This Framework Laptop has been the very best laptop I have ever owned. It is the perfect travel size for the digital nomad, it is modular, I’m able to change out ports on the side as needed and I can travel with confidence because, should I do serious damage to it, like biff the display, I can easily repair it. My main problem is, there are no options out there for any sort of case or screen protection, so I made one.
Bottom Line Up Front: I ended up purchasing a new 3D printer, large enough, just for this occasion. I am very happy with the final product and now I want to know if there is any real demand for this product.
Background
Traveling a lot, and taking my laptop in less than ideal conditions for what I would consider a more light-duty, commercial grade machine, meaning, not really designed to be knocked around.
I went through several design churns with 13 major revisions and several tweaks within each of those, trying to get the right final result which is a lid-bumper that doesn’t roll off the front when trying to open it. With some user feedback, it didn’t appear to be a big deal by most, I was very unhappy with
The final material I ended up using for this is TPU 98A as it was flexible but rigid enough to hold its shape when doing the one-handed open of the lid.
After many adjustments of the printing speed, z-hops, cooling and so forth, I have a profile now that can effectively print, great quality, prints that I think are good enough to deploy in my workplace for the 40 or so Laptop 13s we have there. These are amazing machines that are an investment, not just by-use-and-toss in the bin so any additional projection I can provide, I will.
I’m considering buying some other colors of TPU 98A for the users with these machines, you know, personalize them, just a bit.
I am down to two different frame thicknesses. The 10mm, which I think has the best overall proportions and has a near zero chance of rolling up when one-handed opening the lid on the laptop.
The 6mm frame, has a leaner look about it. I think it may look better but I do think you lose just a bit of protection on the edges, also, it is a bit easier to roll up than the 10mm frame. You have to try to roll it up for it to happen but it can happen.
Final Thoughts
I am using this to protect my machine and my son’s machine. He thinks the thicker frame is better, I’m a bit uncertain. This doesn’t make the Framework Laptop 13 a tough machine you can just toss around but it does do some absorption of impact (tested) but the exact amount of impact is not very certain nor am I going to test it. With about 2.4mm of bump on the sides, that would provide an additional, estimated, 0.7 to 1.0 meter drop from the tested baselines. So, you can figure, if, it lands on a hard floor, it could survive a 1.5 to 2.0m drop, based on the energy absorption properties of TPU 98A. This is unverified, untested and not guaranteed, but I can guarantee that there will be some additional protection.
What I really need to get working on is the lower-chassis protection. Once that is well protected, I can feel much better about the various “dangerous” environments I take my Framework Laptop 13.
References
Framework Laptop 13
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Framework Laptop 13 on CubicleNate.com
dbrand Framework 13 Skin
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