i just move my antenna by gently pealing it off and placed it in an opening next to the speaker on the front bezel and it has made a large improvement.
you are on the right track. 
i am on the stock covers
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Now thatâs an interesting observation @deianara and @Savasten . Could help my 5G antenna too⌠However, I will wait until my my aluminum lid arrives before tinkering again, I guess.
Iâm glad you are satisfied with the quality!
That $32 sound like a much better deal too 
So, if I should consider a custom bottom plate Iâll try JLCPCB next time.
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Antenna placement definitely helps with reception and I decided to test this out. Works wel! (I have the rcore module and Asiarf WiFi card) But I probably wouldnât try going through airport security like this.
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I like efficient and straightforward design.
If you change your mind regarding airport security I would paint one wire blue and one red. Otherwise they wonât know which one to cut. ;-D
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I also tested JLCCNC now. The laser markings are really good and quite deep! I really like it. Tho I selected the wrong surface finish accidentally. You should at least select âpolishedâ 
In general I can recommend their service. Fast, good quality and affordable.
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Polished or not, that still looks awesome!
I finally got around to weighing the two lids: the stock is 62.5g and my aluminum one is 80.5g. A pretty tiny difference in practice.
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This looks great I think raw/distressed looks more appropriate. Nothing stays clean and shiny with a puppy around.
Impressive design! 
I had looked at the PCBway order page before and noticed that they too offer laser etching â but I am new to that and do not quite understand what that entails.
In the picture, I assume that the black lines/areas are from the laser treatment? Or is the coloring from another treatment (like the spray painting of the original poster)?
What did you have to provide? I guess an svg? Did the result show all the details you expected or are e.g. finer lines lost?
Sorry for throwing so many questions at you, I am just quite excited by the potential here! 
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This looks incredible! You got the lid from JLC and then another third-party lasered the design?
I might be wrong here, but I believe that JLC is JLCCNC, meaning he got the plate and the laser etching all from JLC, and it is also the place he regretted not specifying the finishing to.
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Correct
All done by JLC
JLC does PCBs (JLCPCB), CNC (JLCCNC), 3D printing and so on
U can add laser engraving to ur CNC order.
All you have to do is to add a DXF file with ur sketch.
Be aware. It has to have âentitiesâ. Every time I exported it from FreeCAD it did not generate such. Tho I am a freecad newbie and have no idea what I am doing. I ended up having only splines and JLC lasered all âclosed areasâ. I couldnât figure out how to convert a closed line/spline to an area. If some knows please let me know!
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I would like to report that the custom lid help greatly. The normal operation temperature drops to around to 40c and even with stress test the temperature still float around 52c. WIFI connections also become much more stable now. Kudos to @pandora and @jbmorley !
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For the sake of completeness I wanted to add the total of 30.72 Euro
(Shipping to Germany; No vouchers)
- Aluminum 6061
- Countersunk holes
- Laser Engraving
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Thatâs good to know. Thanks for taking the time to weigh them!
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Thanks for sharing!
I tried to order from PCBWay using your files and I am being told that the âorder is too thin and deformed by sandblastingâ, anyone else had similar issues?
Iâve received this picture from the QC step of the process:
Ooof, that sucks. There werenât any issues with my order that Iâm aware of. The panel I received wasnât perfectly flat but didnât have anywhere near the distortion thereâ theyâre showing in that picture.
Cool color choice though!
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what is the thickness of ur lid?
1.2, I used this file: pocket-reform-backplate/backplate.pdf at main ¡ jbmorley/pocket-reform-backplate ¡ GitHub