait, I did design it to do this!
This was my desired end result. Being able to see the ‘edge’ on my phone and the data that it can display.
It came with several case options which I would have never bought myself, but they are interesting. The one that I thought I wouldn't like but fell in love with is the flip-case. Granted, I was not fond of the white case, but the functionality was more than I would have expected. It just missed one feature.
Wireless Charging.
I LOVE wireless charging. Almost as much as I love the fast-charger that came with the phone.
There are hacks to get wireless charging into a flip case. But I would need to order a wireless charge back plus a new black flip case. Because I really don't like the white. If I am going to do the work of hacking something, I want it the way I want it.
So I made my own.
I still bought a wireless back – it's crazy the cheap prices on eBay for some stuff. And I spent a good chunk of money at Tandy Leather. More than if I would have gotten a 'real' case, but I got stuff that will allow me to make exactly what I want.
The phone flip case. The hole in the flap is so I can turn the cover all the way around and take a photo. A feature that the ‘real’ flip case doesn’t sport.
The Note Edge uses a quick charger, which is AMAZING… if you have the charger with you. So I bought a 110v AC and a 12v DC charger.
You can get a wireless charging back cover for the Galaxy Note Edge, or a pretty nifty flip case. But not both features in one case. So I bought some bits and pieces from Tandy. Green leather, rivets, a belt clip, a magnet, tools, etc.
The flip case is ‘smart’ in that it talks to the phone. I have no idea what it says, but most people who are doing this mod are tearing apart both cases, and putting the wireless charging into the flip case. I don’t like the color of my white flip case that came with my eBay phone.
So I attacked my brand new wireless charging back cover with my drill press. I al less than keen with how I ended up with holes. I need to mark them before I drill. Eyeball isn’t good enough.
Lots of holes in my new case.
Holes all the way around.
The green leather is much darker looking to the eye. But this is what I am going to sew onto my phone case.
The front cover needs on the flip case needs to be stiffer. I happened to buy just what I needed when I bought my back cover. The plastic that the cover came in! Re-use all we can, right?
Stitching the leather onto the case was pretty easy. This corner proved difficult though. I ended up super-gluing the edge of the leather down to the plastic. I think the leather is stuck as much as stiffened up so it doesn’t come away from the plastic.
This is basically a cut-to-fit type build. The holes are cut after I sewed one end on.
The speaker has a lift to it so there is an air-gap between the phone and the table so you can hear the speaker. Clever!
The fake plastic leather or the real leather?
Guide lines for cutting based on tracing of the holes.
Leather glue all over the place. I am not sure if I like this type of glue.
I was supposed to be backpacking on the ice age trail the day it was published, but had to cancel my trip. So while I have used it, just not out on the trail.
A new hobby is botany. So I made up a leather tool roll and bought some tools. A self closing tweezers is on the list, but I would need to order one. I thought I could print a decent one.
I was right.
Nothing available to download on the thing sites yet, so I designed something in OpenScad. It took 2 ten minute prints to get it right. Cost is a quarter each set.
The two halves are "rivited" together with a bit of plastic filament.
My botany books and my botany tool roll. And the kids playing in the yard while I work up this catnip plant ( I got for mosquito repellant for the kids ) in both the books.
I designed and 3D printed this self closing tweezers to hold plants so I can look at them with the loupe.
It was a bit difficult reading through the books with the kids interrupting me with new plants to look up about every 90 seconds. Luckily I know a good portion of what’s in the yard so I could quickly send them off, looking for more.
The tweezers are the expensive bit – from the eyebrow-plucking section in Walmart. The Loupe and ‘microscope’ loupe are out of China on Ebay. Cost less than one of the eyebrow tweezers. Crazyness.
My 3d printed self closing tweezers are the most awesome, of course, but that is just me thinking highly of them.
