This 3D Printed Wireless Apple Watch Charger Can Be Made Yourself

You’re the kind of person who’s on the cutting edge when it comes to the latest Apple tech, and the Ruiz Brothers from Adafruit Industries are looking out for your best interests.

Brothers Noe and Pedro Ruiz have put together yet another amazing 3D printed electronics project. The pair are the creative and engineering team behind their design studio, Pixil 3D, and they’re passionate about technology, the maker culture, and 3D printing.

Fortunately for Apple lovers, the brothers decided back in 2013 to shift the bulk of their focus to 3D printing, designing products and offering 3D printing services. They work from their home studio when they’re not hanging out at local 3D printing meet ups, and they also put together detailed how-to project documentation for objects from the fanciful to the very, very useful.

And you’ll find this project falls into the useful category.

No need to stand in line or wait to build one, the Brothers have already come up with a nifty hack for your existing Apple device charger, a portable version which uses electronic and battery components from Adafruit and just four 3D printed pieces to make up a customizable case.

The guts of the charger come courtesy of the Adafruit PowerBoost 1000C smart-charger, a 2000mAh LiPo battery, and a slide switch, and if you have the skills and the proper temperament, you can build your own wireless charger, and the Brothers say it’s got lots of power.

A 3D printed enclosure they designed is compact and provides a rugged housing for all the components. Should you not have access to a 3D printer, they’ve already provided watertight .STL files you can send to the service bureau of your choice or have printed at your local hackerspace.

As for the 3D printed parts, there are just four: a face cover, a case, a frame, and a back cover. The parts were modeled in Autodesk 123D Design and they’re available to modify to fit your taste, or lack thereof.

The Brothers printed theirs out in PLA but they say they’re convinced you should be able to print them all out in ABS or other materials from wood to various metal filaments.

The frame and the main case were designed to snap fit together, and a set of pins on the frame align to holes on the case for press fitting together, and the pair say the tolerances should easily be tight enough to securely hold the two pieces in place.

“The slim enclosure makes it great for traveling, and it even fits nicely in your pocket,” they say.

You can download all the files you’ll need to build your charger’s enclosure on Thingiverse, and you can review all the comprehensive steps you’ll need to build your charger here.

The pair say they “get a real kick out of sharing our designs on Thingiverse,” and you can find all manner of cool video tutorials about 3D printing on the Adafruit YouTube channel, and of course, their projects on Adafruit like this wireless charger.

Did you buy an Apple Watch yet? And if you did, will you take on this project from the Ruiz Brothers to build a wireless charger for your new tech? Let us know in the 3D Printed Wireless Apple Watch Charger forum thread on 3DPB.com. Check out the video below detailing the project.