3D Printing a Mini Arcade Machine Article

gamingnexus.com:

During 2020, I picked up a hobby of making an arcade machine. It was something to get me to learn wiring, soldering, and design as I wanted to tailor a bartop arcade machine to my liking. It was a fun project that got a lot of use out from my family and it brought back some great nostalgic memories of going to the arcade when I was a kid.

A year ago, I also started to get into 3D printing and purchased a Bambu Lab X1 Carbon and recently picked up a secondary machine in the Bambu Lab A1. I wanted some machines where I could just print and not have to fiddle with it too much and these two did just that for me.

While browsing Makerworld, I found this model from creator Archer. It was what I was looking for in a mini arcade machine. Prior to that, I was enjoying the Glen's Retro Show Build-a-Cade and its miniature size and great design decisions such as interchangeable control panels, rear access to a secondary controller and microSD card, and access to various I/O that allows you to connect other controllers or to a TV. What I wished it did have was a square display and a less of a lip on the marquee, but those are small nitpicks from me.

The arcade machine by Archer looked pretty amazing and had some features I really liked, most notably a square display for some old school games. What I didn’t know was that this little project would kickstart the creator bug in me and this is what I did on mine to mold it to my needs. What you see is the culmination of six months of printing, modeling, wiring, building, and constant refinements. I’d like to say I’m done, but I keep thinking of new things to put in. But right now, I’m at a state where I can just sit back and enjoy the machines until I decide to start tinkering with it again.

First off, I needed to learn CAD all over again. It’s been over 20 years since I delved into CAD and things have come a long way since then. I had dabbled in Tinkercad for some of my other projects, but I wanted something with a lot more granular