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With a working volume knob, a reed switch and magnets on the tone arm that offer tactile feedback, and an RFID tag reader that allows it to play actual music from 3D printed records, this “fake record player” might be the next best thing to the real thing.

The record player – the color palette of which is inspired by the original Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) – was designed in OpenSCAD by Reddit user UserNotAvailable and then printed in PLA on a Prusa MK3S. The internals leverage a stepper motor and belt to turn the table, as well as a speaker to play the music.

Inside look at the player’s internals (Source: UserNotAvailable)

“Originally, this was intended as a way for my young niece to play some music or audiobooks, but she grew faster than the project,” UserNotAvailable told All3DP. “Because of this audience, it was important to me that there were no pinch points or fragile parts. This led to the use of magnets, both to arrest the tonearm in place, as well as a trigger for the play and pause function.”

The mini “record” spins as the music plays music (Source: UserNotAvailable)

To create the records themselves, UserNotAvailable used a “somewhat hacky approach” that is “achieved by importing two models, and activating the option to label them in the G-code. Then you can manually add M600 color changes before each individual object. Since the records only have about 12 layers, it’s still manageable.”

UserNotAvailable said he will eventually replace the record player’s electronics with a Raspberry Pi, which will be able to connect to a streaming service like Spotify or Apple Music rather than rely on RFID tags.

A compact and creative child-friendly music player (Source: UserNotAvailable)

This should work to improve audio quality, as well as simplify the device’s design, which would be a bonus to those interested in creating a record player of their own.

“I’m hoping to make the STL files available either the weekend of June 15 or the weekend after, however the electronics are quite messy. [But because] I’m planning to move the system over to a Raspberry Pi in the future, I’m not sure how complete that release will be,” he said.

In the meantime, be sure to check out the original Reddit post, where you’ll find a bit more context, as well as a video of the record player in action.

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License: The text of "This 3D Printed ‘Fake Record Player’ Plays Real Music" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.