Engineer makes 3D printed hand-cranked turntable

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We’ve had 3D printed tonearms, 3D printed records and even a pop-up 3D printing record store in London. Here’s the latest 3D printing-meets-vinyl development. 

We know that a record can be 3D printed, as long as the 3D printer is high enough quality to recreate the grooves of a vinyl disc. But what about printing a record player?

A female engineer from New Zealand, Oana Croitoru, has resolved to find out by designing a hand-cranked turntable.

According to Croitoru:

“All pieces for [the] record player are neatly aligned and designed to fit in a 15x15x15cm cube, and print beautifully on the Replicator 2, without any rafting or supports…Once all the pieces are printed, it assembles in about 5 minutes. Then you just add a little glue to make sure nothing flies of as it spins and you’re ready to go.”

Sounds simple enough right?

Sadly the sound quality isn’t quite what we were hoping for, as you’ll notice from the demonstration of the device below. But Croitoru is pushing forward with an updated, improved version, so watch this space.

Croitoru’s design is an entry to the MakerBot Ghostly Vinyl Challenge, which asked designers to use vinyl records and turntables as a starting point to design novel objects for record collectors and music lovers. From a wave-generating vinyl topper to glow-in-the-dark absorbing feet enabling your turntable to hover as if by magic, the entries aren’t exactly audiophile-friendly but it’s nice to see people innovating with vinyl in any case.

(via 3D Print)