Busy hands | Disquiet mind

Not too long ago I got my hands on a Purism Librem 5. I'm still trying to get to know this device, so I can't say much about it yet. Except that I love everything it's going for. I just don't know how to make it work for me. Mainly because, with a fully charged battery, and all the hardware switches in the off position, by morning there is hardly any charge left. *sad shrug*

But you know me; if it's a small piece of tech it needs a case! You cannot buy a case for this phone. You must make your own. Thankfully there is a whole case repo with options for you. I went with the slim phone case.

You might have noticed that these cases are meant to be printed in TPU. I've never tried TPU before, so let's give that a go! I ordered the TPU from my printer manufacturer in the hopes that it would work with less effort. I, um. Well, it's a case, that's for sure. But. This is stringy. When the print comes off the bed I had to pull/scrape away as much excess material as I could. I had to snip some blobs off. I tried to melt some problems away. But mostly that resulted in nearly creating holes. There are places where the layers didn't bond, and I had to cut some of them off. The inside corners of the case gathered a lot of extra material, and makes the case fit even tighter. But it does fit. So, mostly a success I guess. (If I try another print I'd pick a chonky case.) TPU is tricky y'all.

Librem5, in a black TPU case, front
Photo by chebe

( More photos )