3D designer Oana Croitoru created an amazing hand cranked 3D printable vinyl record player for MakerBots recent Ghostly Vinyl Design Challenge. Thingiverse designers were asked to design novel, personalized objects for music lovers using turntables and records as inspiration.
Croitoru printed her record player on a MakerBot Replicator 2 3D printer and all of the parts have been optimised to print in a 15x15x15cm build envelop with no supports or rafting of any kind. While the record player has over a dozen parts, it still seems very simple to assemble. Here is a brief video animation of the parts going together:
“Once all the pieces are printed, it assembles in about 5 minutes. Then you just add a little glue to make sure nothing flies off as it spins and you’re ready to go.
You will only need to add a piece of paper, some sticky tape and a needle for the amplifier, and a little bit of glue,” said Croitoru of her design. “It will play all sorts of records as it is adjustable, though 78rpm records are recommended, it’s difficult to crank at slower speeds (everything will sound very high pitch).”
While the sound quality isn’t great, it is a great first step. Croitoru is also working on an optimized version of the record player that will improve the functionality and durability of the final model. You can hear the audio quality here:
Over 200 hundred Thingiverse designers contributed model entries to MakerBot’s Ghostly Vinyl Challenge hoping to win a brand new MakerBot Mini 3D Printer and spools of filament. The contest closed on November 30th and the winners will be announced on December 15th.
While there are quite a few great entries I don’t think it would be too controversial to say that Croitoru has the best of the bunch. It’s unique, functional – for the most part – and just a fun model. But there are a lot of entered models that are similarly well made and would probably be just as fun to 3D print. You can download all of the parts and 3D print your own vinyl record player directly from Thingiverse for free.
