iSkin tears/splits/rips around button holes

I noticed something similar--mainly at the lower right corner of the screen opening, but also at the lower left corner and upper left corner. It looks some very tiny pieces of silicone are missing or like the window was nicked when it was removed from the mold. Like yours, mine is on the inside edge. However, I've only been inserting and removing my iPod through the round opening, so I don't stress the nicks.

I've included a photo of the inside lower left corner to show you the splits and discontinuities in the silicone. This is in contrast to the very well-finished edges along most of the openings. This is very nit-picky stuff, but if there were stresses at the nicks, it's likely that this is where the splits would occur.

Only Lajo knows if this is within his manufacturing tolerances.

iScientist

Lower left screen window--some small imperfections here too. Keep in mind, these are very magnified images--you might not even notice them and I'm not sure they would affect anything. I certainly wouldn't return it for something this small.

Thanks iScientist. Nice pics.

I'm interested to see Lajo's explanation of the production process... I was always the kid who LOVED watching the Reading Rainbow and Mr. Rogers tours of factories. Hell, I still watch those today ;)

I have a nasty rip on the bottom along the seam where you'd plug in the cable...!!!

Lajo,

That pic with the lip looks like it was taken with the iskin inside out. The inside of the iskin around the screen has a small lip.

Ok, some explanation about my imaging technique. The case is a White Frost 30 gig turned inside out. To add contrast, I slipped a black lens cap inside the case. The case was then placed face down on my Epson 2450 Photo scanner and scanned at 1200 ppi. The scanner cover held the case somewhat flat, although not very well at the top corner (3rd photo). The images were downsized by about 10% before posting.

The magnification is approximately 10.8X (1200 ppi-10%)/~100 ppi (approximate screen resolution).

iScientist

Here's my iSkin (White Frost 30 GB): Notice the areas around the button holes and in the corner of the screen cutout.

The inside edge of an eXo is where the excess silicone sits once out of the mold. The girls then remove these pieces by turning the case inside out. Most of it will come off with a pull but there are parts that hold and the girls have a tool like a pair of tweezers that they can insert in-between the case and the excess silicone and separate it. If necessary they use cuticle succors to remove what is left. There are about 4 to 7 girls working on this everyday. These section removed by hand will not affect the strength of the case. Then the eXo cases go to another group of girls for cleaning and final check then they are package and ready to be sold.

As I mentioned before this silicone from Japan is incredible, if I did not ad a little mix to it the girls would not be able to remove the excess silicone, it will just stretch. I hope soon we will be able to produce a mold that solves the excess silicone problem and then I will use this Japanese silicone is it purest form. When that happens the cases will be stronger and extremely soft that is my goal.

I am working on a new design for the 2nd gen ipod 10gb, the design is such that I may be able to use the Japanese silicone pure, if so this will be the best case yet. I am adding a new feature that will put it one notch above eXo. It is a very complicated mold and it will be very difficult to produce but I feel now after 25,000 plus eXos the factory has the ability to make this new design.

Because this is a very competitive market I have to hold on the news for a while. Once I have the case being tested it will safe to release the design because the competition will need about 2 months to catch up and by then I am very close to the next new release. Example the belt clip attachment was always a cannot do situation with the factories here in China, well the moment I hear that I know that if I can do it, I will have a major advantage over the other soft cases. So I am always working on what cannot be done and every time my staff are frustrated because the factory can not manufacture our design I tell them we will persist because I know the rewards will follow. EXo has made some major changes in the way soft case can be designed and I am sure that others will try to follow in that direction if they want to have some of eXo share of the market. I am an ideas person and I have only touch the tip of the pile of ideas that I want to get out there.

The new design is almost ready to release.

By the way I have a lot of respect for your detail look at eXo and looking at what might be a problem, I wish I had someone here that took that interest to examine the products and as a result of your photos I will be investing in some computer microscopes to look at things a little closer. Thanks again.