Bumpy, The Beautiful DIY MP3 Player

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

[Matt]’s been working on a small hombrew MP3 player, and although it’s not much more useful than an iPod Shuffle, sometimes that’s all you need. Besides, it turned out to be a beautiful project, completely custom, and a great example of what a high resolution 3D printer can do with an enclosure design.

Inside Bumpy is an ATMega32u4 with a VS1003 MP3 codec IC. The device is powered by a 1000mAh lithium battery, and the user interface is an exercise in simplicity; a single click/scroll wheel changes the volume, toggles play and pause, and selects the next or previous track. Eight LEDs mounted in the center of the board glow through the case for status, volume, and interface feedback.

By far the most impressive part of Bumpy is the case. It was printed at [Matt]’s place of employment – Formlabs – in white UV curing resin. The pictures show a surface finish that would be difficult to replicated on a squirting plastic style 3D printer, with a textured, bumpy surface that inspired the name.

22 thoughts on “Bumpy, The Beautiful DIY MP3 Player

  1. Printed standing up those bumps aren’t difficult at all to print with a standard FDM printer. I can’t quite figure out why he decided to tilt the parts the way he did. Looks like a LOT of wasted support material. Then again I’m not very savvy when it comes to those types of printers so I’m sure there’s a reason for it.

      1. This makes sense, looking at it, he could’n’t fit the two sides, and this type of 3d printer takes FOREVER, so to save time he probably raised it so he could fit both in 1 day, rather than wait 2 days for two parts.

    1. I think Formlabs encourages printing parts at an angle to minimise the printing area in an effort to avoid adhesion issues when peeling. People have been complaining about larger prints failing and also unsettling “cracking” sounds during peels on large prints.

  2. Hello Bryan
    I am working on a wet able with a MP3 player and would love to be able to talk to you and have you expertise on this project. Please send you contact for further discussions .
    Best regards

    Amadou diene

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