Give your cheap electronics a 3D-printed upgrade that looks expensive

Published Nov 14, 2026, 8:00 AM EST Sydney Butler is a technology writer with over 20 years of experience as a freelance PC technician and system builder and over a decade as a professional writer. He's worked for more than a decade in user education. On How-To Geek, he writes commerce content, guides, opinions, and specializes in editing hardware and cutting edge technology articles. Sydney started working as a freelance computer technician around the age of 13, before which he was in charge of running the computer center for his school. (He also ran LAN gaming tournaments when the teachers weren't looking!) His interests include VR, PC, Mac, gaming, 3D printing, consumer electronics, the web, and privacy. He holds a Master of Arts degree in Research Psychology with a minor in media and technology studies. His masters dissertation examined the potential for social media to spread misinformation. Outside of How-To Geek, he hosted the Online Tech Tips YouTube Channel, and wrote for Online Tech Tips, Switching to Mac, and Helpdesk Geek. Sydney also wrote for Expert Reviews UK. He also has bylines at 9to5Mac, 9to5Google, 9to5Toys, Tom's Hardware, MakeTechEasier, and Laptop Mag. Let's be honest: even though 3D printing is awesome and you can use it to print repair parts or make useful objects, we don't generally think of what these machines spit out as "expensive." Yet, in some cases, you can use a 3D printer and a few tricks makers have developed over the years to upgrade the look and feel of some cheap electronic devices you already own. Make your SBC look like a flashy commercial gadget It doesn't have to look like homebrew There are so many circuit board computers you can buy these days. Obviously, we have all the Raspberry Pi computers in that extensive family. This includes the classic models that have roughly the same footprint as a credit card, but now also includes smaller devices like the Raspberry Pi Zero 2W. Other brands of SBCs as well as microcontrollers have popped up to compete with the Pi over the years, and by and large you can find online designs for cases to fit just about any of them. You can buy official cases for many of them, but these tend to be pretty boring. Somewhere out there is a case that's going to make your SBC look sick as heck, and if you have the design chops, you can even modify it before printing. Give your smart speaker a vintage radio shell Classic aesthetics meet modern minimalism Credit: Colonel Cufflink via Makerworld Smart speakers like the Google Nest or the Amazon Echo Dot do their jobs just fine. However, these speakers tend to follow the modern fashion of being as bland as possible so that they'll just fade into the background. That's fine, but it's not to everyone's taste. If we look back to the 20th century, whether it's the '90s,'80s, or any other decade, you'll find that household appliances tended to have plenty of personality and distinct identity. So why not 3D-print an enclosure for your little smart speaker that brings back some of that style we so dearly need today? There are several options out there, but the one above is Colonel Cufflink's Vintage Radio, which is actually designed to be a real radio project where you put the guts together yourself, but it also works as an enclosure for several popular smart speaker models. Convert cheap headphones into snazzy over-ears It's not for audiophiles, but the rest of us can enjoy it just fine Credit: RG3D via 3D Go It's generally accepted that over-ear headphones offer better sound than on-ear, and certainly most in-ear options. But if all you have is a set of cheap on-ear headphones like the Koss KSC75, you can use something like RG3D's Over-ear conversion kit. Obviously, you'll need to find a printable kit that matches the model of headphones you have, or adapt an existing kit to fit yours, if you can't. You might think that this is a purely decorative thing, but putting those drivers inside proper ear cups changes how the sound propagates, and how much of it gets lost. After all, if you take the backs of a closed-back set of headphones, the entire soundstage changes. While just about everything in a kit like this can be 3D-printed, you may have to provide some basic hardware like screws, nuts, and bolts. Also, the ear cushions will have to come from somewhere else. Either a generic set you can adapt, or replacement or donor cushions from a model the kit creator specifies. Give your cheap mechanical keyboard a 3D-printed makeover Fake it till you make it Credit: GetSmartHomeOffice via Cults 3D Cheap mechanical keyboards have never been better, but that doesn't mean they're easy on the eye. After all, if you're making a budget product and focusing on good functionality, then you need to cut corners somewhere. Visual design is a good place to start. Which means you might have a good keyboard that looks as cheap as it was. But the world of mechanical keyboards is all about customization, right? If you can 3D-print keycaps, why not the cosmetic parts of the keyboard's case? The Universal 60% Mechanical Keyboard Case could be just the ticket for you. The case itself works with a vast set of keyboard PCBs, and you have control over the materials used, the processing, finishing, and, of course, you can use it as a basis to do your own modifications. Just remember the finishing touches While these projects are all pretty cool, there's an elephant in the room, and he's covered in stringy filament and prominent layer lines. There are numerous tricks you can use to make 3D prints look better, and in some cases you might want to consider using a resin printer for some components where cosmetics are more important than anything. You don't need to own one yourself; you just need to pay for a print shop to do the work.