Lenco-MD Is a Modular 3D-Printed Record Player Kit You Can Build and Hack at Home

The continued, and even increasing, popularity of listening to music on vinyl records is a bit surprising — at least until you try it. Aside from the slight sound quality benefits, listening to vinyl records is a purposeful activity instead of a passive experience. For some of you, the records, their sleeves, and the turntable are also pieces of art in their own right. Now, thanks to the Lenco-MD kit, you can actually create that art yourself.

Lenco-MD just launched on Kickstarter, and is the result of a partnership between the Swiss hi-fi audio manufacturer Lenco, the Dutch 3D printer manufacturer RepRapUniverse, and the Qeske knowledge-sharing community. It’s a modular kit that you build yourself from Lenco components and 3D-printed parts. There are kits available that include all of the 3D-printed parts, just the large ones, or none at all, so you can build one whether you have a 3D printer at home or not.

That’s cool enough to interest many of you, but it’s the modularity and hackability that really makes the Lenco-MD stand out. Each of the three feet has a threaded cap that can be replaced with an add-on module. Those will include a Bluetooth module, a solar panel module, and a speaker module. You can also design and integrate your own modules, redesign the entire thing, and hack or replace the various audio components to build the record player that best suits your musical tastes.

The Lenco-MD Kickstarter campaign is running until January 4th, 2019. One kit without any of the 3D-printable parts is $112, or $225 with the printed parts included. The former kit is expected to ship in March 2019.