A Beautiful 3D-Printed Cassette Tape Player

The idea of listening to cassette tapes again is pretty appalling to the average person. As far as music storage goes, it’s hard to imagine anything less convenient. But in recent years there has been a resurgence in interest in physical media like vinyl records and cassette tapes. For a certain kind of person, the tangibility of a cassette tape is very appealing. That’s why Igor Afanasyev decided to design and 3D print his own cassette tape player.

Immediately you notice how beautiful his design is. The 3D-printed body of the cassette tape player is minimalist and stylish, and the exposed tape and player mechanism on top adds to the appeal. That mechanism, along with the electronics that make it work, was upcycled from an old portable tape player that Afanasyev found at Goodwill. But that wasn’t particularly good-looking, so he didn’t keep any of the enclosure and only salvaged the internal components.

He then set out to 3D model the new enclosure in CAD software, and intentionally pursued a mid-century modern aesthetic. That was then 3D-printed and tested. After Afanasyev was satisfied with his design, he spent a lot of time sanding and painting the 3D-printed parts until they looked perfect. He then made some minor tweaks to the cassette player’s electronics, mostly to add LED back lighting, and assembled the entire device. The final result looks fantastic, and proves that cassette tape players are still desirable.