This was originally a present (can't afford a Nexus 4 myself) So I drew up the design with reference only to a diagram of the phone I found in the user guide (scaled by googleing the outer phone dimensions)
I had planned this as a bike mount, and was going to mill it out of black perspex. However due to time time constraints and issues with milling plastic, I had to quickly mill this one out of MDF.
I was surprised how well it worked, the phone fit the case almost perfectly, a few issues were:
- speaker and camera holes didn't quite line up
- I had neglected to add holes for the proximity sensor
- top of the touch screen wasn't accessible
- the hole I'd left for the power switch was bit awkward for larger fingers.
I quite liked the look of the wooden phone case, so I tweaked the design, ordered some sheets of thin mahogany and cut a new set of phone pieces.
The pieces are layered up to create the case, the font plate is attached via several small neodymium magnets.
I also finished the case with Danish oil to protect it from moisture and dirty fingers.
I was able to slim down the whole case by milling out a pocket in both the front and back plates. This wouldn't have worked as well with MDF as it looses integrity once you remove the face of it.
Instead of leaving a hole for the power switch I designed this hinge. The edge is thinned down and not glued to the rest of the body, allowing it to flex slightly and press the power/wake switch.
When the phone is assembled the switch appears as a slight depression in the side so that you can find it easily.
When the phone is assembled the switch appears as a slight depression in the side so that you can find it easily.
